Looking for a neck pickup -- advice wanted

[Tig]

I have another 335 style Washburn (HB35) with a 25 year old Seymour Duncan MJ wound JB in the bridge, and I love it. The neck p'up is stock, falling apart and needs to come out, and I considered the Pearly Gates just to have different guitars with variety and maybe a little heat, but I like the 59N so much in the Idol, I'm tempted to repeat.

And watching the Freddie King vids on that other thread has me wanting to get all I can out of that HB35.

I ran across this '97 HB35S in near mint condition that really caught my eye. $569 with 5 latch case.
I didn't know these were so GAS worthy!

 

[Ch0jin]

Eric, I'd suggest before you change pickups, what kind of cable are you using?
I have learned that a low capacitance cable can make all the difference in being able to clean up a humbucker when you roll down on your volume pot..

Otaypanky, I don't mean to be argumentative, but did you learn that from personal experience or from second hand information?

I agree completely that when you use shielded cable, the lower the capacitance the better. An cable with too much capacitance will attenuate your high frequencies. What I'm not sold on is how much difference it makes in the 12" or so of guitar wiring loom.

The reason I ask though is I'm about to re-wire one of my guitars, for mechanical reasons, not electrical as it happens, but I need to grab some more cable to do so. If you've tried this out first hand I'd love to know what cable was used and where to get it so I can see/hear for myself

Also just to clear something up I've read today somewhere else.

Insulated wire, like the cloth covered "mojo" wire or state of the art Teflon wire, has no capacitance. You need two conductors to have capacitance. I have been looking everywhere to find some proof that there is any difference at all in the effect of insulation material on a waveform at audio frequencies, but not only can I not find proof apart from anecdotal, I can't even find an underlying theory as to why!

Premiere Guitar even published an article that states "The lack of plastic insulation resonances results in the good, natural sound....." when referring to cloth covered wire. I've spent the last hour trying to find any technical reference to the resonant properties of insulation and can't find a single one. I call major BS on that claim!!!!!!!!!!

If you want to get really, really technical, this is a good read on Debunking Cable Resonance If you read it though you might note that at no point does anybody refer to the resonance of the insulating material. (because it's BS?)

 

[kidsmoke]

I ran across this '97 HB35S in near mint condition that really caught my eye. $569 with 5 latch case.
I didn't know these were so GAS worthy!

I love my HB-35. Excellent 335 style guitar. Ever heard of the band Widespread Panic? Late vintage HB-35's are all John Bell plays.

Here's mine, you can tell what a arch top it's got. That one in the photo above is nearly a flattop, no?

 

[Ch0jin]

I love my HB-35. Excellent 335 style guitar. Ever heard of the band Widespread Panic? Late vintage HB-35's are all John Bell plays.

Here's mine, you can tell what a arch top it's got. That one in the photo above is nearly a flattop, no?

That red one reminds me a little of my red beast!!

 

[kidsmoke]

Beautiful ChOjin!
Maton, right?

 

[otaypanky]

I was speaking of using low capacitance cable from guitar to amp, not for wiring the guitar ~

Otaypanky, I don't mean to be argumentative, but did you learn that from personal experience or from second hand information?

I agree completely that when you use shielded cable, the lower the capacitance the better. An cable with too much capacitance will attenuate your high frequencies. What I'm not sold on is how much difference it makes in the 12" or so of guitar wiring loom.

The reason I ask though is I'm about to re-wire one of my guitars, for mechanical reasons, not electrical as it happens, but I need to grab some more cable to do so. If you've tried this out first hand I'd love to know what cable was used and where to get it so I can see/hear for myself

Also just to clear something up I've read today somewhere else.

Insulated wire, like the cloth covered "mojo" wire or state of the art Teflon wire, has no capacitance. You need two conductors to have capacitance. I have been looking everywhere to find some proof that there is any difference at all in the effect of insulation material on a waveform at audio frequencies, but not only can I not find proof apart from anecdotal, I can't even find an underlying theory as to why!

Premiere Guitar even published an article that states "The lack of plastic insulation resonances results in the good, natural sound....." when referring to cloth covered wire. I've spent the last hour trying to find any technical reference to the resonant properties of insulation and can't find a single one. I call major BS on that claim!!!!!!!!!!

If you want to get really, really technical, this is a good read on Debunking Cable Resonance If you read it though you might note that at no point does anybody refer to the resonance of the insulating material. (because it's BS?)

 

[Commodore 64]

Cloth wire is better because it looks cooler and is harder to melt with your soldering iron. Yesterday I managed to melt a Mallory 150 by not being careful enough with my iron.

As far as sound? I can't imagine a wire cares about what insulates it.

 

[Ch0jin]

Beautiful ChOjin!
Maton, right?

Yup, both of them

 

[Ch0jin]

I was speaking of using low capacitance cable from guitar to amp, not for wiring the guitar ~

Ahhhhh I get ya. Because we were talking about pickups I thought you meant the internal wiring. Sorry about that

Oh and I 100% agree on the guitar cable. The longer the cable the more important low capacitance and good shielding is too!

 

[Tig]

I love my HB-35. Excellent 335 style guitar. Ever heard of the band Widespread Panic? Late vintage HB-35's are all John Bell plays.

Here's mine, you can tell what a arch top it's got. That one in the photo above is nearly a flattop, no?

Good catch! It is as flat as my 6th grade girlfriend was.
I'd much rather have an arch top (guitar). (thanks to a nasty cold and fever, my sense of humor is weirder than normal, so forgive me)

 

[Ch0jin]

Cloth wire is better because it looks cooler and is harder to melt with your soldering iron. Yesterday I managed to melt a Mallory 150 by not being careful enough with my iron.

As far as sound? I can't imagine a wire cares about what insulates it.

Also I read somewhere that "pushback" style cloth covered is good for reliability because there is no chance of scoring the wire when you strip it. A really solid point I reckon. I've stripped a million pieces of wire over the years so I consider myself pretty good at it, but every now and again I still nick the wire and have to start again.

I'd go out on a limb though and suggest that -most- people who use it these days are chasing retro looks, forum praise, and mojo.

I do like the look of it though, and as long as it's used without the expectation of magical mojo properties, then I love seeing it in amp builds. Those heater wires just don't look the same without some cloth

I think though that the fancy new Teflon coated wire is very resistant to heat too.