NEXT PROJECT GUITAR

[Rodney Hamblen]

I've posted photos of my next project guitar in my gallery, a nice three color sunburst Tribute with maple fretboard with an 09 serial number. I'm proposing to use the Chandler 6204 pickguard modified for S-500 pickups - 6 total. I'll modify these S-500 pickups similar to what I did with my Zcoils with smaller pole piece magnets and pitching the bar magnets. 3 pickups will have the GBE string magnets, the other 3 will have the EAD magnets. No out of phase pickup options, stereo/mono, volume controls for each set of 3 pickups.

I note that the neck needs to be "adjusted" as the string clearances aren't even across the neck.

I'm waiting to hear from Chandler about the pickguard feasibility and $$$

[Rodney Hamblen]

Also meant to say that I'm not going to wire in humbucker modes.

How does this differ from the Z Coils - no phasing in the switches and each 1/2 coil has a full 5k of coil impedance in it instead of the Z Coil 2.5k. This is useful when using a pair on the bass side and a pair on the treble side - the result is a 5k source impedance. For a selection of pickups this guitar will have twice the source impedance as a Comanche.

I'm calling this the S-500 +.

[Rodney Hamblen]

A couple of items for the S-500+.

1) I'll be using the Chandler 6204 pickguard again. The guitar will have simplied switching compared to my Comanche 6+ with greatly reduced out of phase selections.

2) Chandler will not modify the 6204 from 3 Z-Coils pickups to 6 S-500 pickups as this takes a lot of set up work with a high likelihood that not many will be sold. Starting with the 6204 will leave me to expand the pickup cavity to 2 full sized S-500 pickups in each location with the addition of 2 screws. The rest of the pickguard is perfect.

3) I was concerned that I'd have to remove the pickup covers to modify them but this is not required. Use a soldering gun to lift that ground lead on each baseplate and warm up the entire baseplate. When you starting smelling melted hot melt glue you're ready to start prying the magnet off the bottom of the coil.

4) The adjustable polepieces are exactly the same as is used on the Z-Coils, which means 1/8" diameter neodyium magnets will work as individual string magnets. I've got several different lengths of 1/8" neodyium magnets left over from my Comanche 6+ project.

5) There's a lot of hot melt glue that you'll need to get out of the stationary parts of the polepieces. Use a 1/8" dowel to do this.

6) My S-500+ will have 6 full sized coils each with 3 bass (E, A, D) or 3 treble (G, B, E) individual string magnets installed. In addition the guitar will have
- Stereo/Mono operations with the bass strings in one channel and the treble in the other in stereo. In mono the bass pickups selected will be in series with the treble
pickups selected.
- I'll have 2 push/pull volume controls. One the bass (in stereo or total volume in mono) and one for the treble (in stereo but not in circuit for mono operations). One
push/pull will switch stereo/mono operational modes. The other will put the middle pickup out of phase with the rest - I haven't decided whether this will be on the
treble side or bass side, I've been surprised from my Comanche VI+ how much quack comes from the bass strings and not the treble.
- I'll have a switch for each pickup coil, 6 total. Each set of 3 switches will allow you to select any 1 pickup, any pair of pickups, or all three for either the bass or
treble sides.
- I've got a stereo/mono converter plug that allows me to select stereo for the guitar but operate in mono mode with the selected bass pickup(s) in parallel with the
selected treble pickup(s) like a Comanche VI. Or I can run the guitar in stereo to 2 separate amps and processing chains, or run the guitar in mono with the
selected bass pickup(s) in series with the selected treble pickup(s).
- Removing the phasing option for each pickup coil greatly simplifies the wiring compared to my Comanche VI+.
- I'll likely use the Duo Sonic knobs again as I really like those.
- I won't have any tone circuitry in this guitar.
- I won't reinstall the baseplates. On the S-500 the baseplates aren't threaded for the pickup adjuster screws and the magnets I'm using do not need flux shaping on
the bottom of the pickup. You have to use the baseplate on Z-Coils as the pickup adjuster screws are threaded into those baseplates.
- I'll use a 3 layer WBW pickguard again (looks right to me).

You may wonder why I'm using full sized coils this time vs Z-Coils again. Here's the why:
- My Comanche VI+ project left me with 3 perfectly good S-500 pickups which are modifiable to change the magnets out (less is more).
- The 1/2 sized coils in the Comanche VI+ quickly put you into a low impedance guitar category if you select 2 or more coils to run together even in the Mono mode.
In the Comanche VI mode where all coils are in parallel your impedance drops very low very quickly. The full sized coils allow me to double the impedance in any
operating mode.
- I've had similar pickups installed in my 1952 Reissue Tele since the mid 90s and I like the sound, the pickups were custom made by Lollar. I've got a photo of this
guitar in my Gallery.

I've got some new pictures in my gallery showing modifications to 3 of my S-500 pickups. These S-500 pickups are actually simplier to modify than the Z-Coil pickups as the pickup cover doesn't have to come off.

[Rodney Hamblen]

Using these 6 pickups provides an opportunity to configure the pickups in a couple of different ways:

1) Each pickup can be configured as a Z Coil with the treble portion of the pickup closer to the bridge.
2) Each pickup can be configured as a S Coil with the bass portion of the pickup closer to the bridge.
3) The 3 pairs of pickups can be configured as a fixed set of Z or S Coils for all 3 locations or a mix of orientations.

The magnets I'm using have the magnetic field focused towards the strings with little magnetic energy at the bottom of the pickup (I don't miss being able to "play" the tremolo springs as a standard Strat allows - note that the baseplates on the Z Coils keep a lot of the magnetic energy away from those springs on the Comanches, the smaller baseplates on the S-500s not so much but either is much better than any Strat which has no baseplates). Even with these better focused magnets I still get magnetic field interplay between adjacent magnets on the same and nearby pickups. Thus a Z Coil configuration next to a S Coil configuration would see magnetic field interplay with the closest magnets.

I've always been intrigued by Hendrix's Strat having a reverse angled bridge pickup so I'm leaning towards all 3 pickups in a S configuration. All S's would increase the snap on the bass strings on the bridge pickup and reduce any muddiness on the bass strings on the neck pickup, so all S's have a lot going for it. It will also maintain a geometric spacing between the associated pickup halves to support a nice amount of "cluck" when using 2 bass or treble pickups at the same time.

I can always reconfigure any of he pickups from a "S" to a "Z" in the future, all it will cost me is a set of strings and pulling the pickguard to do the work. From my Comanche VI+ I've been very surprised at how much cluck comes from the bass strings vs. the treble strings. Any configuration change from a "S" to a "Z" will impact that and possibly eliminate the cluck but I won't know until I try it.

Cheers!

[Rodney Hamblen]

I added 2 more photos to my Gallery today. The fiberforms for the pickups are different colored between my "07" and "09" pickups. The shielding for the pickguards between the "07" and "09" S-500 Tributes was also different, however the pickguards are otherwise equivalent so I can use a Chandler 6204 Comanche VI pickguard on my S-500+, I'll need to fill the old mounting holes and drill some new holes, as well as modify the 6204 to work with full sized pickups vs. Z-Coils.

[Rodney Hamblen]

I tried a variety of ways to modify the Chandler 6204 pickguard. On a blank sheet of pickguard material I tried a Dremel with a plastic cutting wheel and wasn't pleased with the results. I then tried filing the material and wasn't happy with that either. I don't have access to a scroll or bandsaw. I did some reading and decided to cut the material with a razor knife then use a set of needle files to fine tune the cuts. I didn't try to drill a radiused hole in the two new corners I was adding in the Z Coil cut outs of my 6204 pickguard so improvement is possible. But I'm happy enough with my work and I'll adjust to the rounded and squared edges of the new cut outs.

I had a discussion with the Chandler person responsible for customizing a pickguard. The set up can take a considerable amount of time and they've got plenty of work at this time. The concern was a pickguard cut for 3 pairs of S-500 pickups wouldn't sell enough copies to justify the setup expense. The 6204 is a standard pickguard that costs $45 so I didn't want to spend a lot od $$ taking it to a luthier for modification.

I'll post some pictures of my modified pickguard.

The next step is settling on the wiring and selecting the 6 switches. The switch spacing on the 6204 is fairly close and a DPDT switch just fits so no 3PDT or 4PDT switches can be used. My initial thought is any of the 3 bass coils and any of the 3 treble coils in parallel with the selected bass coils in series with the selected treble coils (mono), any of the 3 bass coils in parallel with any of the 3 treble coils in parallel (Commanche 6 wiring, mono), or any of the 3 bass coils to one output and any of the 3 treble coils to a different output (full stereo mode). 6 DPDT switches from G&L would be $120 so I'll look around for good switches at a lower price. I have one as yet unused DPDT switch to get into the circuit in some capacity.