possible mods/hot rodding my go-to axe

[Samuel Hartpence]

I've got a Washburn J-9 (Washington Model). I've had it for about 10 years or so, and have always really loved it, but have found it difficult to dial in the sound that I want, so I'm thinking of modifying it to make the sound spectrums a little easier to dial in. I was thinking of just having one master volume and one master tone, and filling the other two holes with something like a varitone switch and perhaps a rotary coil-tapping or phase shifting switch.

This will be the first time modifying a guitar and want to know the possibilities with the foundation I'm starting with. Overall I like the pickups that are in this guitar as I've played in jazz groups and rockabilly with this same guitar, so don't care to replace them, but I don't know if what is in there makes some of these mods possible. From what I can dig up, the pickups are: Neck 8.6 kOhms Bridge 10.4 kOhms, and I believe it is Alnico 5 Bar magnets and 4 wires.

Basically, the two tones and the two volumes is likely the most versatile/or offers the most tonal spectrum, but I find I have a very difficult time dialing in what I want to hear live, so I think varitone would be great getting me in a ball-park with an overall tone to dial is in a bit, then phase shifts/coil taps could perhaps even open up some tones that I have never gotten out of this guitar (my favorite tune to play live is Sultans of Swing and I think Knopfler uses a phase shift quite a bit)

[Mark Swanson]

A couple of things for you. Knopfler used a stratocaster, with single-coil pickups, and you have hot humbuckers, right? The fundamental difference between these is what you are hearing, and trying to get a single coil sound out of humbuckers is not gonna do it.
The other thing I'm thinking is to suggest that you have a look at your amp also. I don't know what's on the other end of your chain, but the amp and how you run it can make all the difference too. many folks dig into their guitars when the real trouble is in the amp and effects, next comes the pickups.

[Samuel Hartpence]

It's a bit misleading to say that knopfler played stratocasters (his own estimation is that he owns around 70 guitars many of which were humbucker equipped, although I hear you, as this was recorded on a strat and through a Fender Vibrolux).

The amp that I use is an Ampeg Trem jet (Reissue)

All that said, I think you are missing the point, and one that you should understand as I believe you also strive for a more simplified set up on your own electrics if I recall. The two volume and two tone knobs just hard to navigate. So, I have 4 holes, and I really like one overall volume and one overall tone. The question is, with these pickups, what mods can I make with the remaining two holes to make signal shaping a little more accessible of straight forward. What I lack is the knowledge to even know what I can do with my current pickups. Can I tap them? Can I do a phase shift? What can I do with only two remaining holes (as I don't care to drill anything else)?

[Mark Swanson]

Ok, I get that. I just wanted to make sure you knew about the other stuff too.
If you have 4 wire pickups, then you can do a lot of stuff. I would suggest a series/parallel switch before a phase switch, personal opinion but the phase switch cuts a ton of level and just isn't something I like, while the parallel sound is closer to a strat with two coils on.
So there are a LOT of possibilities. Have you looked at the http://www.geocities.jp/dgb_studio/ DGB Studio's website? They have just about every different combination possible there. If you look around you'll find something that will work for you.

[Samuel Hartpence]

I have never seen a 4-way mini-toggle. Do you know where I can find one?

[Mark Swanson]

No...but they are probably out there, maybe someone else will know.
You mean a minitoggle switch with four positions, right? If I was working a switch like that in the middle of a song I'd never get it in the right place.

[Samuel Hartpence]

Point taken... I did run across a mini Free Way that had six selections. Apparently that is necessary for the Jimmi Page Mod. I ran into some conflicting data on my own guitar as well, and have not dug in myself to see what's in there. Both the 621 and the 622 were made with either 4-wire and 2-wire configurations. I e-mailed Washburn and I'll just have to see if they decide to send a reply on my particular guitar. I also found some wiring diagrams that had notations for a spin-select switch, and have had a hard time finding a supplier for those. If the pickups end up being 2-wire only, this project may get a little more expensive than I initially thought (think TV Jones)

[Joshua Levin-Epstein]

I started my guitar boogering career, like many others have, by "improving" stock guitars for more versatility. I've arrived at various conclusions some of which might actually be true;

Less is more. Leo was pretty close to absolute truth with the stock Tele, Strat, P-bass and Jazz Bass. Each has been improved (argualbly, but I'm not going there) since the first iteration, but not much. I like the Tele with the 3 or 4 way switch. Did you know the 3 way Neck/both/Bridge configuration was a post CBS modification?. I like the Strat with the 5 way switch. I live by the P-bass split pick-up (an iconic improvement) , as well as the 3 control Jazz Bass. I've modified all the above with much more complicated schemes, but less is more.

There are 5 sounds you can get out of each of your pick-ups: Coils in series in phase (the current set up), coils in parallel, coils in series out of phase (very thin), and either coil alone (a slight difference, but I'm going for quantity, not quality). Anything other than the stock set up will lower your volume. The single coils and in series out of phase increase noise. You makes your choices and takes your chances.

I'm with Mark with the series/parallel choice or you can use 3 way switches that would yield Series/coil cut/parallel or series/parallel/series out of phase (the old Ibanez tri-sound switch). This will certainly give you lots of choices. You might actually like some of them. You've got to consider ergonomics and functionality.

Caveats: The holes you are going to fill with switches are a larger diameter than the shaft for mini switches. I tried finding larger switches for such a purpose. The larger switches tend to have a much stiffer throw (like the polarity switch on an old Fender amp) and may not be conducive to quick switches while playing. You could work up some spacers to mate the mini switches to the larger holes. Also, your guitar is a hollow body, so wiring it up will be more challenging.

Joshua

[Samuel Hartpence]

Great info Joshua! Thanks.

One of the bits of information that I have run across is that the series parallel mod for humbuckers is really hit or miss based on the output. If the humbuckers are higher output, this mod turns to mud. In your experience, do you know approximately where the threshold for that output lies?

[Mark Swanson]

I think that it just depends on the humbucker. They are all quite different in their own way and I have found some work good in parallel and some don't, but I never noticed it going along with if the pickup was hot or not. It has to do with the magnets and how strong they are, everything counts.
You can find out if your pickups are two or four wire by taking a look at the wiring, you don't need to hear back from Washburn.

[Joshua Levin-Epstein]

This is where the empirical trumps the theoretical (Did I say that?). The only way you'll be able to decide if you like the additional sounds is by making the modifications. If you came to me and were determined to try these mods, I'd replace the tone pots with switching pots and wire them as series/parallel switches. If you were determined to go with a master volume and tone, leave out the second set of controls and use push/pull pots for the masters (and ignore the holes). Either scenario keeps you from searching for conventional switches that will fill the holes left by the removed pots.

Incidentally, unless the Washburn pick-ups are potted, they can be converted from 2 conductor to 4 conductor wiring. Now that would make this experiment expensive or really time consuming if you're doing this yourself. And if you bought new pick ups to get 4 conductor wiring, you'd be starting over because you don't know what those pick ups sound like in your guitar.

But that shouldn't stop you if you're motivated.

Joshua

[Samuel Hartpence]

I think I could use a 4-way rotary switch and fill those two holes with those.

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/produc ... witch.html

[Greg Robinson]

Hi Samuel,

What sort of deficiencies are you finding with the current electronics setup? It will make it easier for us to guide you if we know. I tend to think that less is more too, although I do like to have a powerful range of options, but it has to be intuitive first and foremost. A four way Tele switch that offers both pickups in series in addition to the traditional options is a great example of this (although I always put the series position last (position 4), after the bridge by itself rather than before the neck (position 1) as I find this order of selection more intuitive - as you advance the switch it gets more "raunchy" in each position). If I were to use a four way rotary switch, I'd probably want to label the positions for example.
Let us know, and maybe I can give you some ideas.

[Samuel Hartpence]

I've been reading up on quite a few mods, and have to say that there are a ton that I have no interest in. My main frustration has been, when I'm playing in my room and laying down tracks, and have been able to get nearly all the sounds I want from this guitar, but when I'm onstage, I have always constantly tweaked and fiddled with my 4 knobs, even half-way through a song, and I have accidently hit the wrong knob and sent my sound in the wrong direction. All of this has happened quite a bit while working in something like a jazz combo group, where improvisational musical moments and ideas have come and gone while I fiddle. I also don't have a volume pedal, and some sounds have been favorable with two pickups, but some of my collaborators wanted some volume fades, so I feel a little off with with the overall mood of the song/sound since I have to move one way or the other to get the fade (really, I'm the only one who's a little off, my band thinks I sound fine).

There have also been some sounds that I would like, and have never had. For instance, I play in a blues/rock/rockabilly group on occasion, and we cover Black Magic woman. On that song I would love to play in the neighborhood of the out of phase sound that Peter Green gets, and while I am in the process of building a tele, a couple of single-coil options on this guitar may be fun but I don't think that's a priority for this guitar.

What I think I want, is one overall volume and one overall tone, perhaps a varitone in one hole to get me in a neighborhood of a sound, then fine-tune with the overall tone, and perhaps another spin switch (just so it fills the stock hole) with a few options like series, parallel and phase, and keep same PU selector switch. I think this setup will simplify live playing and give me just a couple more sounds to play with.

[Warren May]

What about some sort of blend pot? GuitarElectronics has something they call Humbucker Control Pot that I haven't used yet but am thinking of ordering to toy with on an SG style guitar. Series/parallel for individual pickups may require you to use 2 holes, one for each pickup. I think. On the other hand, it's pretty easy to install a single DPDT switch to cut one coil of each humbucker. I have one guitar with a phase shift on the neck and I like it for a few things, especially with the tone control turned down and a clean channel on my amp, but it wouldn't be a priority, as Mark says.

[Chuck Raudonis]

I have one of the HCP pots installed. It lets you blend from full humbucker to full single coil and anywhere inbetween. It is a great tool and much better than just a switch to toggle between the two.

[Samuel Hartpence]

Not a whole lot of people are fans of the phase option. I'm surprised. It seems like that's fairly common amongst greats like Peter Green, Brian May, and Mark Knopfler. BTW, I'm talking both full pickups out of phase, not a single humbucker split and out of phase.

[Samuel Hartpence]

The bucker control pot does look quite cool.

[Greg Robinson]

Hi Samuel,
Sorry I hadn't had a chance to respond to you until now.
To be honest, it seems to me like you want to achieve two seperate and conflicting goals. You want to simplify the two volume/two tone controls (which is already one of the simplest wiring schemes), but then you want to add extra controls that are usually not very intuitive, like a varitone and coil cut and phase switching. A varitone is useful, yes, but I find it much better for a studio situation than live because I'm always forgetting which position sounds like what, no matter how long I've been using a particular guitar. The variable humbucker coil cut control I have never found to be any more useful than an on/off switch, all the useful range is at the ends, there's not really much subtlety to be had in-between. A phase switch can be useful, but you'll get a HUGE volume drop, even if you're riding your volume control as well, you'll still probably need to adjust your amp too. You can help mitigate the volume drop by having the phase switch put the pickups in series rather than parallel, or add a bass-cut cap inline with one of the pickups, but this requires experimentation.

Of course, if you don't want to be drilling holes in your guitar, you're probably going to want to use push-pull or push-push pots. But how do you assign their function? You don't want to be "hitting the wrong button" just like you were "turning the wrong knob".
Some simple things like putting a coil cut on each volume control for its respective pickup is simple and intuitive. You could put a series/parallel switch on each of the tone controls, again, intuitive.

I'm sorry if I come accross as negative, and I don't mean to discourage you, just giving you some things to consider.
I'd also suggest that you just try some of these options to see if you would actually like to keep them, rather than planning it out and buying parts or drilling holes and commiting to it. You can always hardwire any of these options in to test them out, that's always reversible.

[Mark Swanson]

Another simple thing to consider, get a cheap guitar (a cheap electric guitar these days is actually pretty good, and can be made quite playable) and use it to experiment on. Try everything you want on that and when you find the sounds you like, build them into your good axe.