The 30 year tune up: HSS with JEM style
Yes, Yet Another Tweak
Confession time
Ok, I did not actually stick with the previous wiring, as promised.
To be fair, this is because I had to completely dismantle the guitar for the re-spray.
I had been hoping to skimp on the necessary work, but There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch (TANSTAAFL).
Given I’d already crossed the threshold, I might as well have another think — was my reasoning.
So, as blending single coil and humbucking pickups can produce a less “lively” sound than one might want, the JEM style approach seems to be the best of both worlds: here’s how to achieve that.
“Blend Switch”
This adds in the bridge (H) pickup, and as it’s done as a simple join to the output pin, all the pickup positions get the benefit.
This really raises the number of possibilities and some of them are quite distinct. Neck + Bridge in particular gives a sound this guitar could never really do before
“JEM mode switch”
This is an extension of the style used for HSH guitars.
How this is works for HSS is how you might expect: the bridge is split when combined with the middle.
Since the neck is also a possibility, I threw in an extra wire link that will give the split bridge when the blend switch is used.
Enough! On to the Results!
Indeed.
Here’s the same little improvisation: some open chords (open E and open D to get the variety), some single note lines and open strings, palm muting and chords played at the 5th fret. These are the kinds of techniques that have different sounds to me, and should show up the characteristics of the combinations.
As usual, the sound is put through a clean amp sim, to avoid sounding too weird and the spectrum is analysed.
The combinations are in sequence
01 Bridge,
02 Middle,
03 Neck,
04 Bridge + Middle,
05 Middle + Neck,
06 Bridge + Neck,
07 Bridge + Neck + Middle,
08 Bridge + Neck + Middle (JEM),
09 Bridge + Neck (JEM),
10 Bridge + Middle (JEM)
Conclusion
I have to confess (and there will be a separate post on this, I assure you), that I used to have trouble getting on with this guitar.
However, the body and the electronics always delivered a lively tone which made it a great all-rounder, although the body finish used to get me some funny looks.
With this new configuration, the great basic sounds are there, along with some new wrinkles, and there is not much more else I could do (most reverse phase arrangements, while perhaps exciting, are out the way the single coils are shielded).
