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Post by salteedog on May 14, 2016 20:07:03 GMT
Interestingly the pots on that Chinese loaded pg are A500K for tone and B500K for volume. Normally 250K pots are used for single coils and 500K for humbuckers. (The original ones in the ST-20 are A250K for tone and B250K for volume. (A=Audio/log taper and B=Linear if I'm not mistaken).
500K pots should make it sound brighter...
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Post by salteedog on May 15, 2016 0:25:08 GMT
Apparently Squiers strats generally come with 500K pots. And the likely explanation is simply to make them sound less authentic than an American standard Fender. It's possible that the OEM manufacturer of these cheapo alnicos is also a supplier to Squier.
In any case I finished the switch-out...twas an interesting exercise in geometry reversing it for left handed. At last minute I realised I needed to reverse the 5 position switch, which of course stretched one of the pickup wires and broke it. I had to re-solder it but those old fashioned braided wires are a bitch to work with.
Worth noting too that unlike the Harley's the switching is set up so that the first tone knob works on bridge and middle. Which is great since it saved me having to make that simple mod.
Anyway it's all together now. Kids and herself are in bed so I couldn't do a proper evaluation tonight. Basically had 5 mins to tune up and see if the thing still made noise. Sounds decent though if a bit shrill from the 500K. (I expect I'll replace them). Jury's out but it seems noisier too,...might be just the set-up I used to listen but I hope I didn't muck up the nice shielding job I did last week ...). I'll will try and do a more 'scientific' evaluation tomorrow.
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2016 7:29:47 GMT
salteedog did you notice that the bridge and middle have less volume than the neck? Or should I simply lower my neck pickup more and put a bag over my head
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DefJef
THBC Moderator
Due to musical differences I've decided I can't work with myself any more.
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Post by DefJef on May 15, 2016 8:32:02 GMT
Apparently Squiers strats generally come with 500K pots. And the likely explanation is simply to make them sound less authentic than an American standard Fender. It's possible that the OEM manufacturer of these cheapo alnicos is also a supplier to Squier. In any case I finished the switch-out...twas an interesting exercise in geometry reversing it for left handed. At last minute I realised I needed to reverse the 5 position switch, which of course stretched one of the pickup wires and broke it. I had to re-solder it but those old fashioned braided wires are a bitch to work with. Worth noting too that unlike the Harley's the switching is set up so that the first tone knob works on bridge and middle. Which is great since it saved me having to make that simple mod. Anyway it's all together now. Kids and herself are in bed so I couldn't do a proper evaluation tonight. Basically had 5 mins to tune up and see if the thing still made noise. Sounds decent though if a bit shrill from the 500K. (I expect I'll replace them). Jury's out but it seems noisier too,...might be just the set-up I used to listen but I hope I didn't muck up the nice shielding job I did last week ...). I'll will try and do a more 'scientific' evaluation tomorrow. Yeah, papache noticed that. Again it's surprising that they'd do an unusual 'mod' like that on a cheapo. Not that it IS unusual generally nor expensive to do, just surprising. They might as well have gone the whole hog and Rory Gallaghered it with one tone for all. That would leave a whole separate space to do something with. A kill switch? I love mine - except it's acheap one and can be a bit sticky. Nightmare reversing your wiring. I don't envy you!
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Post by salteedog on May 15, 2016 11:32:25 GMT
Just getting a little time now to go at this again...I discovered I had disconnected the wire I had for grounding the shielding which should be soldered to the trem claw... Just my luck that it's a glorious day here in the West of Ireland (a rare occurrence)...and I know I need to redo my fuzzy bass line too.... could be a late one again.
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Post by salteedog on May 15, 2016 12:27:44 GMT
salteedog . Save yourself some time and, if it'll reach, wrap it round a trem claw screw and screw it in. Count how many times you screw it out so that you screw it in the same number of times and it won't mess up your trem setting. It won't go anywhere. Thought about that but didn't really want to mess with the screw. Basswood being kind of soft - with my luck I'd totally screw it up (forgive the pun!). Was an easy solder anyway - I just wrapped the wire end around the other ground wire end and re-soldered both back to the same point. papache - Yes - the neck sounds a bit louder than the bridge at the same heights as the previous ceramic pups. I'm going to adjust the heights better later to get a more satisfactory balance. It depends a bit on the eq of the signal chain too - since the neck has quite a lot more low end - if your pedal/amp is boosting that it'll sound louder I think. I rechecked the DC ohms and I'm getting N=5.3, M=5.2 and B=5.5 DefJef - I'll reply to you on the other thread re. the holiday song idea.
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Post by salteedog on May 15, 2016 12:30:00 GMT
P.S. .. I forgot to say, so far the pups sound great. Especially the neck and middle pups. Certainly very 'stratty'!
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2016 13:46:29 GMT
salteedog . Save yourself some time and, if it'll reach, wrap it round a trem claw screw and screw it in. Count how many times you screw it out so that you screw it in the same number of times and it won't mess up your trem setting. It won't go anywhere. Thought about that but didn't really want to mess with the screw. Basswood being kind of soft No worries there. My ST-20 is Basswood and I have removed those claw screws many times still they hold great. In case you do worry a little then put in a wooden toothpick and screw it in. I agree the neck and middle sound great on their own, not that great together and I could live without the bridge pup.
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Post by salteedog on Jun 18, 2016 21:26:02 GMT
Yes certainly a lot of top end on them. I still need to swap my 500k pots for 250k. My pots actually read 600 k if I recall correctly.
All told though I'm not too fond7 of the bridge but I like the tones from middle and neck. Nice soft low end compared to the previous ceramics. I do have all pickups set very low though - neck is almost flush to the picguard.
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