2023 SE McCarty594 Pickup swap

[bbow58]

I just swapped the original 58/15 LT S pickups with Dimarzio 36th Anniversary PAFs. Very happy with the outcome…except. All V and T (and push/Pull) controls work as intended except when the 3-way is in the middle position, with the neck vol knob at 0, no output. As if the neck p/u vol knob acts like a master volume. I don’t remember if it was like this before, just got the guitar. I also find that bridge vol knob now needs a treble bleed. Dimarzio hints that and recommends a 300k ohm and a 560 uf cap in parallel across the bridge vol pot.
Dimarzios use 5 wire leads- shield and green to ground, white and black (split) combined goes to the push/pull pot ( where the white 58/15 lead went, red(hot) goes to vol pot
Any feedback is appreciated

 

[SinSir]

Normal for 0 and no output from either in middle.

 

[Alessandro]

If you turn either pickup to 0 on the middle position you will lose output

 

[Alfi27]

That's normal indeed. Regarding treble bleed, I have the same guitar and moved the tone cap to the wiper (middle lug) of the volume pot for each pickup, so called 50s wiring. I find this sounds much more natural than any treble bleed I've ever tried, but it depends on your setup. I run my amps pretty dirty and use the volume knob to clean them up, but if you run into a clean amp and use it to control actual volume (not gain) it's possible a treble bleed circuit works better.

 

[Alessandro]

I like treble bleed circuits over 50s wiring. With 50s wiring the volume interacts with the tone too much. With a treble bleed you roll back and get a nice clean bridge sound and you can always use your tone to take a bit away if you need to. Treble bleeds go on every neck pickup circuit on every guitar I own but I am more selective with bridge pickups as I already get enough brightness on them.

 

[Alfi27]

Yeah I forgot to mention that, if you're an avid tone control user the tone knob does act a little weird when you roll off the volume. But only then, on 10 there is no difference as the input and output of the volume pot are shorted.

@Alessandro What treble bleed circuit do you go for mate, the "industry standard" 150k/680pF in parallel?

 

[Alessandro]

I was using the prs silver mica 180pF but I found it being a little too bright so I now use a 100 pF cap and find that is better for me personally. I’ve been meaning to try some of the other styles/values but it’s such a rabbit hole and I’m currently in a happy place already lol.

 

[Alfi27]

It is indeed, virtually no limits... Resistor in parallel with the cap, in series with the cap, or just the cap alone - and obviously loads of different values to choose from. I'm not a big tone knob fiddler except on my Tele, which is bright enough to have no treble bleed and "modern wiring" (as in, not 50s wiring) anyway.

The only time I spent any time with treble bleed circuits was when I put together a Cabronita with a set of McNelly Sparkletrons, which are supposed to be pretty good Filtertron style pickups, and the clean-up was absolutely bonkers terrible. Literally the moment you nudged the volume down from 10 nearly all of the top end disappeared, never experienced anything like it... Eventually gave up on the whole thing. I briefly owned a Gretsch Duo-Jet that exhibited similarly terrible clean-up as well, so I wonder if it's a Filtertron thing Anyway, I digress...

 

[bbow58]

Yeah I forgot to mention that, if you're an avid tone control user the tone knob does act a little weird when you roll off the volume. But only then, on 10 there is no difference as the input and output of the volume pot are shorted.

@Alessandro What treble bleed circuit do you go for mate, the "industry standard" 150k/680pF in parallel?

Yeah I forgot to mention that, if you're an avid tone control user the tone knob does act a little weird when you roll off the volume. But only then, on 10 there is no difference as the input and output of the volume pot are shorted.

@Alessandro What treble bleed circuit do you go for mate, the "industry standard" 150k/680pF in parallel?

DiMarzio recommendation 300k/560uf

 

[bbow58]

That's normal indeed. Regarding treble bleed, I have the same guitar and moved the tone cap to the wiper (middle lug) of the volume pot for each pickup, so called 50s wiring. I find this sounds much more natural than any treble bleed I've ever tried, but it depends on your setup. I run my amps pretty dirty and use the volume knob to clean them up, but if you run into a clean amp and use it to control actual volume (not gain) it's possible a treble bleed circuit works better.

I’m using a 5e3 with a Mesa bottom (Jensen Blackbird 40 - Alnico) and a 65 Princeton Reverb.

 

[bbow58]

If you turn either pickup to 0 on the middle position you will lose output

Yes, I also went to the local GC and played the stock and my modified side by side. I highly recommend the swap. It just opens up the guitar-like removing a COVID mask! locking tuners next and bone nut. The original tuners have too much lash. PRS recommends Klusons. I’m afraid they are just a locking version of the same. Gotohs?