The Secret Handshake of Installing Seymour Duncan Blackouts!

The Secret Handshake of Installing Seymour Duncan Blackout Pickups

(Or, in my case, Whiteouts)...


I recently installed a matched pair of Seymour Duncan Blackouts in my ESP LTD V200 vee guitar!


Today's entry will be a little about the Blackouts (which were white, in my case!), and a little about the ESP LTD V200.



First and formost: I'm converting my Vee to Blackouts, and about half way thorough the tear-down/build-up, I notice that the quick connectors (something like EMG Quik-Connects) have three wires in, two wires out - and all the diagrams refer to a red wire, a white wire, and a bare wire. I'm thinking (at this point) that the venerable and always reliable Seymour folks have gone loony and have given me the wrong parts. I wanted to split my coils, as well as get the full benefit of the next-generation active humbuckers!



I'm in distress at this point. I've got the whole guitar and all the parts exploded on my little work table, and I'm at a dead stop. I can connect RED to the red wire of the battery lead. But the "black wire" is a complete mystery and doesn't fit in anywhere.



Google is your friend. Repeat after me, Google is your friend. Lots of searching and trying to find the right terms, and I get the answer for which I'm looking... The "black wire" is actually a wrapped two-wire lead. Strip back the black, and you get the bare wrap-around wire, a white insulator, and the internal lead to the white insulator. Voila! Red, bare, and white!


After this monumental revelation (which is NOT OBVIOUS AT ALL in the instructions or in the quick connectors in hand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), the rest was cake (I prefer german chocolate cake, personally)...





On to the ESP LTD V200. What a guitar! (I'll write a review for it at http://theguitarreview.com soon.)



I used white Seymour Duncan Blackouts;

Gibson cream humbucker rings (I like them to stand out and contrast);

Gold-and-abalone set-screw Telecaster-style knobs (Great looking, easy to push/pull);

A real USA-made CRL/Fender three-way switch;

NICE Alpha 500 kOhm push/pull potentiometers;

REAL USA copper wiring;

Silver-bearing solder;

Insulated four-wire from the jack to the pots;

REAL USA Switchcraft stereo jack (stereo is required for active pickup setups - DON'T (READ: DON'T) wire the body grounds into the setup or it will drain the battery over night. The third prong of the stereo input jack creates the circuit ground;

Grover 6-inline locking tuners(!);

Great gold screws;

Dressed and round-ended fretwires;

Real carnauba wax;

And lots of attention to detail (like a nice bare copper ground wire common running across the pots, etc.);

A good battery clip;

Careful electrician's tape covers on all exposed complex areas (top of switch contacts, push/pull solder groups, etc.).




I've included lots of pictures of the sneaky "black wire" in the Blackout pickups, a nice shot of the back of a blackout, and some (OK) pictures of the finished V.


I can now shred, split and do old rock and roll, do mellow warm humbucker stuff, and lots of progressive rock (my favorite).




Ask questions, please! Want a step by step HOWTO? Let me know. It'll take a bit to put it in my schedule, but I'd love to do it for you.


Until then, Bear at BearsGuitars.com and JBPMusic.com (where my music CDs are!)

Into each Jackson, a new sound must fall

I'm really fond of Jacksons - particularly unusual ones with shark-teeth inlays.


Moreover, I'm very fond of the feel, balance, and shape of the bodies. Although I'm a huge fan of LOTS of brands, Jacksons are just plain fun to mod.


I was lucky enough to snag a low-production-number (made for Guitar Centers) DXMGTSP - with original EMG HZ H3 pickups, and the 3x3 headstock (the string-through is a great sustainer!).





But, I wasn't looking for EMG sound on this one. The journey has begun. With the first experiment done, and the second on the way over the holiday season.



I started with a pair of epoxy-set, DEAD QUIET, German (pretty sure?) made of pickups with ESP labels (from my new ESP V200). I added push-pull coil tapping, top-line electrical components, Sprague Vitamin Q capacitor tone, a great switch and jack, and lots of grounding. As it is, my DXMGTSP is absolutely a dream to play and to hear.















However, if I can find a nice basic Jackson V-shape or Dinky shape (low-end, but in great shape - anybody got any dusty project Jacksons?), I'm going to move the current wiring and pickups to a new and shreddable home.


Phase two (and probably the final state) of my DXMGTSP is going to be with a pair of Seymour Duncan's excellent P-Rails pickups.



P-Rails give you REAL P90s, plus a blade - splittable to get just great grindy nasty dirty P90 sound or a great variation on the humbucker sound. Also, with a little mini-toggle, I'll be able to tap out the pickups to do P90 or just the blade or the humbucker sound (in neck, neck+bridge, bridge). Sonically awesome, yes:?

There will be some awesome music and recordings coming from my DXMGTSP. Gotta love a great-feeling guitar like my Jackson, with lots of excellent sounds all wrapped up in a well-grounded, high-quality-part package.

Stay tuned. I'll finish this particular phase II and share a peek at it with you all...