S-100 and S-70D Pickups?

BreederCreature

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My thread in the Amp section started to driff, so I made a new thread here since now my questions are pickup related haha. Here's where I'm at so everyone knows what's going on (this is quoted from Default's reply to my question):
Default said:
BreederCreature said:
The thing is when I turn the gain up on the distorted channel, I get real bad feedback, even when I'm real far away from the amp and muting the strings. I'm using an S-100 (with carved acorns :D) I got on ebay a couple weeks ago, so would it have something to do with that maybe?
BC, does it feed back with both pups? leave the switch in the middle position and try turning down the volumes. It could be that one or both pickups are microphonic and need to be potted(soaked in wax to solidify the loose windings) or replaced.
BreederCreature said:
Also, I looked online about guitar intonation and I think I need to do that on the S-100 (maybe it'll fix the feedback?). Should I attempt this myself or have a guitar tech do it? I've never had anything like that done on my S-70D, but I have a good feel for that guitar and it plays great, so should I bother messing with that?
Intonation isn't a big deal at all. Tune your guitar as normal, then hold down the string at the 12th fret. Is the resulting note on the money or is it flat or sharp? Take an itty bitty screwdriver and adjust the screw on the saddle. If it's sharp, adjust the saddle toward the butt of the guitar. If it's flat, adjust the saddle toward the neck.

It's simpler that it sounds, and being able to set your guitar up to your liking just makes the whole experience so much more satisfying.

Thanks! You made it sound so much easier than the website made it out to be haha. I'll give that a shot today most likely!

Would the wax thing be something I could do as well? Or would I have to send that out somewhere?

Also, should I look into acquiring the original pickups for my S-100? I love the way my S-70D sounds and I think that's got 2 original pickups in it (I maybe be wrong though. Here's a picture of it). Am I playing in 4th or 2nd position and which pickups am I using? I always assumed it's 2nd and I'm using the neck and middle ones, so the seymour duncan isn't being used when I play, but I could very well be wrong.

Thanks so much!
 

danerectal

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The single coils on your s-70d are original DiMarzio SD-1s. Couldn't tell you what they put in the bridge position, but it's obviously not original as the guitar would have had 3 single coils from the factory.

For my money, I'd try to get original Guild HB-1s if you replace the ones in you S-100. They sound the best in my opinion, and you have to mod or switch out the pickup rings to put different pickups in it which I would avoid at all costs.

To properly pot your original pickups, you would need a glue pot with precision temperature adjustment and a bee's wax/parafin blend. Also removing and reattaching the pickup covers can be an arduous task. If you have the equipment, know-how, and patience I would say go for it. If not, you can have someone else take care of it for you for a nominal cost compared to replacement. Good luck...
 

Default

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BreederCreature said:
Am I playing in 4th or 2nd position and which pickups am I using? I always assumed it's 2nd and I'm using the neck and middle ones, so the seymour duncan isn't being used when I play, but I could very well be wrong.

Ok, let me say what I think you're telling us, because I want to make sure that I'm getting it right.

You have a 5 position selector switch on the guitar?

You don't normally use the extreme switch settings, i.e. the middle or the all the way back or all the way forward?

You normally play the in-between switch positions of back/middle and middle/front?

Did I get that right?

If I did, most likely the middle Dimarzio pickup is the microphonic one, the reasoning being that it's the common pickup to both settings. If the Duncan doesn't feed back, and the neck position doesn't feedback, but the middle position does, well, then I get a cookie. :lol:

If the Duncan has a coiltap on it, you might be able to get a single coil sound out of it, but it looks like you have plenty of switches on that already!
 

BreederCreature

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Default said:
BreederCreature said:
Am I playing in 4th or 2nd position and which pickups am I using? I always assumed it's 2nd and I'm using the neck and middle ones, so the seymour duncan isn't being used when I play, but I could very well be wrong.

Ok, let me say what I think you're telling us, because I want to make sure that I'm getting it right.

You have a 5 position selector switch on the guitar?

You don't normally use the extreme switch settings, i.e. the middle or the all the way back or all the way forward?

You normally play the in-between switch positions of back/middle and middle/front?

Did I get that right?

If I did, most likely the middle Dimarzio pickup is the microphonic one, the reasoning being that it's the common pickup to both settings. If the Duncan doesn't feed back, and the neck position doesn't feedback, but the middle position does, well, then I get a cookie. :lol:

If the Duncan has a coiltap on it, you might be able to get a single coil sound out of it, but it looks like you have plenty of switches on that already!

Haha, yea, that guy's got a ton of switches. The guy who modified it told me what the 2 additional switches did, but I don't remember :( I think the one closest to the input jack is a kill switch, or at least that's what I use it for. So you mean if the Duncan feeds back, one of those switches may turn it into a single coil and stop it from feeding back?

Now I've tried both my S-100 and S-70 with my new amp and they both get super feedback! Does this mean it might be a problem with my new amp? I'm in California for a week, so I can't try them both out through my Marshall cab to check if that feeds back or play with the switches to see if it's the duncan on my S-70 :(

From what you're saying Default, it seems I use the DiMarzio SD-1s (specifically the middle pickup) the most (I do use the switch in it's 5th position, the switch is all the way up towards me, from time to time to get a deeper/warmer tone for more soul/jam parts in my band's songs, so I guess that'd be the duncan?). I like the way the DiMarzios sound the best overall.

danerectal: would you know where I could find some HB-1s, or do I just have to lurk on ebay for a while? Or should I look into getting some more DiMarzios? Or would they not fit in my S-100 (it looks like they wouldn't).

Thanks so much for your help guys! I've always just bought a guitar and used it as it was, so figuring out how to get one to sound how I want is kinda daunting haha.
 

BreederCreature

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when I was at home I tried the S-100 through my fender jazzmaster ultralight head and out my marshal cab and it still had feedback. My S-70 doesn't feed back through that I'm pretty sure.

I decided to ditch the entire jazzmaster head idea, my marshall head just sounds too good for me to compromise haha. They both feedback when going through my marshall head and out my new 2x12 (not a marshall), so that's why I'm worried my new amp could be the problem, although the S-100 had feedback through whatever I've had it run through, while my S-70 only through the marshall head and out the 2x12.
 

danerectal

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The HB-1s are pretty hard to find. Hans might part with some for you if you can get in contact with him. From my experience, the 70s HB-1s are loud as the f word, so you'll probably get at least mild feedback. When I have mine run with distortion, if I don't play, I get feedback. That's probably what you'll be dealing with unless you want to sacrifice tone with more restrained pickups.
 

BreederCreature

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danerectal said:
The HB-1s are pretty hard to find. Hans might part with some for you if you can get in contact with him. From my experience, the 70s HB-1s are loud as the f word, so you'll probably get at least mild feedback. When I have mine run with distortion, if I don't play, I get feedback. That's probably what you'll be dealing with unless you want to sacrifice tone with more restrained pickups.

Unfortunately I think I'd have to have more restrained pickups since I turn my distortion and volume up pretty high at shows haha. Are there any kind you would suggest?
 

BreederCreature

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ooo would that work with my setup now? How would that differ from turning my head down?
 

Dreamlander

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I think he means that you could use the volume pedal to easily turn your guitar down when you are not playing to prevent feedback, when you want to play crank it up.
 

BreederCreature

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ohhhhhhh, that'd make sense haha.

I'm not sure if that would work with how I structure my songs. A lot of the times I need to mute the strings for a measure or two while singing, then play a riff real quick, and mute them again.
 
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