Epiphone(Gibson) Nighthawk rewire/mod

[PolyEhster]

To any and all epiphone nighthawk users this "mod" gets rid of all those unuseable sounds and gives you ever pickup combination you could possibly get with the guitar.

 

this is the the three pickup epiphone nighawk with a mini HB at the neck, an OBL single coil, and coil tapped angled OBL HB(OBLs in epiphones are not real OBLs(original bill lawrence)). for ever since i had it, i only found 2 of the sounds usable. i went through all pickup combinations tapping on each pickup with a paperclip, and I still couldn

[tlbonehead]

Dob you still have a tone control? I had an Epi Nighthawk and it didn't come even remotely close to the great tones I get from my 2-pickup Gibson Nighthawk w/5-way switch. That guitar is amazing.

[PolyEhster]

 

Originally posted by tlbonehead Dob you still have a tone control? I had an Epi Nighthawk and it didn't come even remotely close to the great tones I get from my 2-pickup Gibson Nighthawk w/5-way switch. That guitar is amazing.

 

 

yes i do, but instead of the reg tone knob its a push pull tone knob that activates the HBs. How does the 5 way switch work on the two pickup gibson?

[tlbonehead]

 

Originally posted by PolyEhster yes i do, but instead of the reg tone knob its a push pull tone knob that activates the HBs. How does the 5 way switch work on the two pickup gibson?

From the neck position.

 

1-neck mini HB

2-neck mini split

3-neck and bridge split

4-slant HB

5-slant HB split

[Steve Matthews]

That sounds about the same as my Gibson Nighthawk SP-3 already is.

 

With the coil tap pot up, the five way switch is exactly like a strat.

 

With the coil tap pot down, positions 1, 2, & 3 are exactly the same as a Les Paul (Bridge, Both, Neck) and then position 4 is Super Strat (Bridge HB plus middle SC) and position 5 is Telecaster (two outside single coils (or actually two single coils tapped from the HBs)). Pretty simple when you break it down that way and realize there's only really those last two oddballs in the mix that don't fit standard postion switch setting configuration.

 

But I can see that by adding the second switch pot that could give you another 3 tone settings. But 13 would be an unlucky number.

 

I'm not enamored with the tone of my Nighthawk, but my favorites are the Superstrat setting and the tele setting.

[harryj]

Here is a super cool 5 way 2 'bucker setup

Designed by Carlos Lorenzo (in Germany)

 

Combos:

http://www.harryj.net/godin-tbl.gif

 

Diagram

http://www.harryj.net/godin-sch.gif

 

Audio clips of each combo:

http://www.harryj.net/Godin_Clips.htm

 

I have lots more even cooler options for 3 pickup guitars on my site

 

Harry Jacobson

www.harryj.net

[tlbonehead]

Originally posted by Steve Matthews That sounds about the same as my Gibson Nighthawk SP-3 already is. With the coil tap pot up, the five way switch is exactly like a strat. With the coil tap pot down, positions 1, 2, & 3 are exactly the same as a Les Paul (Bridge, Both, Neck) and then position 4 is Super Strat (Bridge HB plus middle SC) and position 5 is Telecaster (two outside single coils (or actually two single coils tapped from the HBs)). Pretty simple when you break it down that way and realize there's only really those last two oddballs in the mix that don't fit standard postion switch setting configuration. But I can see that by adding the second switch pot that could give you another 3 tone settings. But 13 would be an unlucky number. I'm not enamored with the tone of my Nighthawk, but my favorites are the Superstrat setting and the tele setting.

But regardless,there is absolutely no comparison in tone between the two.

[guitarcapo]

I just got one of these in a trade with a guy. His was wired wrong from the factory. When you coil tapped the neck mini hum the sound went dead. I basically re-wired mine up with a standard 5-way telecaster setup and the coil tap switch would tap both humbuckers simultaneously. I'm assuming that's how it was intended. I can't activate all 3 pickups simultaneously but other than that it sounds great in all positions. The neck and bridge humbuckers sound really good split which surprized me. All great tones and none useless.

 

But here's the important secret I'd like to share with these guitars:

 

LOSE THE DUMMY COIL! These guitars have fantastic sounding pickups and that dummy coil and all the weird wiring associated it just kills the tone. The neck humbucker is fantastic sounding (I think it's the exact same one used in the Gibson version) Just BYPASS THAT TONE SUCKER sitting on top of the tone pot. It's not killing hum by humbucking, it's killing hum by making your pickups muddy. Just use your tone knob for that.