I've become quite a fan of headless guitars, eventually. Last year I bought a headless EART. Unfortunately despite having the most beautiful stainless steel frets I sent the guitar back for a refund since the gadget that passed for machine heads was impossible to tune. Recently I noticed what appeared to be a headless kit guitar at Gear4music with a different tuning unit. I'm not their biggest fan having endured a disastrous introduction to basswood kit bodies from them a year or so ago, but once I established that it wasn't a kit and there was a very clear 30 day refund period, I gave in and bought from them again.
The instrument arrived quickly and was well packed which was as well because DPD just dumped it in the middle of our front garden barely 5ft from the pavement. I discovered that the instrument has an oversized switch selecting one or both of the humbuckers, plus a single volume pot. The wiring was appalling with several loose, unsoldered wires. The pickups are plastic-encased plastic covers that I didn't even bother playing.
Instead, I installed a spare pair of hot humbuckers from a well-known supplier, replaced the chunk of a selector switch with a DPDT mini switch and filled the selector switch hole which I shall redrill for a pot with push-pull to give me a Lindy Fralin pair of tone circuits. I did consider leaving the selector switch in place and using a couple of SPDT mini switches to give me switchable tone options but the pot and push-pull felt a better option. I assume I shall have to add my DPDT switch to the earth grounding regime but otherwise, I think the wiring is straightforward. I'm not planning to coil tap the pickups so there's no need for another character.
Although I think I've thought the options through even at this late stage I'm happy to listen to all advice and suggestions.
Comments
The pickups are sealed into the plastic cases with a sort of gunge, solid though it looks as if it was once fluid, and with a look of impenetrability. The coils are unsplittable. Roland, BillDL has kindly photographed the tuners in his post. I've removed the pickups carefully so if the Warman Zebras I've replaced them with aren't any better I can always replace them. In fact, the Warman site is unclear - the Zebras are described as a pair then elsewhere they appear to be priced separately so, needing a pair for an ES335 I'm building I ended up with two pairs; this is my 'spare' pair. My preference would have been for Iron Gear pickups but I wasn't confident that the extra expense would be justified. Time will tell for I do like Iron Gear pickups.
I used the term oversized comparing the switch with the quite modest volume knob - diameter and height. It isn't the usual switch which is, as you say, quite small but an exposed, older-style device that looks almost Victorian in its simplicity- I'm not sure if that's what you describe as a Gibson switch. My public performances are limited to occasional open mic events and I've never been much of an onstage switch fiddler so the mini switch suits me fine. With some judicious expansion of the cavity beneath the cover there's now plenty of room for a replacement of the original volume pot (stiff towards one end of the travel), the mini selector and the new tone pot/push-pull switch that will give me two tone ranges.
Finally, to avoid an array of reducing washers I've filled the original hole for the 'large' selector switch and will re-drill a hole for the new tone pot.
As I say, if I've replaced the original pickups unnecessarily I can always put them back and return the Zebras to 'stock'. Only a new lump of high-density foam to seat them evenly in the cavity will be required.
Thanks for your comments. As you correctly state I might have done more work than is necessary or justified but at my age (79) I guess time is not so much a problem as when I was younger.
It sounds as though you have it all well planned out for ergonomics as well as versatility and I hope it goes well and turns out as you have planned.
Although the wood filler I used to reduce the hole left by the original chunky selector switch eventually set hard, I decided that using that aperture for the push-pull switch might be courting disaster long-term so I reversed the position of the pots. The volume control is now furthest from the pickups, the tone pot/push-pull switch is in the original volume pot position ie surrounded by all wood. The mini selector sits neatly between the two.
The only decision I now have to make is whether to mount the Warman pickups directly to the wood or put on a couple of black pickup surrounds and suspend the pickups from those. On the one hand, I think unsurrounded pickups look a bit unfinished, on the other, the surrounds look relatively large against the diminutive body and, probably more importantly, the extreme corner of the neck pickup surround extends very slightly over the cutaway scoop. Only an extreme shredder would be playing up there and I could always smooth down the surround if I used a black plastic instead of the black metal (which I take to be metal-coloured inside) one I have in stock.
If I go with the direct mounting option, the other decision I have to make is whether to use high-density or memory foam blocks to support the pickups or use latex tubing around the screws. The latex tubing avoids the mass of foam under the pickup which my sense suggests might keep the pickups brighter. But perhaps that's false logic.
AFAIK the pickup dimensions allow me the option of mounting without any additional routing inside the pickup cavities. I'll post my eventual decisions.
All that's left can be found elsewhere in the section - making a container that's more protective than the 'fereebie' plastic bag that's included in the purchase price.
I chose to go the direct mount route first so that I wasn't left with mounting ring screw holes if it went wrong. Of course, there'd be the problem of the larger holes in the pickup mounts but I think I could overcome that with a couple of nuts and some Loctite. Fiddly but possible.
I'll watch for the possible problems of the foam deterioration and I have plenty left for renewal if necessary. As you say, I don't expect any problems with the pickups and I'm really pleasantly surprised at the sound.
I first discovered this with Rickenbacker ‘toaster’ pickups - originally they were mounted with small rubber grommets under the corners of the pickup, but I found them quite microphonic, so I replaced the grommets with the later-style foam rings, and it very obviously changed the tone too.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
I'd still consider the tubing solution were it not for the fact that getting the humbuckers to lie properly horizontal beneath the strings always seems very difficult. Do you have any thoughts?
Provided the screws are properly located in the cavity, the latex rubbing is definitely the way to go. Much less hassle and, if the rubber blocks have any negative effect on the sound, well, this avoids it.
I've now completed the upgrade with the fitting out of the synth gig bag with 75mm of dense foam into which is cut the guitar shape, and the lining of the padding with curtain grade crushed velvet. Black would have been preferable but I wanted the job finished so it's now silver - as my wife said, fit for a Liberace of the six strings (though that's not me, in case anyone wondered!)