tot_Ou_tard said:
This'll seem tame after Vood's Full Boat Mod (call this the dinghy mod).
Hey, start with the little boats and work up to the big ones!
tot_Ou_tard said:
I'm thinking about changing the bridge 'bucker on my Godin SD for one that I can split. Suggestions? Can someone point me to a site that explains how to change the tone knob to a push pull pots to split the bucker.
This upgrade has two main components--the wiring/soldering stuff, and the physical replacement process, i.e. opening up the guitar, removing the old pot and installing the new one. How difficult this second part is depends upon the configuration of the guitar. I'm not familiar with how your Godin is set up, so here are the common configurations:
Fenders (and pseudo-Fenders) are probably the easiest, since pretty much everything is mounted to the pickguard, so you can unmount it, lift it out of the guitar, turn it over, and everything is right there & accessible. The biggest hassle with this type is that you have to remove the strings--or at least loosen them substantially--to remove the pickguard assembly.
The second main type is the "hole-in-the-back" style, typified by the Les Paul. You remove a cover plate in the back of the guitar and the control pots sit inside a routed-out cavity. These tend to be rather cramped and harder to work in. The other components (pickups, 3-way toggle, output jack) have their wiring run through channels drilled through the body into this main controls cavity. The pots are mounted through the top of the guitar itself. You remove them by taking off the knob, removing a hex nut and a washer or two, then flipping the guitar over and pulling the pot out through the rear cavity. Of course, you'll have to unsolder the various connections to do this. There are several of them, particularly on a volume pot, SO MAKE A DIAGRAM!
The third type is a hollow/semi-hollowbody, like my Dot. These are a raging pain in the *** to work on, since you can't get inside, so you have to unfasten all the components and pull the whole freakin' wiring harness out through the f-hole (Spuds says this is why they call them "f-holes", and I'm inclined to agree). But I doubt your Godin is one of these, so I won't bother expounding further.
The wiring part for making the coil-cut switch is very easy. Here's a simple diagram I posted on my site:
All you're doing is taking the two conductors that are normally wired together to put the two humbucker coils in series and soldering them to the middle contact of a double pole/double throw (DPDT) switch on a push-pull pot. You then solder a wire from the adjacent contact (the one that will be activated when the switch is pulled up) to the body of the pot itself, which will be grounded. Then, when you pull up on the switch, one of the coils gets shorted to ground, while the other is still active. Here's another diagram that shows which two connectors to use on the DPDT switch:
You'll need an "on-on, double pole, double throw" push-pull pot to do this mod. You can get them from StewMac or AllParts or several other places. GC usually has them, too. For a humbucker guitar, you'll probably want to use a 500K resistance pot, and I'd recommend audio taper (as opposed to linear taper). The ones I've used with good results are #1216 on
THIS PAGE at StewMac. If your Godin has a very thick top, you may need a "long shaft" pot. These have a 3/4" long threaded section rather than the standard 3/8". I'd suggest you just loosen the pot you're planning to replace and look.
Obviously, you'll have to solder the other two conductors from your new pickup to the new pot, along with all the other stuff you unsoldered from the old pot. Here's where that diagram you made comes in handy. Fasten the new pot to the body, remount the knob, and (assuming you made good solder connections and no mistakes) away you go.
Here are links to a couple of good reference sites:
Guitar Wiring at 1728.com
GuitarElectronics.com
Seymour Duncan Schematics Page
tot_Ou_tard said:
This'll be my very first mod so I'm a little nervous.
I was nervous with my first, too. But it's really not too bad at all. Just take your time, work carefully, and double-check every step before you do it.
