Groundwire
Member
Hi LTG Members,
I have a few questions regarding my newly acquired 1970 S100 and I was hoping you all could shed some light.
First, the pickups: I am certain they are original HB1’s. I have read GAD’s extensive article and pulled the neck pickup and for certain they are original. Here’s my question: I measured the resistance of each pickup and both were in the high 8k range. This seems unusual, no? I was measureing from a cable plugged into the output Jack, and not from the pickup leads, but it’s still usually pretty accurate. The guitar is hot sounding, but I have never played another S100 before to know if this is typical. My understanding was that HB1’s were usually in the 7k range. Has anyone seen these pickups with such a high reading?
Second question is about the bridge: Mine has the hagstrom bridge and vibrato. Is the vibrato arm supposed to be removable? I unscrewed the set screw that holds the arm in place, and it turns, but doesn’t come out of the collar. Also, the set screw seems to have bored a permanent divot into the arm and so it only stays put in one position, which is too low to the body to be useful. If I could remove the arm, I’d attempt to fill it with something and reset it for a different height. Is this possible?
Final question: has anyone tried 50’s wiring on their S100? I see the tone pots are wired to the input of the volume pot, and it would be simple to move them to the middle lug, but since this guitar has untouched original solder joints, I want to get a couple opinions before messing with it. I generally prefer 50’s wiring on dual humbucker guitars because it preserves the high end when I roll the volume back, which I do a lot. Anyone done this and does it work with these pickups or does it make it too bright?
Thanks to all for the helpful responses. Cheers.
I have a few questions regarding my newly acquired 1970 S100 and I was hoping you all could shed some light.
First, the pickups: I am certain they are original HB1’s. I have read GAD’s extensive article and pulled the neck pickup and for certain they are original. Here’s my question: I measured the resistance of each pickup and both were in the high 8k range. This seems unusual, no? I was measureing from a cable plugged into the output Jack, and not from the pickup leads, but it’s still usually pretty accurate. The guitar is hot sounding, but I have never played another S100 before to know if this is typical. My understanding was that HB1’s were usually in the 7k range. Has anyone seen these pickups with such a high reading?
Second question is about the bridge: Mine has the hagstrom bridge and vibrato. Is the vibrato arm supposed to be removable? I unscrewed the set screw that holds the arm in place, and it turns, but doesn’t come out of the collar. Also, the set screw seems to have bored a permanent divot into the arm and so it only stays put in one position, which is too low to the body to be useful. If I could remove the arm, I’d attempt to fill it with something and reset it for a different height. Is this possible?
Final question: has anyone tried 50’s wiring on their S100? I see the tone pots are wired to the input of the volume pot, and it would be simple to move them to the middle lug, but since this guitar has untouched original solder joints, I want to get a couple opinions before messing with it. I generally prefer 50’s wiring on dual humbucker guitars because it preserves the high end when I roll the volume back, which I do a lot. Anyone done this and does it work with these pickups or does it make it too bright?
Thanks to all for the helpful responses. Cheers.
