slater529
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I would do a... but then I really like the stock pickups in my 2020 SE HB II Piezo.
SE Hollowbody Piezo Electronics/Wiring Thread
- Thread starter Nice F Holes
- Start date
I would do a... but then I really like the stock pickups in my 2020 SE HB II Piezo.
Nice F Holes
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It took two evenings to get the rust off. I couldn’t get it with just liquid (vinegar) and rubbing, I had to scrape it. I kept the scraping within the diameter of a knob, so worst case scenario any scratches would be covered. I used a plastic tool and tried as light of pressure as I could, but it still left some marks which I then polished out. No one would have ever seen it, but I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn how to fix minor scratches.
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Alnus Rubra
Loving nature’s wonders
Great work, very tidy.
Tim Trittin
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Man thanks so much for this thread and all the detail! I'm following the same path as you on replacing everything. Installing Lambertone Crema pickups, the stock pick ups are ok for me just not inspiring. One added mod I'm trying to figure out is adding a micro switch for the Piezo. I would rather quickly be able to turn the Piezo on and Mags off or vice versa opposed to having to roll 2 volume knobs to go back and forth. I play a lot of songs with an acoustic (sounding) part that goes to a driven part etc. I don't see myself blending the two although it may happen I suppose if I used a 3 way switch.
Any thoughts or warnings on the switch set up?
Any thoughts or warnings on the switch set up?
Nice F Holes
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@Tim Trittin I'm not sure if it will be as simple as it seems - I believe if the battery goes dead you lose the whole mag/Piezo circuit, not just the Piezo. This is important because if you put a switch on the Piezo pickup wire, it essentially opens the circuit and cuts the electricity, which then cuts the magnetic pickup too. This is my understanding, hopefully someone can confirm, or I can once I get my guitar back together.
If you look at the pics of the circuit board, there are two sets of pads for the Piezo and Mag pickups to connect to, but only one pad set is used for each. For the Core guitars that have an on/off switch, both pads are used. So I assume there is some circuitry that keeps the battery connected but bypasses the pickup.
IDK what happens if you try to wire the two circuits together, separated by a switch - maybe there is some popping when you go between the buffered, low impedance Piezo and the high impedance magnetic circuits.
Again, this is my strong hunch but I'm not 100% certain. I'm not far from reassembling the guitar, I just have to get comfortable with hammering or pressing in a bridge post bushing before I continue.
If you look at the pics of the circuit board, there are two sets of pads for the Piezo and Mag pickups to connect to, but only one pad set is used for each. For the Core guitars that have an on/off switch, both pads are used. So I assume there is some circuitry that keeps the battery connected but bypasses the pickup.
IDK what happens if you try to wire the two circuits together, separated by a switch - maybe there is some popping when you go between the buffered, low impedance Piezo and the high impedance magnetic circuits.
Again, this is my strong hunch but I'm not 100% certain. I'm not far from reassembling the guitar, I just have to get comfortable with hammering or pressing in a bridge post bushing before I continue.
Alnus Rubra
Loving nature’s wonders
Could you use the device,I believe you made, to pull the old bridge studs, but in reverse?
Tim Trittin
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Interesting, I've always understood the Mag circuit to be independent and not require a battery at all. In my simplistic mind introducing a switch in the path of the volume pots is no different than spinning the pot either on or off? I'm probably going to play with it and see.
Tim Trittin
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@Nice F Holes - I apologize if this hijacks your thread, but this wouldn't have happened without your ground work.
Update, I should have photo documented this but I'm terrible at spending the time to do so. I may try and post some pics as a follow up. I installed all new parts in my PRS Hollowbody ii Piezo SE over the last 2 days. new CTS pots (required new knobs thanks for the heads up!), Switchcraft pu selector , Lambertone Crema Pickups, and a mini toggle switch to select between Mags, Piezo, or both. All worked beautifully but was a bit pita to install as hollowbodies will be.
Here's what I learned
Side note: I'm in love with this Wide/Fat neck profile. I think the name is misnomer, it's a perfect fit for me I almost excluded this guitar from by buy list because of the neck profile.
Update, I should have photo documented this but I'm terrible at spending the time to do so. I may try and post some pics as a follow up. I installed all new parts in my PRS Hollowbody ii Piezo SE over the last 2 days. new CTS pots (required new knobs thanks for the heads up!), Switchcraft pu selector , Lambertone Crema Pickups, and a mini toggle switch to select between Mags, Piezo, or both. All worked beautifully but was a bit pita to install as hollowbodies will be.
Here's what I learned
- An on/on/on mini toggle (from stewmac) will work for this application. I simply interrupted the wires at the volume pot on both pots and routed thru the mini toggle. it took a minute with a continuity tester and searching the interweb to understand how to wire it but I got it. I can share that info. This allows for me to leave the volume knobs up and quickly switch back and forth between the two types of pickups which is how I will most often use the piezo bits of the instrument.
- I used a CTS push/pull tone pot to get coil tapping too. This required a relocate of the position as indicated in this thread. I moved it to the Original Piezo position and put the Piezo volume pot in the tone spot. Warning, I wired all of this up laying outside the guitar through the Piezo circuit board opening. The CTS push/pull tone pot will not fit through the slot it's beefy. I ended up taking a dremel and carefully enlarging the opening to make it work but there's not but room to deal with. I guess the other option is to wire it up through the bridge pickup opening but I was trying to keep wire lengths to a minimum. The clearance is very close from the tone pot to the battery in the new location you need to have the tone pot oriented to allow for as much room as possible.
- In an effort to keep wiring runs as short as possible I probably made it harder than it needed to be. A little extra wire length will make life easier at assembly time especially with the nice hooks in the guitar to manage the wires.
- I had to ream the pick up selector switch hole just slightly, be very careful. the clear coat will chip/flake easily. I did chip it but it's under the trim and not visible. I used a drill bit but slowly spinning backwards and very gently so it wouldn't grab.
- For me this has taken this guitar to a premium level, the tone is now inspiring, and was a fun project, where I learned a little something. I guess I was around $425.00 all in. I bought this guitar used for $1200.00 at $1625.00 its a ton of guitar value that covers a tone of sonic ground IMO. I'm going to fiddle with this a for a while but initially I'm kinda so so on the coil tapped sound. It's certainly not like the single coils in my Tele, which is understandable, I suppose it will be passable for a single coil on some occasions, which is fine it's not what I want from the guitar anyway. The Lambertone pickups are best I've found for what I do, just fantastic IMO.
Side note: I'm in love with this Wide/Fat neck profile. I think the name is misnomer, it's a perfect fit for me I almost excluded this guitar from by buy list because of the neck profile.
CrimesAgainstMusic
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I have been following this thread, as I consider myself a SE Hollowbody customer ... but which one ? I think I pretty much have a handle on that, but like you, until I was actually able to fondle a Standard at my local Sam Ash, I had ruled the Hollowbody out due to the "Wide/Fat" neck profile. It just makes me now feel more obligated to give the local guy the "Right of First Offer" price, and I expect to pay more there, because they have costs like inventory and sales staff an on-line guy would not have ... If not for that actual experience, I'd still be ruling the Hollowbody out ...
Tim Trittin
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I am a big advocate of buying local whenever I can and paying for that service. Especially if you use their resources to figure out what you want. I hope you do that, even if Sam Ash is a big box we still need local resources. I'm afraid they will become a thing of the past. This has been a tough guitar to come by. I had actually found this guitar at store 1 1/2 hours from me, and drove down, only to find they wouldn't let me play it due to CoVid..... sorry I have to feel and hear a guitar to buy it. I was also on the waiting list at Sweetwater for a long time never saw the guitar but if it had come in I would have driven up there to play it (thankfully they're close and great operation). Right, now I think PRS is about the only guitar I would want to take a chance on buying without playing it because the set ups are so good, but they are still living breathing things and all different, at least to me.
Justin Zak
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@Tim Trittin Do you happen to have a video with your new setup? I have a HBii piezo coming in and want to put my Cremas in it and was hoping to put a push/push pot(s) for coil splitting (separate if possible).
You found an SE HB2 Piezo? I'm been coming up blank. (Although, to be fair, I haven't been trying super hard!)
Justin Zak
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Yeah, I got lucky. A peacock blue popped up on Reverb yesterday. I have a feed notification for SE HBii piezo, so anytime one comes up on Reverb I get it in my home feed. Supposed to arrive on Friday! I already had the charcoal HBii but have been wanting the piezo since it came out.
Tim Trittin
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No, I don't have video of it, I do have a few pics of the finished product just haven't bothered setting up a hosting site to post them. In order to split the coils you either need a toggle switch or a push pull pot. I'm sure someone who knows more than me can be 100% positive on this but separately splitting the coils is a little trickier on this guitar with only 1 volume and 1 tone control as the coil tap push pull is used on the tone control. I don't believe Push Pull pots work well on the volume side and you'd need 2 coil taps so the leaves you to adding toggle switches. I split mine together. The drawback is I can't get the one humbucker and one single coil tone together. I will tell you that so far I have not used the split sounds at all, it's ok but just not the same and the Crema pick ups are dynamic enough I haven't missed it. I played a part last night that called for that single coil near country tone, I just used the bridge pick up and picked a little closer to the bridge it sounded nice.
Both Lambertone and Fralin have decent wiring diagrams. Lambertone has a nice diagram of using a resistor on the coil tap which should help with the output drop when the pick up is split. I didn't bother with that but I would need a boost or a different preset if I want consistent gain levels.
@Tim Trittin
I have my Peacock SE Hollowbody with my tech and he is trying to figure out how to wire and configure the three way switch for the mag/mix/piezo installation.
Would you mind providing detailed instructions and a parts list? Willing to send you a Venmo tip for your time. Thanks
I have my Peacock SE Hollowbody with my tech and he is trying to figure out how to wire and configure the three way switch for the mag/mix/piezo installation.
Would you mind providing detailed instructions and a parts list? Willing to send you a Venmo tip for your time. Thanks
Tim Trittin
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Responded to you PM but I'll need to pull it out and check it out to refresh my memory it was pretty simple. It'll take a minute for me to get to it. Are you simply adding the 3 way switch?
Appreciate the offer no tips necessary.
Thanks for getting back to me @Tim Trittin
Originally I just wanted to replace the humbuckers and add a three way toggle switch for mag/mix/piezo like the Core have, but after reading this thread I think maybe the pots and switch should be replaced, too. Maybe a treble bleed if possible and not too much trouble. I'm not interested in doing push/pull for tapping.
My guitar tech doesn't mind holding on to it for a while we aggregate more info.
The offer for a tip still stands if you change your mind! Your kindness in offering more info and pics is greatly appreciated!
Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread.
Nice F Holes
New Member
It depends what you're trying to do. I was thinking you wanted to use the single (combined) Piezo/mag jack, and put a switch on that circuit [there are 2 output jacks: (Piezo/mag) and (mag only.)] But now I'm thinking that maybe you just meant a switch to change between the two circuits, thus still using both output jacks?
I am in the process of installing Seymour Duncan triple shot pup rings into my SE Hollowbody ii Piezo, but, for the life of me, I cannot find any info explaining which wires are what (hot, north, south) in the 85/15s that come stock. Did either of you guys doing the mods figure this out in the process?
