Cork Sniffer's ES-12G

[tonyw]

250K pots warm up a pickup 500k brighten, so 500k in that baby.

I wil be using 500k no load pots, it means when they are on 10 you are getting the true sound of the pickups.

[cork sniffer]

Thanks again Wokka that link did "explain it in simple terms", good for a new boy like me.
and
Tony I understood your warm and bright comment, to the point, as required. Thank you.

[wokkaboy]

no worries Corky, really every player is chasing their own sound from the instrument, so see if your wife likes the sound of it with stock parts and you can always experiment later with different resistance pots and caps and upgrade to better quality electrics and pickups

[cork sniffer]

Finished except for moving the wire showing at F hole.
Next week will cut and fit a new nut to accommodate Rickenbacker style reverse stringing.
My wife is very happy with all about it other than the action is a bit high, that will be addressed when nut is changed.

A big education from this build and lessons to carry on to future builds. Actually with this behind me I'm negotiating on a popular big name semi hollow that requires internal work, no longer will I back away from stuff like this.

Thanks to all who share knowledge on this forum.



Last week my first harness, next one will be much better.

[gavinturner]

Looks really awesome! Love the headstock decal. Any chance of a sound demo?

cheers,
Gav.

[cork sniffer]

Looks really awesome! Love the headstock decal. Any chance of a sound demo?

cheers,
Gav.

My wife kept saying "no colour, no decal" etc.
Last night I noticed she'd attached one of her much loved seahorses so I suggested if that's what she still wants next week I'll build some clear over it when I change the nut.
Don't hold your breath waiting for a sound demo, one day we may figure out how to do one.

[wokkaboy]

hey Corky looks good, is there clear coats on there ?

[cork sniffer]

hey Corky looks good, is there clear coats on there ?

Eight coats of clear matt but it was just too rough so finished off with 1200 to make it smooth to touch but dull to the eye.
As previously said it was my wife's call all along and she sees things differently to most (god love her).
It was way cheaper to do it her way than get a divorce .

[cork sniffer]

The new adventures of what WAS Mrs Cork Sniffers 12 string.
My dear lady hasn't touched this PB guitar since she got her vintage 12 string Rickenbacker some months back. Adam has very kindly put a few bits together for me to convert it to a 6 string and Aust Post are dealing with it as I type.
Long story short ... I love this wooden guitar, it owes me very little and want to be a little adventurous now it's mine and not hers. Once I have it playing nicely as a 6 string and before I doctor the head stock into a 6 I want to upgrade all electrics ... and now I'm asking for comments.
How dumb or workable is this idea, a lipstick pickup mounted at the end of fret board, close to it a Gibson 335 style humbucker and at the bridge a Gretsch style Filtertron? I'm thinking lipstick = twang, 335 humbucker = blues, Filtron = I don't know just great sound. I figure 3 pickups will require a serious rewire, I don't understand the implications of single coil and humbuckers mixed.
I'm not much of a player but like to muck about with tones and at this moment the above appeals, tomorrow I may think differently but just now open to constructive comment.

[Simon Barden]

The only real issues with mixing single coils and humbuckers are:

1) Differences in relative output level.

Most single coil pickups (especially the lipstick type) have a lower output than a humbucker. So there can be a big jump in output levels when switching between the two. Makes it harder to set a suitable level on the amp if you are switching between pickups mid-song. So when mixing them, it's quite a good idea to go for lower output humbuckers and higher output single coils to minimise the difference.

2) The compromise on potentiometer values.

Humbuckers are normally used with 500k ohm pots to help keep their tone bright, whilst single coils are generally used with 250k ohm pots, to take a bit of treble from their sound, otherwise they can often sound overly bright if used with 500k pots.

It all depends as to how you'd plan to wire up three pickups. Add more pots so each pickup has a volume and tone, or run with the same number of pots as now but maybe change to a master volume and a tone control per pickup? You'd also need to work out how you would switch the pickups as the existing pickup selector switch can only cope with two pickups.

But maybe there is a different way to achieve what you want. If you really want a lipstick sound, then you could fit a lipstick humbucker e.g. Golden Age Lipstick Humbucker and simply fit a coil tap switch to swap between a single coil and humbucker sound. Or you could run with a more standard humbucker with 4-conductor wiring and again fit a coil tap switch to swap between a single coil and humbucker sound.

If you do fit a single lipstick coil by the neck, then you will need to enlarge the neck pickup cavity and move the neck humbucker towards the bridge, and make a custom cover to hide the resulting hole around the lipstick pickup.

There's also the aesthetics to consider. If you want a gold plated lipstick pickup, there will be a reduced number of choices. If you change to all chrome or nickel coloured pickups, then unless you change the other hardware to match, it's going to look a bit odd. (I see that Artec also make a lipstick humbucker and that's available in gold).