Snoozingcat Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 Hi. A new arrival. 1981 Vector. It’s looks, plays and sounds great. For some reason the pickups were swapped from front to back with chopped wire so I will have to add wire to the neck pickup so it will reach the neck volume pot. It must have been an aesthetic reason as both original DiMarzios measure the same 8.5k. The cavity wiring in general is fairly untidy, so I may completely rewire it for piece of mind. I don’t want the out of phase middle position as I have that on my ‘79 Sunburst, so I’m going to wire it traditionally. Does anyone have a wiring diagram please? The DiMarzios have a White and Black shielded wire and an unshielded Earth. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtrdaddy Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 Congrats! Sweet guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travis Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 Very nice! I had an ‘83 vector for several years. Killer guitars and every bit the tone monsters as the specials and sunbursts. Only sold mine because of the thinner neck. Congrats on your new arrival. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velorush Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 Great score! The original DiMarzios had some variance to them and sometimes the guitar just sounded better with the zebra pickup in the bridge and cream in the neck. Such was the case (along with a similar bird's nest of wiring) of an '80 Special I once bought. I rewired it with Hamer pots and swapped the pickups back to the "correct" aesthetic positions (zebra in the neck). I discovered why they had been swapped as soon as I fired it up: it sounded better with the pickups in the "wrong" positions. So, I swapped them back. One of the best sounding guitars I've ever owned. Wiring diagram: https://www.seymourduncan.com/wiring-diagrams?meta_params=guitar-options,2-pickups,neck-h,bridge-h,2-volume,1-tone,3-way-toggle,accessory-none (just ignore the four-conductor business of the red and white wires). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoozingcat Posted January 31, 2020 Author Share Posted January 31, 2020 Thanks Velorush. To save loads of work, I may just leave as is 😆 I suppose at the end of the day, if it sounds good, it sounds good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoozingcat Posted January 31, 2020 Author Share Posted January 31, 2020 I’ll also post better pics shortly. It is a lovely guitar. Nice and light and the neck profile is terrific. Tonally, much more different to my Sunburst. I think it sounds like a vintage SG. No bad thing 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigmuff Posted January 31, 2020 Share Posted January 31, 2020 Beautiful guitar. I've got an 83 Vector and it's a killer guitar. Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoozingcat Posted January 31, 2020 Author Share Posted January 31, 2020 Thanks Big Muff. It’s so much different to my Sunburst. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottcald Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 Cool guitar! I still think on a V, that was the best control layout that anyone's done, unless you're only doing a single volume and switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoozingcat Posted February 1, 2020 Author Share Posted February 1, 2020 I read in the Ultimate Hamer book, that they thought the traditional Hamer headstock was a mistake, and they should have gone with the “G” vee headstock. I personally prefer it with the Hamer option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoozingcat Posted February 1, 2020 Author Share Posted February 1, 2020 10 hours ago, velorush said: Great score! The original DiMarzios had some variance to them and sometimes the guitar just sounded better with the zebra pickup in the bridge and cream in the neck. Such was the case (along with a similar bird's nest of wiring) of an '80 Special I once bought. I rewired it with Hamer pots and swapped the pickups back to the "correct" aesthetic positions (zebra in the neck). I discovered why they had been swapped as soon as I fired it up: it sounded better with the pickups in the "wrong" positions. So, I swapped them back. One of the best sounding guitars I've ever owned. Wiring diagram: https://www.seymourduncan.com/wiring-diagrams?meta_params=guitar-options,2-pickups,neck-h,bridge-h,2-volume,1-tone,3-way-toggle,accessory-none (just ignore the four-conductor business of the red and white wires). That Special looks fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoozingcat Posted February 1, 2020 Author Share Posted February 1, 2020 Pickups have been returned to the correct positions. Cream at Bridge and Zebra at Neck. It sounds awesome. I’m really loving this guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarGuy65 Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 Congrats, love it! I've got an '81 bound Vector (purchased from another forum member) and it is an amazing guitar. Really love the neck profile and it's nice and punchy sounding too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snoozingcat Posted February 1, 2020 Author Share Posted February 1, 2020 1 hour ago, GuitarGuy65 said: Congrats, love it! I've got an '81 bound Vector (purchased from another forum member) and it is an amazing guitar. Really love the neck profile and it's nice and punchy sounding too... Wow, that looks terrific. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velorush Posted February 1, 2020 Share Posted February 1, 2020 10 hours ago, Snoozingcat said: That Special looks fantastic. Yeah, sorry, that's a pretty pretentious and well-massaged photo (only one I had in Imgur since the move over from Photobucket). Here's a more realistic photo of the well-worn guitar. Note the pickups in the "right" (i.e., lesser-sounding) position. That lasted about an hour. Here's the wiring when I bought it - not as bad as I recall, but some sub-standard pots and general "iffyness" in the soldering. And here with Hamer pots (from @BCR Greg) and a new orange drop with the original out-of-phase wiring. It's really a breeze to wire up these old Hamers because the metal plate works great as a jig. Pop the pot shafts through a cardboard box and you can do some of the connections outside the guitar (lessens the chances of burning the body with the soldering iron). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottcald Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 11 hours ago, GuitarGuy65 said: Congrats, love it! I've got an '81 bound Vector (purchased from another forum member) and it is an amazing guitar. Really love the neck profile and it's nice and punchy sounding too... That practically looks like you just came home from buying it new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarGuy65 Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 1 hour ago, scottcald said: That practically looks like you just came home from buying it new. While it's got a very few slight scratches it's about as clean as you can find for an '81! No checking or fade to the finish, and the case has more wear than the guitar so it was definitely a closet queen... 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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