HRW's going into H-575 and H-555. Any advice on wiring harness mods?

[Plentine]

I am changing the pickups to HRW's in my H-575 and H-555.  The 575 has flat wound strings and will be for Jazz.  The 555 will be more for Blues.   Both are getting a new wiring harness with push/pull pots for coil split.  Looking at Bareknuckle 550K push/pull pots for both.  Considering a 50's wiring setup to preserve the high end when rolling down the volume.  I found someone on E-Bay who making unique tone pots.  Here is a link to one of his builds.  There are a lot of other mods on his E-Bay site.  Please let me know if you have any suggestions and or mods for the wiring harness. Thanks in advance.  Pete

[Genericmusic]

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[DetroitBlues]

My advice?  Pay someone else to do the work.  No control cavities to get to any of that stuff.  Many people damage their tops with hot solder or a scratch from the iron/wires/pickups, etc...

[TalismanRich]

11 hours ago, DetroitBlues said:

My advice?  Pay someone else to do the work.  No control cavities to get to any of that stuff.  Many people damage their tops with hot solder or a scratch from the iron/wires/pickups, etc...

I don't know if one of those special pots would even fit through the f-hole.   You probably would have to do all the work through the pickup cutout. 

 

[Plentine]

Thanks.  Everything is a little easier with the hollow body H-575.  A little trickier going through the pickup cutout of the H-555.  I've already asked for measurements for the special pots.  The wiring harness will be built and soldered outside like in the picture below from another build and then fed into the body cavity to minimize any soldering close to the guitar.  Still a work in progress picking the pots and wiring.  Advice from others has been helpful!

[rockabilly69]

both beautiful guitars! I make templates all the time and yours should work great. Now that crazy pot idea, sounds too gimmicky to me, but then again, I put a rangemaster circuit into my Zemaitis  Good luck with the job!!!

 

 

[Plentine]

Thanks Rockabilly. The template is courtesy of Frankhond from this forum for his wiring harness installation. 

Beautiful guitar you have there!  Yes, the tone pot from the E-Bay listing seems gimmicky but seems pretty sound in design.  You should see the one he has with the Tropical Fish capacitor!  Your rangemaster circuit is a good mod.  The things we do in search of better tone!  

[MartyGrass]

You will end up pushing everything through the pickup cutouts.

Something I've found helpful is a heavy wire with a magnet glued to the tip to chase stray parts.  Another homemade tool is like a spatula made from heavy coated wire.  Instead of a flat plate, which a real spatula has, there's a loop on the end you put into the body.  This guides the pots into place.

The H-555 will require some patience.

[PunkKitty]

Look at the 1/4 inch cable in this picture.

This is my 535. When I replace pickups in a hollow body or semi hollow, I use a tool made from a cheap molded guitar cable. I whittle down the plastic above the plug and make sure that it will fit into the jack hole of the guitar. Then I thread it into the jack hole when I pull the old harness out so it will be in position when I want it to be. I use this to then pull the new harness into place. It saves me a lot of time. If possible, get no more than a 3 foot cable, and whittle both ends so you can use either side. It just makes life much easier. 

[Steiner]

The distance between the pots on a 575 is larger than a standard H-150.  Reaching through the pickup holes is a PITA unless you have relatively small hands.  I use strong thread through the holes to pull the harness in position.  That said, have fun.

Updating Heritage pots and caps is one of the best upgrades I've done for sound.  The epay seller appears reasonably priced.  Though a time consuming process, it's worth it.

Beautiful guitars!

[PunkKitty]

I agree with Steiner. I use Emerson spec CTS pots if I can get them and Russian PIO .022 caps that I buy from the Ukraine. 

[Plentine]

Thanks Monica!  I always appreciate your advise.  I am considering Bareknuckle 550K pull/push pots and will look into the Emerson spec CTS pots and Russian PIO caps.  Does anyone have a preference to Audio Taper or Linear Taper pots?  Some say there is a sharp jump in volume with Audio Taper and a more gradual increase in volume with the Linear Taper pots.  Any thoughts using a .015 cap for the neck pot to minimize the high end tone going to ground and keep it brighter?  Thanks again for everyone's advise.

[PunkKitty]

Audio taper pots using 50's wiring. That will allow a gradual increase in volume. I'm not familiar with the Bareknuckle pots. I prefer CTS. I'm partial to .022 caps for humbuckers. Really, any good cap will do. They can be orange drops, or, if you prefer, PIO. I buy them in bulk from the Ukraine because they are less expensive that way. But a lot of suppliers sell caps. 

[Plentine]

Thanks to everyone for their insights into my wiring harness project.  The experience and tips from MartyGrass, PunkKitty and Steiner are very much appreciated. I am taking my time researching the parts for the wiring harness and will tackle it in the months ahead.  

Here is a link to the Bareknuckle 550K push/pull pots.  A few more solder points, but not on the bottom.  Something to think about.  Is the 550K pot better than the 500K pot?  I'm sure Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap would say yes, it's 50 more!  Especially when you want to turn it up to 11 on the amp!  

[PunkKitty]

38 minutes ago, Plentine said:

Thanks to everyone for their insights into my wiring harness project.  The experience and tips from MartyGrass, PunkKitty and Steiner are very much appreciated. I am taking my time researching the parts for the wiring harness and will tackle it in the months ahead.  

Here is a link to the Bareknuckle 550K push/pull pots.  A few more solder points, but not on the bottom.  Something to think about.  Is the 550K pot better than the 500K pot?  I'm sure Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap would say yes, it's 50 more!  Especially when you want to turn it up to 11 on the amp!  

They are sold as CTS push/pull pots here in the US. 500k, 525k, 550k are all good.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/W3500002--mojo-tone-cts-push-pull-potentiometer-short-shaft-500k?mrkgadid=984185277&mrkgcl=28&mrkgen=gdsa&mrkgbflag=0&mrkgcat=generic&acctid=21700000001645388&dskeywordid=39700048800210508&lid=39700048800210508&ds_s_kwgid=58700005371980883&device=c&network=g&matchtype=b&adpos&locationid=9021573&creative=452849193005&targetid=dsa-824852042819&campaignid=6730319002&awsearchcpc=1&gclsrc=aw.ds&&rkg_id=0&campaigntype=dsa&campaign=aaDSA&adgroup=984185277%3ADSA+-+Product&placement=google

[Plentine]

Perfect!  Thanks.