Custom Guitar - Electronics

  Deciding on the electronics for the guitar was a lot of fun.  While my ultimate goal was to have the best tone possible, I also wanted to have a guitar that was extremely versatile.  I asked myself - If I could only take one guitar to a session, what would I need in order to make sure I could tackle anything?  With that in mind, I began to research various options. Having played countless guitars, I already had a good feel for what I wanted, but I set out to explore options fully.  My initial thought was to put EVERYTHING I wanted on the table up front, and then trim back the fat until I found the absolute best combination of tone, flexibility, ease of use, and cost.  After thoughtfully playing my guitars, I set off to the music store where I played more. Then, I played several guitars that belonged to my friend Bill Dent - he had several modifications on his guitars, and had a Tom Anderson guitar in particular that covered an insane amount of tonal options. (Check out Bill's website at http://www.reactortone.com/).  Bill was a lot of help in better understanding the tonal options available, and in helping me really assess what options would be meaningful to me.

  Assuming I could find just THE right humbucking pickups, I began to consider the Jimmy Page switching system as the core of my electronics.  After researching and testing many of the "usual" pickups and not being convinced, Andy suggested I look into the Harmonic Design pickups.  After much research and a very productive and informative conversation with Scott over at Harmonic Design (http://www.harmonicdesign.net/) I locked in an order for a set of Vintage Plus Classic Humbuckers.  Satisfied I had a set of pickups that would fit my needs, I settled on the Jimmy Page switching system and also explored some other options - considering for a time a bridge mounted piezo and also a very unique dual output system. I also discussed with Bill Dent a number of ideas to utilize his reactor tone circuits in my system.  Ultimately, as the project progressed and we really honed in on what we wanted, the dual output system and bridge piezo were dropped.



Harmonic Design Vintage Plus Classic Humbucker

   The Jimmy Page switching system uses push-pull pots to create number of options. Like a traditional Les Paul, I have a switch that selects Neck, Bridge, or both.  Pulling the pots allow a variety of options, such as splitting to single coil, running both pickups in series as a single giant humbucker, and putting the pickups out of phase.  There are 21 options in all in the "traditional" JP Switching system, although there have been a number of variations on this setup. (I believe I have 27 combinations plus a kill switch in this model).  Then, we added in a switchable Vintage Cooler circuit (designed by Bill Dent) on the neck pickup.  When switched in, the Vintage Cooler changes the function of the Neck Volume knob - from around 7-4 on the knob, it creates an underwound type of sound, which is incredible for neck rhythm playing. Around 4, the volume knob resumes its normal function and reduces the volume.  When the neck pickup is in split coil mode, the VC is automatically disengaged, as it provides little benefit to a single coil pickup.  This adds many more total tonal options to an already versatile guitar.

   Bill Dent assisted Andy with the wiring schematics and fine tuning of the electronics. Final fine tuning was done by ear to get the best sounding capacitors for the guitar. The neck was changed to 0.22 and the bridge was left at 0.47.  The electronics were aggressively shielded and grounded, including some innovative methods developed by Andy.

All in all, the electronics offer a complex array of options, but retain simplicity in using them.  I'll comment further on the electronics when I do a complete wrap up and review of the guitar.