OK, I have a Hofner question. Maybe mine has a problem and maybe not. First, allow me to give you a little background. I bought a brand new prototype for their Contemporary re-issue of the 500/5. Here is a pic. I emailed Hofner of America and they confirmed that they commissioned 8 of these prototypes to be made in "Asia" and four were sold in the USA. They may be selling production models this year. It's Chinese or Indonesian made and because it is a prototype, it has no serial numbers, no documentation, no case, etc...
The problem I have is that I suspect that the pickups are wired out-of-phase and I do not like how the volume pots cancel each other out when both pickups are "on".
I have figured out the wiring layout for the Hofner control panel (a trick in itself) and the pick ups are wired in parallel. With both pickups switched on, the volume controls on each pick up cancel each other out. The sound that I do get is very thin and tinny with significantly less volume. Let me clarify that it is passive, so "on" simply means that they are not excluded from the circuit. So with both on, I only get full volume by turning either pot completely down and turning the other pot completely up. Putting both pots to the middle position doesn't really provide a happy medium - the volume is still cut significantly.
But here is the surprising thing, each pickup has four wires plus the shielding. I didn't expect these little re-issue bar pickups to be humbucking, but I guess they are. The shielding goes to ground on both of these pickups just as it should, but from there each one is wired to their respective volume pots differently. Each pick up has leads colored Red, White, Green and Black.
On the neck pickup, the RED goes to Volume Pot, WHITE goes to Ground and BLACK & GREEN are wired together. So I assume that the coils are wired in series, thus functioning as a single humbucker.
On the bridge pickup, the GREEN goes to Volume Pot, BLACK goes to Ground and RED & WHITE are wired together. Again, I would assume that they are wired in series, but this is different from the neck pickup.
So how can know what is in-phase and what is out-of-phase? Is there a good reason to have them out-of-phase? It seems that I would get better response from them if they were in-phase, but I really don't know that they are or are not. I don't have a soldering iron, so experimentation is not in the picture just yet. I thought I would pick some brains before deciding to make further investments in tools that will rarely get used.
The problem I have is that I suspect that the pickups are wired out-of-phase and I do not like how the volume pots cancel each other out when both pickups are "on".
I have figured out the wiring layout for the Hofner control panel (a trick in itself) and the pick ups are wired in parallel. With both pickups switched on, the volume controls on each pick up cancel each other out. The sound that I do get is very thin and tinny with significantly less volume. Let me clarify that it is passive, so "on" simply means that they are not excluded from the circuit. So with both on, I only get full volume by turning either pot completely down and turning the other pot completely up. Putting both pots to the middle position doesn't really provide a happy medium - the volume is still cut significantly.
But here is the surprising thing, each pickup has four wires plus the shielding. I didn't expect these little re-issue bar pickups to be humbucking, but I guess they are. The shielding goes to ground on both of these pickups just as it should, but from there each one is wired to their respective volume pots differently. Each pick up has leads colored Red, White, Green and Black.
On the neck pickup, the RED goes to Volume Pot, WHITE goes to Ground and BLACK & GREEN are wired together. So I assume that the coils are wired in series, thus functioning as a single humbucker.
On the bridge pickup, the GREEN goes to Volume Pot, BLACK goes to Ground and RED & WHITE are wired together. Again, I would assume that they are wired in series, but this is different from the neck pickup.
So how can know what is in-phase and what is out-of-phase? Is there a good reason to have them out-of-phase? It seems that I would get better response from them if they were in-phase, but I really don't know that they are or are not. I don't have a soldering iron, so experimentation is not in the picture just yet. I thought I would pick some brains before deciding to make further investments in tools that will rarely get used.
