Swapping out the Super 3 in a PC1

[slash-ed]

Hey guys,

So the Super 3 is not really floating my boat. Figured I'd just easily swap it out for a D-sonic that I have lying around to see if I like that better. Opened up the control cavity and... WHOA!

With the 5-way blade switch, I had naturally assumed (being used to it with my other guitars) that the 4th position was bridge (split) + middle. Looking at the connection to the PCB (and the only thing close to a schematic I could find, here: http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/foru...?topic=15295.0) I don't think that's so?

Also, coming out of the pickups and to the PCB, I'm only seeing a black and a red wire connected to it - where are the rest, grounds etc? I haven't quite yanked out the pickup yet (was too alarmed by intense control cavity wiring). Would there then be any way to wire it so that the 4th position was split?

Thanks guys, all help appreciated. I'm by no means an advanced solder jockey, but have done pickup swaps easily in the past, so I'm hoping I can do this without having to send it to a tech.

[SixstringKing]

One is the ground (black) and the other is the live wire (red). Your best bet would be to cut the wires and solder the leads from the new pickup to them and tape or use shrink tube on them and then just plug it back into the PCB board.

[slash-ed]

Cool, thanks for that. I thought so but wanted to confirm!

So there's no coil split then? I'm genuinely surprised.

If I cut the existing wire in the middle, I shouldn't have to remove the connector from the PCB at all, right? It shouldn't get hot enough to fry the PCB if I leave a decent amount of slack.

Edit: Is it black + bare or just black? I'm assuming it'll be black + bare as usual.

Also, are factory Super 3 pickups for PC1s 2 conductor then? I didn't see any extraneous wires for splitting anywhere...

[rjohnstone]

Stay away from the 5 way, all those leads go back and forth between the PCB board, not to any pickup.

Just pull the Super 3 and clip the PCB connector off the end and attach it to the new pickup. Take head to how the Super 3 was wired to the connector.
The coil split wires are joined and wrapped.
Plug it back into the PCB board an enjoy.

[slash-ed]

Thanks man. That worked well. Although it took me a little longer than I expected, pulled the connector, wired it to the pickup, shrink wrapped everything... then the joint was too fat to fit back through the hole between the pickup route and the control cavity

Extra question - now that the D-sonic is all happy, I've found that in Harmonic mode on the highest intensity setting there is some squealing feedback in the background before the driver takes over. Looking at that BKP forum post I linked to, it seems like the internal trimpots need to be calibrated to the new pickup. Which ones are the trimpots in question, if you guys have done it before? And will I have to pull the PCB out to get to them??