Installing a Dragon II in a single pickup non-PRS guitar

[funkywrench]

I just bought a Gibson Melody Maker Flying V and I'm not too impressed with the Duncan Designed HB-103 pickup in the bridge. I happen to have a Dragon II lying around that I'd like to try in the guitar but I'm not too sure on a couple things.

Firstly, I know that the magnet polarity on the DII treble pickups is swapped versus most pickups. Would this have any effect on a single pickup guitar? Would I need to flip the pickup? Which wire would be hot and which would be ground?

I'm also curious to see if anyone has tried a Dragon II in a non-PRS guitar and what the results were. While I felt the DII was decent but a little on the muddy side in my CE-22, I think it might be worth trying in my MM Flying V as it is a single pickup with a single volume knob in an all maple body so may be a little brighter. The one thing is, that the MM V has a 300k pot I believe, would I be better swapping it for a 500k?

 

[garrettb]

Polarity won't matter in a single pickup guitar.

Go for the 300k pot at first. If you decide you want a little more brightness, go to 500k.

 

[DHW]

Is it a single pot or is there a volume and tone pot?

 

[DHW]

If it is a single volume pot and no tone pot like the current ones then keep in mind a few things. The way a guitar with 2 pots is wired(parallel) the resistance is cut in half so in theory a 300k pot will be brighter than a guitar with a 500k volume and 500k tone pot which offers 250k of resistance. In a strat that is 125k due to the 2 pots being 250k each. Putting a 500k pot in a single pot guitar would be like having 2 1meg pots in a volume/tone configuration.

 

[funkywrench]

Thanks for the informative reply DHW! Looks like I'll stick with the 300k pot for now and see how I go.