Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

Eagerly waiting for neck and bridge DiMarzio evolutions to arrive via UPS. There were 50% off (do they just say that all year around I wonder?). Hopefully I won't accidentally wire them to my coffee maker.

How many of you wire your own guitars? I'm thinking I should be able to do it given the fact that I've done a lot of soldering in my lifetime - just never rewired anything like a guitar before Think I shoulld pick up the "shielding tape" while I'm at it? whatcha think?

cheers.

SirJamsalot wrote:Eagerly waiting for neck and bridge DiMarzio evolutions to arrive via UPS. There were 50% off (do they just say that all year around I wonder?). Hopefully I won't accidentally wire them to my coffee maker.

How many of you wire your own guitars? I'm thinking I should be able to do it given the fact that I've done a lot of soldering in my lifetime - just never rewired anything like a guitar before Think I shoulld pick up the "shielding tape" while I'm at it? whatcha think?

cheers.

Excellent news! I have DiMarzio's on my performance axe too (ToneZone Bridge, PafPro Neck) and I did my own soldering. The PuPs come with wiring diagram in the box. If not, they have them PDFs on DiMarzio's site. Good luck and hope you enjoy them.

did either of you bother with "shielding tape"?
I found some schematics on the site, thanks. Seems pretty straight forward.

I passed on a nice 7-string that had Evo's in it. Unless you use a lot of effects (like Vai), you may not like the sound if you're pushing your amp. In the neck position??? Definetly NOT reccomended. You'd be better off with an Air Norton or a Paf Pro in the neck.


Anyway...just my 2 cents from hearing them in both positions. Check out Harmony Central's reviews on the Evo's. Most of them seem to follow what I've heard as well.


Hope it all works out for you though.

Metal D wrote:I passed on a nice 7-string that had Evo's in it. Unless you use a lot of effects (like Vai), you may not like the sound if you're pushing your amp. In the neck position??? Definetly NOT reccomended. You'd be better off with an Air Norton or a Paf Pro in the neck.


Anyway...just my 2 cents from hearing them in both positions. Check out Harmony Central's reviews on the Evo's. Most of them seem to follow what I've heard as well.


Hope it all works out for you though.

cool, thanks - I'll check out those reviews.

SirJamsalot wrote:Eagerly waiting for neck and bridge DiMarzio evolutions to arrive via UPS. There were 50% off (do they just say that all year around I wonder?). Hopefully I won't accidentally wire them to my coffee maker.

That would be a shame. I'm a humbucker guy, but I really do believe coffee requires single-coils.

A couple of pick-ups for a guitar?



ok that was lame, very bored today.

too funny.

You definitely don't need shielding tape. You don't even need it with single coils. Although at one point I'd done it to all of my guitars, it was all just a waste of time. If anything it just makes your pickups sound dull. All shielding tape has since been removed from all of them. If your humbuckers don't buck the hum, well then they're not really humbuckers are they? Those DiMarzios will be fine.

I really like Santos' setup. Tone Zones are my favorite DiMarzios. I love them in the neck and bridge. They just have a lot of flavor. I'm not sure why Ibanez chooses Air Nortons for a neck pickup. I personally think they're dull. They do have a good individual notation quality, but a tad lifeless for my taste. I'd rather lower a Tone Zone in the neck and get a bold full flavor. A lotta Bass tones come out of them.

I've never had an Evolution in a neck position. But a long time ago I had a guitar with one in the bridge and I did like it. Evolution, Tone Zone, Steve's special, all good bridge pickups. It just depends on what you're looking for it to sound like. You'll have to just see how you like one in the neck I guess.

When it comes to doing the swap, first thing to do if you're not familiar is take a few pictures of the wiring before doing anything. That way you have a reference of what it was like before to look at. It helps a lot if you ever find yourself not sure of something. If you already know how to solder, you have more than half the battle won. If you're just doing a pickup swap, it's really not very hard.

A couple pics from a recent show:





This one has a Steve's Special in the bridge, Tone Zone in the neck. Love this guitar man. The Steve's Special was the pickup I used for the Sky Down solo. Go have a listen again in my profile. It was just perfect for it.

Shredd6 wrote:You definitely don't need shielding tape. You don't even need it with single coils... *snip*

Great photos! The neck PU is smoooth

I think what I'm going to do is try the pups i bought since I bought em and anything will be a step up from the pups I have in right now..

If I find they're too bright, then I'll save up for some replacements.

thanks!

I think you'll be cool with it personally. If you bought an Evolution set, then they'll be calibrated right as far as output. Regardless of what pickup it is, if you move one from the bridge to the neck you'll always notice a drop in the top end.

I personally like a lot of bass tones in a neck pickup. But then again, I've never been much for conventional thinking. When I was playing hard-core music, I liked having a Super Distortion in the bridge and neck. Most people told me I was dumb for having a Super in the neck.. That is until they heard my style of music, then it made more sense. I trust my ears, not charts or reviews. Unfortunately, it can end up being expensive experimentation.

The same goes for having a Tone Zone in the bridge and neck. Typically, conventional wisdom tells me to use an Air Zone in the neck. But I don't find them as flavorful. The lower output of them takes the spice off what's good about a Tone Zone. I'll just lower a Tone Zone further from the strings to do my calibration. I have that set in my Squier Esprit. It's a chambered Mahogany body, and the neck position is really thick in bass and mids.

Let me know when you have it finished. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on the Evo neck pickup.

I just bought 2 single coil Pups for $5.19 a piece. They're going into my to new Cigar box guitars.

I've been digging into guitar parts and it's amazing how cheap parts can get.

I found an 3watt amplifier harness for $27.00...it includes the speaker....I'm building a cigar box amp....Just to get my mojo on......