Chuck D. Bones
Circuit Wizard
After retrieving my NightHawk from my sister's place, I sat down to play it and discovered that the Middle pickup was dead. Turned out to that the 5-way switch had failed. It was one of those cheap Chinese PC board-based switches. I ordered up a Fender 5-way switch from Sweetwater. I figured that while I was in there, I'd make a couple of mods. The TONE pot has a push-pull switch that splits the coils on the bridge & neck pickups when pulled up. Didn't sound that much different to me, so I though how about a polarity switch for the Middle pickup? Once I got inside and viewed the wiring, it became apparent that reversing the Middle pickup was not an option because the pickup cable was a single conductor and a shield. So instead, I wired the TONE knob's switch to reverse the Bridge pickup's polarity. To reap the full benefit of a reversible Bridge pickup, I changed the VOLUME pot to one with a push-pull pot that engages the Neck pickup when the 5-way switch is in positions 4 or 5. In addition to the usual 5-way pickup combinations, I now can engage Bridge & Neck or all three pickups. Considering those seven combinations, plus three combinations where the Bridge pickup is reversed, I now have access to 10 different pickup tones. Last, but not least, I added a Treble Bleed. R1 is metal film & C2 is silver mica. C1 was 22nF film, so I left that one as-is.
I bought my NightHawk from a pawn shop about 6 years ago. This is the pic of that guitar from their ad.
These are the pickup combinations in tabular form:
It's a bit of a rat's nest inside, HamishR would be proud.
I bought my NightHawk from a pawn shop about 6 years ago. This is the pic of that guitar from their ad.
These are the pickup combinations in tabular form:
It's a bit of a rat's nest inside, HamishR would be proud.
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