H S H w/ push/pull coil split, Clapton Mid-boost & TBX tone

Pickups, wiring schemes, switch techniques and onboard active electronics for guitars and basses
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colton.jackson
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Joined: 23 Nov 2012, 07:44

Post by colton.jackson »

I've been working on a project guitar with my father this weekend involving an H S H with Clapton Midboost and TBX tone. We've done two clapton mid boosts before in two different strats and have enjoyed them a lot. I know the tonality of the clapton mid boost is applied best for single coils, but having a +25 gain on humbuckers could be kind of fun too despite the overkill so we decided to go ahead with it. There wasn't a whole lot of diagrams online referencing how to get this type of thing done, so after a little studying I drew up a diagram and wired it up. I would appreciate a little input as it is working but isn't quite 100% there.


We've had nothing but good experiences with guitar fetish PUPS in the past so for this project we got one of their PAT humbuckers in front, a Dream 180 (P90 Humbucker-ish thing) in the back, and a neovin noiseless single coil in the middle. I know the theory of Humbuckers, but applying them in practice was a little confusing (A good learning experience!). Besides one other coil split I did on a fat strat a long time ago (which was an easy follow the diagram type modification) this was my first experience wiring humbuckers. For the pots we used a 500k push/pull for the volume pot, the TBX in the middle pot position, and the 250K pot for the Gain knob for the 3rd pot position.

Everything turned out somewhat as expected and it sounds good. I am however getting the banshee howl feedback noise when I turn the volume knob up to 8. The guitar is already plenty loud in the 5-6 range so it hasn't been too much of a problem but it is something I would like to get worked out. After looking it up online, people have reported the same thing and some people have mentioned it is because you have to use the 50K pot for the volume (oh yeah... the 50K pot...)... which I neglected to use. I've also read it could be due to a broken resistor on the circuit board but I haven't had the chance to look at the board closely since I've read that to see if that is the case. Any thoughts? I'm not too keen on having a switch on the guitar so maybe I will keep my eyes out for a 50K push pull.

The second thing I am not quite sure on and would like to know is which coil I have tapped with my set up. If a schematic says "north coil tap" is it disengaging the north coil or keeping it on? I have the same coil disengaging for both humbuckers. I was thinking it may be cool to keep the north coil engaged in the neck PU, and the south coil engaged in the bridge PU, and then maybe figure a way to get N + B simultaneously on for a distant psuedo p90/humbucker effect. If I knew what exactly was going on maybe I could start thinking about some cool in phase/out of phase options to incorporate.

Third thing that I didn't initially realize is the neovin middle pickup is noiseless. Initially I sent the red + white to the switch and grounded the green and black but the signal was super weak so I figured I had wired it out of phase. Sending the black + green wire to the switch and grounding the red and white produced a better output and I assume wired the middle pickup in series with the humbuckers. Was this an appropriate way to go about it?

I'm curious for any input
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HSH coil split midboost
HSH coil split midboost

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limbe
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Joined: 09 Nov 2009, 15:00

Post by limbe »

I am at least 99% sure of the answer to your first question.I made an E.C. boost pedal for myself that according to the schematic,should have a 250 kiloohm pot as volume.
INSTANT BANSHEE! I checked the shielded wiring and and just about everything I could think of.Since I had put it in a pedal I thought that may cause problems.Then I took a look at Fenders part list and discovered that the pot should be 50 kiloohm,not 250.I replaced the pot and the Banshee was gone.No problem since then.Thank you for reading about my hardships and giving the horrible sound with the 250 k pot a name that fits!

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