S 500 pick up changes?

[Ribsspare]

I am thinking of having the idea of owning a 2nd S 500 but with different pick ups. I see that the S 500 has the extra electronics of the switch on the body.

Have people experimented with changing pick ups on the S 500? Also, I'd like to play around with changing capacitors too on the guitar. Is that the same procedure as doing it with a standard Strat? And changing the pick ups is also the same procedure as if you are working with a Strat body too? I'm curious if I install a set of 57/62 pick ups, if it will sound like the '62 reissue Strat for example.

I'm new in the world of electronics. Thanks for your patience!

[Philby]

Have people experimented with changing pick ups on the S 500?

Yup. Incessantly/compulsively.

The MFD's in my S-500 just didn't really do it for me. It's odd, because I really enjoy the MFD's in my ASAT and would never take them out. So I've swapped a few sets of pickups in and out of the S-500, including the 57/62's you're thinking about. My findings so far are:

1) the wiring is quite a bit more complex than a standard strat. But changing pickups is very straightforward as long as you are dropping single coils in there. Messing around with caps will be less straightforward as there are more bits of wire in the way. The pot resistances are different from a standard strat too (500K on the treble, 1 Meg reverse taper on the bass). There are also 2 caps on the bass pot which is unusual.

2) ALL the pickups I tried sounded overly bright with an annoying ice pick frequency that I couldn't get rid of. It wasn't normal strat 'chime'. I know what that's supposed to sound like. This led me to surmise that there might be something wrong with my PTB circuit. Maybe that's why the dude I bought it from sold it so cheap? Anyways, I took the PTB out and wired up a standard single volume/tone strat configuration and everything sounds perfect. I suspect the original MFD's might even sound OK now if I drop them back in. I don't know if the PTB circuit was faulty or I'm just not a fan of its 'sound'. I'm happy to be rid of it. I might try to get some new PTB components from the G&L online shop one day.

3) Now the PTB wiring is gone, I've had some Legacy pickups in the S-500 which sound superb, though slightly noisy. The 57/62's also sound excellent. Very authentic and 'quacky' due to the middle pickup not being RP/RW. The only thing I don't like about the 57/62's (and the reason I took them out) is that the poles are staggered for a 7.5" radius, and the S-500 strings follow a 12" radius. This made some strings (e.g. the G) MUCH louder than the other strings.

I've currently got some Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders in the neck and middle, and a Hot Rails in the bridge. This is how I thought the MFD's should sound - stratty, but beefed up at the same time. I'm going to leave it like this. I'm tired of soldering.........

[Ribsspare]

Hmm. interesting.

I suppose that if I swap the 57/62 pick up or a clone of the 57/62 that was intended for a 7.5 radius on an S 500 that has a 7.5 radius, then it will probably be a good match.