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This exciting switching modification will work with two pickup versions of the Nighthawk - it will not work with the Blueshawk/Little Lucille
This mod is relatively complex and you should not try it unless you are used to fine work with a soldering iron....
Lennart says -"After an extensive experiment, lots of puzzling, and many doubts whether I would dare to do it, I have finally been brave enough to put a soldering iron into my Nighthawk. By replacing the tone knob with one that has a push-pull switch, it now has ten positions instead of five.
new soundsBut now, when you pull the switch, you get:
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| For the schematics, see the images to the right >>>>>>> The new one has become a bit of a maze, sorry... There is no difference in position III. Since I wanted to make as few changes as possible to the original wiring, I wasn't able to come up with another new sound for that position. In the new positions I and II, where I added an extra coil in series, my first attempt was to throw in the full bridge humbucker. (If you take a close look at the schematics, you'll see that that's just as easy: in stead of the wire from bottom-11 to top-5, connect bottom-11 to bottom-5.) However, the result was a big wall of noise, especially in position I. Both humbuckers in series, that is a bit over the top. The bridge humbucker is already quite loud on its own; if you put that in series with anything else, the result is a huge thick messy sound. Adding only a single coil in series has resulted in two more solid, but not too excessive sounds. I have very little experience in comparing and describing the sounds of electric guitars (I'm more into acoustics), so I don't really know how to explain the new sounds in detail. I would love to give an elaborate report if I could, but I can't, so I won't. |  the standard/stock wiring (above) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| All I can say is: the new sounds are fuller, warmer, and louder than the old ones. I and II are the loudest (of course), but I also really like the new positions IV and V. Nice, full, warm sounds. If you switch back to the original sounds, especially the old positions II and V, they sound pretty thin all of a sudden... So I like to think that my mod has extended the "Gibson side" of my Nighthawk. To get a better impression, you can listen to the sample file I recorded. It's ten times the same few chords, first in the standard five positions from I to V, and then with the switch pulled, back again from V to I. Please note that I've never done any serious recording; this file was made by plugging a Mickey Mouse microphone into my laptop, and putting it next to my amp. (Wow... Until I saw the waveform it made, I never realized that the bridge humbucker was actually THAT loud!). Still, it should give you some idea. listen here - sorry I've had to temporarily remove this sample because of server restrictions All in all, in my humble opinion, the whole exercise has been worth it. I think it definitely is an improvement." |  Lennart's modified Nighthawk wiring (above) | |||||||||||||||||||||
