Any Bluesboy owners swap out the humbucker?

[themikeaustin]

Hi,

I've got a Tribute Bluesboy and I'm thinking of replacing the neck humbucker. I'd like something a little brighter than the stock pickup. I'd also like a 4-conductor pickup so that I can split the coil. Ideally, I'd have a push-pull pot in the tone control that puts the guitar in "ASAT Classic" switching mode. IOW, when the pot is up, the switching is as follows:
1. Bridge
2. Bridge + Neck in single-coil mode
3. Neck in single-coil mode.

I know that the MFD pickup presents some challenges/opportunities and if anyone in this community has already done something along these lines, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

I'm also not opposed to replacing the bridge pickup, as all my G&Ls have MFD pickups and I'd like to try alnico pickups.

I'd be playing blues-based music, so I'm not interested in high-output pickups. Unless...

TIA,

Mike

[blargfromouterspace]

Good idea with the switching, the main thing to think about is output of the humbucker as it might be tricky to find something that balances nicely with the bridge in both split and full modes. My own experimentation with pickup combinations in the BB is still ongoing, its very tricky to get it right! I think the trouble could be that the stock 250k pots rob too much high end from the humbucker, which would typically come with 500k pots, making it darker than its design allowed for and when coupled with a bright bridge single coil this darkness is exaggerated. I should have the all the parts to try this out next week.

[themikeaustin]

I'm considering Lollars: a '52 Tele in the bridge and a low-wind Imperial in the neck. If I do this, I would have a 500K cap when in humbucker mode and 250K cap when in split mode. Tom Anderson does this on their guitars (or used to) and it really mitigates the volume drop-off in single-coil mode.

[blargfromouterspace]

I did not know about that wiring. Cant wait to try it out - thanks Mike!

[themikeaustin]

Here's a google search:

https://www.google.com/search?q=switchi ... humbuckers

There's lots of info; I'm just starting to wade through it.

[blargfromouterspace]

I like this one http://www.tdpri.com/threads/wiring-a-t ... ot.372843/. Straightforward and exactly the info I needed. Might be trickier to find good stuff with the split so that the split sees 250k

[ditchgator]

Perhaps rotating the humbucker so the polepieces are closer to the bridge ala Peter Green?

[Tooslowhand]

I used Lollar Imperials in a Korean Les Paul that I changed the electronics on. I love the pickups. I would contact them directly to get some input on what would work well with a MFD single coil in the bridge position. They are very responsive and helpful.