Seymour Duncan + EMG + Graphtech Ghost

[owen_wood]

I'm refurbing my old strat at the moment and have a question about how to wire the complicated electronics I'm hoping to put in. I'm hoping for...
Graphtech Ghost bridge saddles (without hexpander but with acousti-phonic preamp)
BRIDGE : Seymour Duncan Hot Rails
MID : EMG S-X
NECK Seymour Duncan Cool Rails

As for controls
I would like to have the first (furthest up pot) to be a volume control for the two Seymour Duncans, which when pulled coil splits both.
The mid pot to control the EMG volume, but when pulled it adds distortion to all the pickups / to the output, or a sort of on board effect.
The bottom pot to control the Ghost volume, and when pulled acts as a kill switch for the Ghost only.

I'm just wiring the standard 5 way selector switch setup with nothing special there
I do have an idea as to how this should be wired and have drawn out a bit but do not know exactly how it should be done, I know this is a complex idea but I would really like for it to be done, any help with this would be appreciated, I'm not sure where to start, thanks

[GilmourD]

The snag you're going to run into there is the EMG. Simply mixing it with passive pickups is dicey due to running the ground wire to the bridge (either run the wire and present yourself with an electrocution hazard or don't run the ground wire and have noise on the passives). Then you throw in the active circuitry of acousti-phonic preamp in and powering both becomes... Interesting.

What makes you want the EMG S-X as opposed to some sort of Duncan single coil or stack?

[owen_wood]

I'd like an EMG S-X for the versatility of the guitar, and I also wanted a single coil but without the noise, I was trying to decide whether to have a passive system or active system, then thought, why not both? I heard something about wiring the Seymour Duncans to a preamp and giving it "active EQ" and making them low impedance to match the EMGs, but I'm not sure how to do this either. I know the theory of how to do these things but not how to put it to practice and actually wire things up to specific terminals and grounds etc

[GilmourD]

I'd like an EMG S-X for the versatility of the guitar, and I also wanted a single coil but without the noise, I was trying to decide whether to have a passive system or active system, then thought, why not both? I heard something about wiring the Seymour Duncans to a preamp and giving it "active EQ" and making them low impedance to match the EMGs, but I'm not sure how to do this either. I know the theory of how to do these things but not how to put it to practice and actually wire things up to specific terminals and grounds etc

Well, my suggestion would be to either go all EMG or all passive. Mixing them seems to result in either danger (the electrocution hazard I mentioned before) or uselessness (the passive pickups being extremely noisy due to the lack of proper bridge ground).

If you want a noiseless single coil there are plenty of options from multiple vendors. My current favorites are the Area series from DiMarzio. Duncan also has single coil stacks as well as the Duckbucker and Vintage Rails.

[Jocelyn]

Well, my suggestion would be to either go all EMG or all passive. Mixing them seems to result in either danger (the electrocution hazard I mentioned before) or uselessness (the passive pickups being extremely noisy due to the lack of proper bridge ground).

If you want a noiseless single coil there are plenty of options from multiple vendors. My current favorites are the Area series from DiMarzio. Duncan also has single coil stacks as well as the Duckbucker and Vintage Rails.

I agree.. either go all Passive or all actives. Lots of choices for passive noiseless.

[Edgecrusher]

I think this can be done but I dont know crap about the ghost saddles so im going to give you suggestions for the rest of the system it will be up to you to figure out if you can fit the ghost in with them.

The biggest problem with mixing actives and passives is the difference in the value of the pots. 25k for actives and 250k for passives. If you use 25k on the passives it makes them mushy if you use 250k on the passives it works ok but there is no sweep its is basically either on or off.

Now if you wire it so that you have a 250k volume for the passives and a 25k for the active your just fine UNTIL you go to a notch position on your switch. Basically the passives will have little to no effect in this position. So unless you only want positiosn 1,3 and 5 on your switch this is imperfect also.

BUT there is something you can do that might be up your alley. EMG makes a little device called the PA2 basically its just a boost switch. You can use this as your distortion device you wont be able to wire it on a pull switch but you can wire it as just a simple toggle switch. This will allow you to run all 25k tone controls with no issues.


Done like this your wiring is pretty simple. You do lose the 2nd push pull as its now on a small toggle. This leaves the 3rd for your ghost system. If it runs on high impedance as most active systems do you will be fine but im not sure how to do the pull kill swtich thing you want. Good luck hope this helps a little

[metalmachine]

I have used the emg boost to mix active and passive. Its ok. If your gonna be picky then don't do it.

[owen_wood]

I have had a look at using either the afterburner or PA2 and I think it is the best option to use the PA2, and scrap the EMG push-pull distortion idea, with just a standard 25k volume pot. Will this also eliminate the apparent electrocution hazard, which I know nothing about anyway? Where would the hazard be? And once I've wired the pa2 to the circuit, do I just treat it all as an active system, including the Ghost? Because there are diagrams to wire the ghost to an active system easily

[indie folk guy]

lol this is crazy wiring even by my standards

The ghost system is probably the best option available though so excellent choice there. I had thought about adding it to my PRS Santana SE and still might.

I'd probably stick with all passive pickups DiMarzio Virtual Vintage/Area or some sort of Duncans. You could just use some of the EMG electronics to augment that setup.

Seems like a cool idea but it's beyond what I usually wire up so I can't be much help. LOL thank god you aren't coming to me with this build I'd be on here asking a million questions and consulting my books.