F-100 HB pickup on a S500 Tribute

Thu Jul 10, 2014 12:16 pm

Hi all,

so I thought about adding a MFD humbucker pickup to bridge position of my Tribby S-500.
Of course I have to cut the pickguard accordingly, but I am not sure of the F-100 dimensions, or if it fits at all. It seems not a "normal" sized HB..

Do you have any info/experience doing this?

Thanks!

Re: F-100 HB pickup on a S500 Tribute

Fri Jul 11, 2014 6:15 am

I have been thinking about a mod like this too. I had been looking at used pacificas, and having a SC3 control configuration. But it looks like starting with a used S-500 will be lower cost. So I would also be interested if anyone has some experience to share.

Re: F-100 HB pickup on a S500 Tribute

Fri Jul 11, 2014 6:52 am

not sure on the Tribute but the American version has a bath tub route , if the tribby is the same then I would think it should be no problem

Re: F-100 HB pickup on a S500 Tribute

Fri Jul 11, 2014 7:37 am

I like your thinking, that F-100 pup is highly underrated. I'd love to see more applications of it in the G&L line.

Re: F-100 HB pickup on a S500 Tribute

Fri Jul 11, 2014 9:43 am

yeah, i love the tone I get from these singlecoil MFDs, and since I would like to put a HB on bridge (FWIW already installed a dimarzio tonezone and a SD hotrails, went back to the single coil MFD) so I always wondered how a MFD humbucker would sound, and it just makes sense to me that I should try to pair it with it's single-coil "brothers"...

Re: F-100 HB pickup on a S500 Tribute

Fri Jul 11, 2014 3:08 pm

zedsnotdead wrote:Hi all,

so I thought about adding a MFD humbucker pickup to bridge position of my Tribby S-500.
Of course I have to cut the pickguard accordingly, but I am not sure of the F-100 dimensions, or if it fits at all. It seems not a "normal" sized HB..

Do you have any info/experience doing this?

Thanks!


The outside dimensions of the F-100 MFD humbucker pickup cover is approximately 1 3/8" x 3 1/2".

Hope this helps.

:ugeek:

Re: F-100 HB pickup on a S500 Tribute

Sat Jul 12, 2014 2:43 am

Craig wrote:The outside dimensions of the F-100 MFD humbucker pickup cover is approximately 1 3/8" x 3 1/2".

Hope this helps.

:ugeek:


Thank a lot!!

well, i think is fits... my tribby got a "swim-pool" route. But now I can't really imagine how it could be secured on the pickguard. I mean, those side-screws seem like they are meant to be screwed on the wood in the bottom, not a pickguard....

Could this probably be one of the reasons why these pickups aren't used so much on G&L's lineup guitars?

Re: F-100 HB pickup on a S500 Tribute

Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:43 am

Well, it's been a lonnngg time since I started this thread, but finally here she is in all it's glory!

Had to cut a pickguard from scratch, routing the HB hole to fit. Also because the pickup screws are to be screwed directly in the body, there wasn't enough wood to screw it on the right side (end of bathtub cavity) had to fill that gap with some piece of wood glued to the sides of the control cavity. No big problem, it's well secured.

Also, a switched volume pot for bridge+neck combo, and a 3-way toggle switch for series-parallel-split of the HB.
BTW, when in split coil mode, the HB doesn't lose volume, almost at all. So it really feels like a pure single-coil MFD (which it really is...), and in series mode oh god... so much punch!! Really!!
But best of all is on parallel mode. All the chime and punch. Beautiful!! Just beautiful!!!
This thing now is a f*** rock monster!!!

Image

Image

And yes, it's a really dark blueburst you see there.

Re: F-100 HB pickup on a S500 Tribute

Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:38 pm

Thanks for the follow up and excellent news! :banana:

Sounds like the F-100 HB is the pup for you. Since I like to mod ASAT's, I could see putting one in an ASAT project based on your results.

Rock on!~ :sign0011:

Re: F-100 HB pickup on a S500 Tribute

Mon Mar 30, 2015 2:22 pm

Yeah, now I am sure G&L should have this pup stock/optional in other models than just F-100s.
Such a waste...

Re: F-100 HB pickup on a S500 Tribute

Mon Mar 30, 2015 7:22 pm

zedsnotdead wrote:Yeah, now I am sure G&L should have this pup stock/optional in other models than just F-100s.
Such a waste...



there are a few more LE 2 available , bridge F100 with neck big MFD ..... it is a nice pick up

Re: F-100 HB pickup on a S500 Tribute

Tue Oct 03, 2017 9:57 am

Heya! I know it's been a while since this post been active but I would like to chat with @zedstnotdead about that mod. I would love to do the exact same modification with my s500. How did you cut your pickguard? (it's pretty nicely done by the way!) How did you install the F100 bridge? Screwed directly in the body? Can you make some kind of vid or audio clip to demonstrate it's sound - I would love to ear that guitar! I really want to add that kind of bridge on my S500, been thinking about it for a whole 3 months now and gotta do it since I've not changed my mind once. Let me know mate, your input would really be useful! Thanks!

I wish I was polite enough - English is a second language of mine, and I don't master it really well. But doing my best! Hope I was nice enough! Cheers!

Re: F-100 HB pickup on a S500 Tribute

Tue Oct 03, 2017 11:36 am

zedsnotdead wrote:Well, it's been a lonnngg time since I started this thread, but finally here she is in all it's glory!

Had to cut a pickguard from scratch, routing the HB hole to fit. Also because the pickup screws are to be screwed directly in the body, there wasn't enough wood to screw it on the right side (end of bathtub cavity) had to fill that gap with some piece of wood glued to the sides of the control cavity. No big problem, it's well secured.

Also, a switched volume pot for bridge+neck combo, and a 3-way toggle switch for series-parallel-split of the HB.
BTW, when in split coil mode, the HB doesn't lose volume, almost at all. So it really feels like a pure single-coil MFD (which it really is...), and in series mode oh god... so much punch!! Really!!
But best of all is on parallel mode. All the chime and punch. Beautiful!! Just beautiful!!!
This thing now is a f*** rock monster!!!

Image

Image

And yes, it's a really dark blueburst you see there.


I love it! Glad to hear you love the sound.

Re: F-100 HB pickup on a S500 Tribute

Wed Oct 04, 2017 5:37 am

Sure is a nice guitar.