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Thread: Dano weirdness

  1. #1
    Moderator fender3x's Avatar
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    Dano weirdness

    I looked long and hard for suitable pickups for my ESB-4. Love the filtertrons in DearthDamo's ESB-4, but was not sure I could get everything to line up on my bass, which has been having lining-up-issues...a story for elsewhere. So after a long process of elimination, I got some Dano-style alnico pickups. After a bit of surfing to figure out how to wire them, up I got to this page:

    http://dennysguitars.homestead.com/D...hematics1.html

    It was very helpful, but this is a really odd way to wire up pickups (at least it looks that way to me). At the moment I am planning to wire this like the "modern" Danos...

    Click image for larger version. 

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    I struggled quite a bit to understand this...and would not have gotten yet probably if it had not been for this note:

    • Front' position grounds out the rear pickup's output, and provides ground for the off side of the front volume pot.
    • 'Rear' position connects it's volume pot output to the output jack while the front pickup's leads are looped back onto each other to kill the front pickup.
    • 'Both' position removes the switch from the circuit and allows both pickups wired in series to function.


    This still seems quite odd to me, from the way it selects the pickups to the pot values. I know the pickups were the same on guitars and basses. Guessing that the pots and caps were the same too? I have not found anything to confirm or deny this...so will go with those values.

    Would be really interested in the experience of anyone who has tried something similar...

  2. #2
    The key component in that circuit is the special Dano switch, it won't work with standard 3-way toggle.

    The standard import or Switchcraft style 3-way toggle switches we normally use are On-Both-On, which we wire as Pickup 1-Both-Pickup 2. This works because the in the middle position the switch links to both contacts, in the up or down position it breaks one of the conacts.

    The Dano switch is an On-None-On type, where in the middle position it makes no contacts and then the up and down positions it makes a contact.

    So, in the above circuit, in the middle position the switch does nothing. The bridge pup runs through the bridge volume which links to the neck negative at the neck volume then the neck pup runs through the neck volume and to output. This links the pickups in series, instead of the more common parallel layout. In the front postion the switch links the ground to the neck volume's lug which grounds out the the bridge pup. In the rear position the switch links the neck volume's neck negative lug with its output lug, thus bypassing it.
    Scott.

  3. #3
    Moderator fender3x's Avatar
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    That was driving me nuts. As usual, your explanation cleared it up completely.

    Do the values make sense to you? They seem common for Danos. Best sense I've been able to make of it is that the 100K pots take the edge off the jangly highs. I also *think* I understand the mismatched caps to balance treble in the two different positions. I am pretty sure I don't get why the 1 Meg tone pots. My G&L bass has one too and I've never understood it either...

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    Last edited by fender3x; 03-08-2016 at 06:44 AM.

  4. #4
    GAStronomist stan's Avatar
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    The higher the value of the pot, the less high frequencies are sent to ground, giving a little more tonal range out of the pickup.

    Buckers are a bit darker than singles, hence the 500k pots vs 250k for singles, but the rules aren't in stone. Some people like 1meg pots on Les Paul's which brightens them up a bit

  5. #5
    Moderator fender3x's Avatar
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    Yeah, I get that. It's the mix of 100K and 1000K pots in he same tone circuit that seemed odd to me. The 100K pot makes sense to me since lipstick tube rend to be so naturally bright. It's really the 1M pot that seems odd. Is the logic that the 100K pot has already shunted so much high frequency to ground that the tone pot doesn't need to add to it? Or does the higher value pot roll off a greater tonal range?

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  6. #6
    Overlord of Music Fretworn's Avatar
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    I think the 100s are volume and the 1M are tone. On a Dano the volume and tone are stacked. The brown discs are volume, the cream knobs are tone. So the values are probably dictated by the dual pots that were available.
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  7. #7
    The way the volume pots work in that circuit vary based on switch position, so I'm guessing the values make sense for those pickups in that particular layout.

    Normally, volume pots work by dividing the signal between output and ground, the more you turn down the volume the more signal goes to ground. In the Dano circuit this is how the volumes work in the front and rear positions. But, in the middle position things change as the pickups are linked in series and the volumes work differently. Instead of dividing the signal between output and ground they now work more like bypasses or faders and control how much of the signal goes through the pickup and how much bypasses it.

    So, at a guess, the 1M tones and 100K volumes provide the best balance for sounds across the different pot and pickup interactions in the different positions.
    Scott.

  8. #8
    Overlord of Music Dedman's Avatar
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    this has been very educational, thanks Weirdy
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  9. #9
    Moderator dingobass's Avatar
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    So glad you sorted out the dano weirdness...
    Only dano would have 100k volume and 1 meg tone..... no one else could ever dream that level of weird up
    Normal folk havev1 meg vol, 100k tone

    There is always a workaround for glitches, mistakes and other Guitar building gremlins.....

  10. #10
    Moderator fender3x's Avatar
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    So, I guess the answer is that it sounded best to Nat Daniel ;-) Thanks! Really helpful explanation!

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