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Gibson Nighthawk 1994 ST3 Floyd pickup selection


xrr

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Hi all,

 

I just got my first Gibson, a Nighthawk 1994 ST3 with floyd and I'm really happy with it...

 

I started suspecting some issues when I couldn't find the tone as I expected from diagram found online...

 

In black what I expected it to be, in red what I get (If I made no mistake) :

 

Gibson_Nighthawk_Pickup_Selector_Guide.pngGibson_Nighthawk_ST3_FLOYD_1994_XRR_Pickup_Selector_Guide.png

 

I suspected first that the wiring had been messed with but it seems to be 'factory' clean...

Position 3 is the same in both push/pull position, and 1 and 5 again with knob down... only 8 tones, not 10... and no way to select neck pickup only single coil....

 

Could anyone tell me if they have the same ?

Is that wiring specific to ST3 with floyd models ?

I can't find anything online... Is that possible that I'm the first to wonder 20 years later with nothing to be found online ? Is that guitar THAT confidential ? or owners too busy gigging !?

 

oh and yes she's nice :D even if you can tell she's been through hard times...

 

IMG_0790.JPG

 

 

Cheers,

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Not a lot of Nighthawk owners it seems !

 

I think I wanted to convince myself that it was like this from factory, because on second look it doesn't look that 'clean' anymore !!

 

image.jpg

 

I also received a mail from Gibson confirming that it wasn't original.

I really appreciate Gibson/epiphone customer care service because they are always very helpful even if your not the first owner !

 

So now I think I have two options, back to the 94 original wiring or the 20th anniversary/epiphone more recent one... Very small differences it seems.... Any preferences/ideas ?

 

And for the post to be complete here it is:

 

image.jpg

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I'd try an go back factory if you can..

It's hard to see from the picture but factory there were small jumpers where the black & red do attache..

BUT The Green & White do not?? not in this diagram..

I found this color diagram, I'm sure you've seen several others like the 96 factory one..

On the factory diagram the white & green do attache together- See Below..

Of course my Nighthawk has only two pickups & is different & no push/pull pot..

Can't help you with a picture of that..

I do have the diagrams to my three pickup Les Paul with M-III wiring, It's very similar but has a choke coil & a bypass/kill..

 

nighthawk_3pu_4-level_pp_01.jpg

nithawk2.gif

 

Good Luck my friend & keep my posted on what your doing with it..

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  • 2 weeks later...

image.jpg

 

So it seems that the switch is not the original one !! It's a regular 5 way fender switch instead of a 5 way 4 poles superswitch...

The tone pot is a 250K alpha pot too. From the gibson schematic it's supposed to be a 500K.

 

The volume pot I'm not sure, I found a CTS 250K pot, the schematic indicate a 300K pot... I had a look in my Epiphone nighthawk and it is a 500K pot for volume.

 

I've ordered a new switch, CTS tone/volume pots and orange drop capacitor... at least I'll redo things well.

 

 

The second CTS pot I've ordered is also a push pull, so I might add "out of phase", any ideas about a better use of it ?

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It took the opportunity to measure the pickups resistance for the archives... (I know it's not all about pickup but that's all I can measure easily, and it nevertheless can be used to compare)

 

Gibson Nighthawk 94 ST3 pickups resistance:

 

Mini Humbucker (Neck)

Black-Red (full) R=16.07 kΩ

Green-Black (split) R=8.03 kΩ

Red-Green (split) R=8.17 kΩ

 

Single Coil (Middle)

R= 7.87 kΩ

 

Slanted Humbucker (Bridge)

 

Black-Red (full) R=16.17kΩ

Green-Black (split) R=8.22 kΩ

Red-Green (split) R=8.02 kΩ

 

Also for reference the only after market slanted humbuckers (Seymour Duncan) for the nighthawk have values of :

 

59 Slanted

R = 8.13 kΩ

JB Slanted

R=16.4 kΩ

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  • 1 year later...

Here are some helpful links I have come across...

 

http://www.mylespaul...to-help.345361/

 

This has the schematic of the Gibson Nighthawk 3 pickup models. All the magic in the wiring is dealing with the 5-way switch. Once you understand the5-way switch and what connects what to what, it is easy to configure the coil combinations used in a particular switch position-combination. The "Super Switch" is nothing too complicated and of course the DPDT 2-way switch (push-pull on tone potentiometer) is VERY simple to understand. It helps to get multi-meter to check for electrical continuity when learning about a switch - just look for shorts (connections being made ~= 0 Ohms) and opens (connections NOT being made ~= INFINITE Ohms or resistance of air essentially). All in all, very simple electrical scheme going on here. 3 coils with their respective leads and the signal feeding the volume potentiometer with the tone RC filter in between the loaded coil (i.e. pickup(s)). The skill of implementing any wiring scheme comes down to solder skills as melting wires and sloppy/poor fusions are not desired by anyone... If one is not familiar with soldering, practice on "junk" electric guitar before opening up your expensive Gibson. It is not good to burn the finish or have solder garbage all over the place in the guitar's cavity. Have a good iron and tip and plenty of light as it can get dark in the electrical housing cavity in the body of your Nighthawk. Treat your Hawk well, and it will treat you well in return!

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