Alembic Guitars Club

Alembic products => Alembic Basses & Guitars => Topic started by: dod2112 on April 26, 2011, 05:07:03 PM

Title: Skylark pickup questions (Please Help)
Post by: dod2112 on April 26, 2011, 05:07:03 PM

I want to put regular humbuckers and a Les Paul style 2 vol., 2 tone configuration in my Skylark.  Does the pickup cavities work with regular humbuckers and does the routing for the vol. and tone controls work with regular pots?  I love the Skylark pickups but I would love to use on a project that requires a sound that I can not get.

Title: Skylark pickup questions (Please Help)
Post by: lidon2001 on April 26, 2011, 06:12:21 PM

Timing is everything, I'm working with Mica on such a project right now.
 
The normal route for a Skylark pickup is rather shallow, and will not allow for humbucker pickups that are about an inch deep.  I'm going with single coil size rail humbuckers (Dimarzio for a tip of the hat to Mr. Garcia).  Please see the drawings I made below.  I would suggest enlarging the full size of the ring by at least .05 to be on the safe side.
 
The strat rings are from the back and need to be flipped for proper perspective.  The design uses two of the current machine fasteners to hold the ring, as the angled pickup interferes with the other two fasteners.  
 
Mica and I are still discussing design.
 
T
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/393/103006.jpg)

Title: Skylark pickup questions (Please Help)
Post by: lidon2001 on April 26, 2011, 06:26:44 PM

Don't forget the 4 pin connector for the jack:
 
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/CON-244/4-PIN-CONNECTOR-W/HEADER-.10-/-/1.html (http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/CON-244/4-PIN-CONNECTOR-W/HEADER-.10-/-/1.html)
 
You can get switches similar to Alembic at http://www.guitarelectronics.com (http://www.guitarelectronics.com)  Unfortunately, they are backordered on 3 way on on on dpdt switches in black.

Title: Skylark pickup questions (Please Help)
Post by: lidon2001 on April 26, 2011, 09:27:03 PM

Now the pots...
 
Standard size CTS pots will not fit in the upper two vol/tone.  Mini pots are needed.  Check out the Bourns pots at www.guitarelectronics.com (http://www.guitarelectronics.com).

Title: Skylark pickup questions (Please Help)
Post by: bluplirst on April 27, 2011, 08:27:22 PM

Yes I have done this.  You need to modify the the pickup rings for the alembic mounting screws.  I didn't want to modify the guitar or drill in any way, so the 4 screws in the pickup rings are just the heads (dummies) and the ground wire is run from the pickup to the bridge post.  This made the switch completely reversible.  There is just enough space to fit the duncan '59 humbucker in there.
 
http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo216/Bluplirst/seymourskylark.jpg (http://i377.photobucket.com/albums/oo216/Bluplirst/seymourskylark.jpg)