Frankie99 wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2024 9:18 am 1. Talk me out of wiring a few guitars with the pickups direct to the output jack. I dime all of the pots on all my guitars and then adjust at the amps. I get really pissed when I'm futzing around with something only to find that a pick up had it's tone knob out of whack or a volume all the way down. Idea here is to remove unnecessary impediments. Can always go back if I want to right? I'd probably wire a kill switch because that seems like the only useful think I need on the front anyway.

It's a great thing if you know it will work for you (I usually had a volume knob but have removed tone pots many times). You have to really know what you like and want out of a pickup though. Preferences are so personal, player and amp dependent I don't think online recommendations are useful.

You can always get a volume and/or EQ pedal to do some of that stuff if you want it later.

The Crazy Horse trick!

The differences are relatively subtle but still plain. I think it’s cool as hell but I have become a Knob Guy at some point, though I would love a Pbass wired like that.

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2024 9:46 am

Frankie99 wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2024 9:18 am This is two fold:

1. Talk me out of wiring a few guitars with the pickups direct to the output jack. I dime all of the pots on all my guitars and then adjust at the amps. I get really pissed when I'm futzing around with something only to find that a pick up had it's tone knob out of whack or a volume all the way down. Idea here is to remove unnecessary impediments. Can always go back if I want to right? I'd probably wire a kill switch because that seems like the only useful think I need on the front anyway.

This can work fine BUT it will sound different than stock wiring with the knobs turned up. Looking at modern telecaster wiring, for example, with the knobs all the way up there is still a 250K resistance to ground (volume pot) and a 250K + 22nF resistor/cap to ground (tone pot). Youll end up with a brighter sound and higher output with those removed. Not bad things, just not the same thing. All that said you could artificially create the same circuit with two resistors and a cap and it would sound the same.

Thanks - this is super helpful. I might fool around with that as well if I decide I don't like the direct sound.

I essentially never use the volume knob but I've come around to using the tone knob occasionally, jazzy neck pickup stuff sounds nice with the tone rolled back halfway.

As far as pickups, I have a bunch of different Fralins, you can't go wrong with any of them, incredible sounding pickups.

Have a Dimarzio Humbucker from Hell and Bluesbucker in one guitar, great combo.

For a lower gain thing, the Gemini Goldfoils are really nice sounding.

For real high gain, I have a set of Duncan Distortions that are massive, super hot output. They sound really good split.

Also on the Duncan front, their Full Shred is a killer bridge pickup, don't be put off by the name. I don't always 100% love the JB, but sometimes I do, and that's another one that sounds really good split. Their Flat Strat is an awesome neck pickup too.

Can't go wrong with a Super Distortion in the bridge. The PAF Pro is nice compliment in the neck.

The only TMOOI I have here is just that it's a bit of a pain to go in and futz with. You mentioned several guitars, obv start w/ one and see how it goes.

I think first might want to do some mindfulness around what you're doing w/ the guitar - do you ever turn the volume down between songs (if not, you might be driving your bandmates crazy)? Might want to try tracking it to see if you are actually using it more than you think before you go to the trouble of bypassing it entirely.

A cool thing you might miss out on that I think a lot of folks have forgotten about in the pedal boom is that guitars that have independent volume knobs for each pickup, you can back the volume off one pickup and treat that as your clean or rhythm tone and switch right on the guitar. It's a pretty nifty way to eliminate a dirt pedal some times. It can also be super handy if you have different outputs between pickups and would like them more even, just back the volume off the hot one until it's where you like in comparison to the other. Again, that may seem super basic but I have had some even fairly experienced guitar players (especially when they're "volume at 10 on the guitar always") absolutely have their minds blown by this little trick.

Personally, instead of no switches at all, I'd like to just have on/off switch in most cases and no pots, but a volume pot doesn't really bug me out either. & this is more of a talk me INTO it but having tone/volume knobs and actually using them can make overdubs a pain in the ass too as slight tweaks can really make a punch-in stick out and take a lot of fussing to get right back to where it was set before hand.

I’ve been slowly moving all of my guitars over to 1 vol and a pickup toggle and have zero egrets

mdc wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2024 3:44 pm I’ve been slowly moving all of my guitars over to 1 vol and a pickup toggle and have zero egrets

That joke has legs!

TylerDeadPine wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2024 4:18 pm That joke has legs!

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu...

Frankie99 wrote: Tue Feb 06, 2024 9:18 am This is two fold:

1. Talk me out of wiring a few guitars with the pickups direct to the output jack. I dime all of the pots on all my guitars and then adjust at the amps. I get really pissed when I'm futzing around with something only to find that a pick up had it's tone knob out of whack or a volume all the way down. Idea here is to remove unnecessary impediments. Can always go back if I want to right? I'd probably wire a kill switch because that seems like the only useful think I need on the front anyway.


2. Tell me the pickups you like and why - in my egc I have a super dist in the neck and the stock hot single coil in the bridge. I think I like this set up so far, but I'm curious about what i could do with the 2 humbuckers in my SG or Tele custom. The SG is stock epis and the tele is a squire with stock pups also. I like the way they both sound, but I like dicking with things too, so there you go.

Since you asked to be talked out of it, I guess I’ll be the only guy trying. I didn’t use the volume or tone knobs on my guitar the first 15 years of playing. Now I cannot imagine doing that. I use both all the time now. I might ditch the tone knob if I used humbuckers with 500k pots, as I almost never turn the tone down in those situations. But I roll off a little tone on pretty much every single coiled guitar I’ve ever owned (JM, Tele, Strat, Jag, Mustang). The only outliers were SGs with P90s. But, I LOVE using the volume knob to clean up a dirty sound on all guitars, whether or not the dirt is coming from the amp or a pedal. So under utilized/appreciated.

Having said all of that, removing the volume and tone pots will both brighten up what you’ve got already and get a little louder. Which might be your thing, or it might not. If you do that, the kill switch idea is a good one for instances you are too far from your tuner and need to kill volume immediately.

As for favorite pickups. I really love 50s style Telecaster bridge pickups with a base plate that are wound around 7k DC resistance. My favorite neck pickup is a vintage style Jazzmaster somewhere in the 7-8k range. Favorite current humbucker might be a Firebird for its sheer rock appeal.