Hohner G3T pickups and unanswerable questions
Digital Larry
Pro guitar. And yes it's way easier to keep it in tune!
http://www.hohnerusa.com/index.php?322
Many of the reviews of this guitar talk poorly of the pickups. Well,
I'm not too excited about them either, but I don't know whether I want
to spend any time doing anything about it either.
The neck and middle are "custom design single coils" while the bridge
is a "custom design humbucker with coil tap".
On every other guitar I own, switching more pickups together (in
parallel) causes the output to increase, other than on my Yamaha
SSC500 where I put a phase reverse switch on the middle one - clearly
that one cuts out a lot of mid/low end when the phase reverse is
switched in.
On this Hohner, switching in either one of the SC's reduces the output
of the HB. I'm sure it can all be explained from an electrical point
of view - I just find it unusual! Also the output of the SC's seems
quite low - lots of distortion settings on ym Boss Micro BR clean
right up compared to using the bridge position HB.
Also I notice that alone, the 2 SCs don't sound much different from
each other, nor when switched together - maybe a little louder there.
I have this urge to do something... anything... that won't be too
stupid or pour too much $$$ down the drain. I could phase reverse the
middle P/U on this thing... replace one or the other of the SCs with a
hot rails type affair... switch to acoustic... etc...
RichL
First, it's not true that switching to two or more pickups that are
arranged in parallel increases the output level. If you put the output
on a scope, you'd see. It may seem louder because of the different
amplitudes of the harmonics that you're hearing.
But anyways, I'm just guessing, but I'd think that you'd be happier
with the more-than-one pickup sound if you used the coil tap when
engaging other pickups at the same time as the bucker. Then you've got
(in principle) similar pickup resistances etc. If you don't use the
coil tap, the higher bucker resistance adds in parallel with the other
pickup(s)'s resistance and so you wind up with less overall, and
correspondingly lower output, because the single-coil resistance
dominates when they're in parallel.
My advice? Sit on any urge to change things, get to really know the
guitar and understand its advantages and disadvantages, and find out how
well they mesh with your own desires. Sometimes these things just grow
on you.
If you've got an ohm-meter, measure separately the resistances of each
of the pickups. Report back and let us know what's really under the
hood there.
SotR
>>>>>>other than on my Yamaha SSC500 <<<<
Oh wow, you have one of those? I had one for about 20 year but recently sold
it. Wish I hadn't but I never played anyway so it's hard to remember even
owning it. Cool guitar.
SotR
jtees4
I owned a Hohner G3T. It was my first foray into headless guitars and
it was a good starting point. Since then I have owned four G2Ts (the
older model with double humbuckers), a couple of Music Yo era GM's and
a GLB-T. All were sold off except for three Hohner G2T's which I still
have and I've decided I liked the best. I put active EMG's in one, and
that is my main guitar. The second one has the original EMG Selcts but
I will eventually put in EMG HZ3's which I already have. The third is
a little beat up and broken, and I'm basically keeping that for parts.
Having said all that...back to yours. I find that the pickups are the
weak point of all the Hohner G3T and G2T's. I always change them. I
didn't really like the three way on/off thing on the G3T though it
does give you some more control I guess. I just realy prefer the
standard three way switching and double humbuckers on the G2T's (well
actually on all my guitars).
I don't know about your specific question, from what I remember my G3T
did not have that issue. If the humbucker is the most powerful of the
three (which I'd assume) then I think it would make sense that you'd
reduce output by turning on one of the single coils with it...BUT I am
no expert and I'm sure someone will come along with the technical
knowledge to answer it correctly. Either way...good luck with yours.
If you have any questions other than electrical I could probably help
you.
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Digital Larry
guitar. Mostly I use it to stand against the wall next to my chair
and 99% of the time I'm playing it, it isn't even plugged in. I mean,
you can go and have a bite, and aaAAAaaaaaaAAAaaahhhhh you'd still be
hearing that. If you know what I mean. I don't play in a band or
anything. aaAAAaaaaAaaAaaaaahhHhHhhH....
What you're all saying makes sense - the SC's swamp the HB when
switched across it. I need to play it more actually plugged in to get
a sense of whether I want to invest the time and effort into
completely ruining it or just mosey along. Just wanted to see what
other folks had done. There are so many possibilities that without
spending a lot of time and money, neither of which I appear to have, I
don't see how I'd, well, aaAAAaaaaAaaAaaaaahhHhHhhH....
Digital Larry
> > I don't know about your specific question, from what I remember my G3T
> did not have that issue. If the humbucker is the most powerful of the
> three (which I'd assume) then I think it would make sense that you'd
> reduce output by turning on one of the single coils with it...
You know, I should be an expert, I have a degree in electrical
engineering, but 10 years in management, and (cough)...
I think I was surprised MOSTLY because I don't have any other mixed
pickup type guitars. They're either 3 SC's or 2 HB's. So I just
didn't know what to expect but it does make sense.
Digital Larry
Due to some uncontrollable impulse, I also purchased a Steinberger
Spirit GT Pro which is similar to the Hohner except it has an H-S-H
configuration and a 5-way switch. It also uses EMG Select pickups.
Now I took a look at EMG Selects and they appear to be about the
cheapest "name" pickup you can buy - you can get them for about $25
each.
Given that I now have 2 guitars like this, it makes some sense to mod
one of them to give it a different character.
My other favorite guitar is my Yamaha AES 800 which features Dimarzio
soapbars in an H-H configuration along with a 5-way switch. As far as
I know, these are the positions:
1) Neck H
2) Neck + bridge split coil + phase control knob active
3) neck + bridge H (don't know if it's series or parallel, but it's
likely parallel as there's no huge level jump when going to this
position)
4) Neck + bridge split coil
5) Bridge H
In positions 2 and 4 the guitar is not humbucking and gives some
really nice single coil type sounds. Esp. position 2, where this
extra tone knob is active, is really interesting - although the knob
could probably be substituted by a switch as I usually just crank it
to one extreme or the other. I think the knob continuously varies one
of the split coils from in-phase to out of phase.
Anyway my thought is to take the EMGs out of the Spirit guitar, and
select some pair of humbuckers and wire them similarly to the AES800.
I'm sure that the unique tones on pos. 2 &4 of the AES can't be easily
duplicated without using the exact same pickups in the exact same
relative positions, so I'm simply going to get some pickups that seem
reasonable for the kind of music I like to play (i.e. I'm not going to
get super high output for metal nor vintage for R&B - prob. somewhere
in between).
I also wired an old guitar I got from my brother with a 4-pole 5-way
switch, I can't remember all the combos but it's pretty varied,
including the last one which is all 4 coils from 2 HB's in series + in
phase for some ridiculous output level. There's also a toggle in
there for a phase reverse I believe but I digress.
When I worked on that guitar I didn't hook up the 5 way until I'd
experimented with the coil wiring using some clip leads. This is a
really effective and quick way to check various coil combinations
without doing any soldering. Sure there was some extra hum when doing
this but the basic idea works fine for assessing tones.
Anyone have ideas about:
1) Medium output level full size HB's for rock playing?
2) Split coil configurations that give cool tones?
jtees4
I own three Hohner G2T's at the moment. I first purchased a G3T, but
didn't like the individual pickup selector thing. The G2T's are a two
humbucking guitar with a three way switch, much better for me. I put
Active EMG's in one and I put EMG HZ3's (passive but USA made)in the
other one. The HZ3's sound good in this guitar and still retain the
correct look for it, AND they can be bought very cheaply on ebay when
you can find them. They are a good choice for this guitar. I also
owned a Steinberger GLB-T which was nice, but the truth is I like the
Hohner G2T's the best in th final analysis, with new pickups of
course.
Digital Larry
> I own three Hohner G2T's at the moment. I first purchased a G3T, but
> didn't like the individual pickup selector thing. The G2T's are a two
> humbucking guitar with a three way switch, much better for me. I put
> Active EMG's in one and I put EMG HZ3's (passive but USA made)in the
> other one. The HZ3's sound good in this guitar and still retain the
> correct look for it, AND they can be bought very cheaply on ebay when
> you can find them. They are a good choice for this guitar. I also
> owned a Steinberger GLB-T which was nice, but the truth is I like the
> Hohner G2T's the best in th final analysis, with new pickups of
> course.
So are these any good for clean tones? Because I like to have some
versatility and get some nice crisp chiming tones, which you don't
normally get from HB pickups. That's kinda why I want to try the AES
800 wiring strategy because that gives some real nice clean sounds.
jtees4
I am not crazy picky when it comes to clean sounds, I like clean, but
I don't like too clean...so maybe my opinion is lacking in that area.
So I can't really say. I have owned many Yamahas over the years...in
fact i currently still own three Yamaha electrics. One is an AES620
which really is quite an incredible guitar. I actually kept it and got
rid of a Hamer Studio, they were equally good guitars, but the Yamaha
cost me 1/4 of the Hamer (both bought used). I just got finished
playing it for the first time in awhile...and damn that thing is
incredible. Looks similar to the AES800 (one of the few Yammis I've
never played or owned), but it is a very different animal. You sound
like a good candidate for a Godin too, they make some that are very
Fenderish, but play more like Gibsons. This one comes to mind:
http://tinyurl.com/pgttmt
I've always lked the look of that one.
Digital Larry
a 1 for 1 swap of my Traveler with the Hohner and then the Hohner
flipped my lid so much I couldn't control myself and got the
Steinberger. Good thing that Godin didn't have a piezo bridge or I
might have bought it. I have looked at Godins a lot and find them...
hmmm... intriguing!!!
I was playing the Steinberger the other day and thought, well let me
just compare this to my AES800 and actually I don't think the EMG
Select HBs are that deficient compared to the Dimarzios in the AES. I
mean, I could go off and pick 2 other pickups at random and put them
in, then convince myself it was the greatest thing ever. Too bad
there's no such thing you could do to simulate what your guitar would
sound like with such and such pickups going into such and such amp.
Actually I play both headless models the most <<unplugged>> because
they're my living room guitars. So why I even give a hoot about the
pickups is just part of my extended mid life crisis in action.
I think the real test would be to take all my guitars and play them
through a few different amp settings I think I might actually use and
record them and then find a way to audition them side by side. I'm
sure I have the technology, just need to remember how to use it all.