Metal Guitarist Forums banner

Switch to 707TW's? Suggest me some options & opinions

2K views 12 replies 4 participants last post by  ChainOfThought 
#1 · (Edited)
So, I've got an RGIT27FE (dual 707's, 1vol 3-way & killswitch) and a C-7 Hellraiser (dual 707TW's, dual push-pull volumes, 3 way & tone).

I love the tapped sound on the 707tw's for cleans and stuff, but I don't love the Hellraiser so much...got it in a trade deal and will probably either sell it on or keep it for alternate tunings/backup/whatever. I'm not 100% certain that I like the main tone of the TW as much as I do the 707. I thought they were supposed to be the same but after doing some more reading they are actually pretty different. Unfortunately there's no easy to swap the TW's over 'just to see' since the TW's have a 7-pin connection and the 707's have a 3 pin.

So...if I AM gonna do this, I can see a couple different options.

1- Push/Pull volume tap's both pickups, killswitch & 3-way stay stock
2- Volume & 3-way stay stock, convert killswitch to coil-tap for both pickups
3- Replace 3-way with 5-way blade, volume & killswitch stay stock

I'm most inclined to try for option 2. I'm not a huge fan of push/pull pots, although I might get along with a push/push. I'm also not a huge fan of a 5-way blade, but I'm more inclined to do that than a push/pull or push/push. I don't have any great need for the killswitch, I basically just use it as a novelty mute button rather than turning on a tuner or rolling the volume knob down.

So, mostly what I'm looking for are opinions on 707tw vs 707...comparing between the two guitars it seems like the 707's have more output and/or compression. The gain seems to be 'tighter' or have 'more hair' for lack of better descriptions. When I plug in the hellraiser I have to increase the gain a bit on my presets and the tone in general seems a little more open. Also just need confirmation that I'm not crazy and that I could indeed wire both pickups to a single mini-toggle to activate the tapped mode. I haven't looked closely at wiring yet, but I do know the TW's aren't 'coil-tapping' like you do with a passive, it actually has 3 coils, 2 of them are stacked on top of eachother and you switching between using the regular pair or the stacked pair.

...any thoughts?

Of course the other option is to not bother, use the ax8 to create the cleans I need since I'm not super picky anyways and then the schecter stays stock in case I want to sell it.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I have used 707tws for a long time and I like them well enough for EMGs. Its been a long time since I played with 707s so hard for me to say anything about the tone difference. For your hellraiser options, they are great guitars and I would personally have it for a funky tuning or something. Option 2 would be my choice too as a switch for coiltapping is much faster and easier imo. I used to have a killswitch but i used to get a nasty "ZAP/BUZZ" from the battery power being cut/engaged. Perhaps I wired it up wrong though. So I would just not have a killswitch as I never once used the one I had anyway.

If you have a hole already drilled for the killswitch I would use that for coiltapping, otherwise get yourself push/push pots. I hate push/pull pots but push/push is so much easier and I would definitely recommend.
 
#3 ·
Yeah the RG already has the toggle cut in, comes stock with the killswitch. There's no buzz when its active or pops when toggling it, which is nice. But I don't use it as an effect a'la buckethead, so its only a very minor & debatable convenience over just cutting the volume knob to kill the signal.

I'm tempted to do it but I'm also really tempted to just leave it alone. Both guitars are good on their own merits. The ibanez is a lot more comfortable to me and its the one I bought on purpose because the specs are exactly what I wanted. The hellraiser I got out of a fortunate trade deal...dude gave it to me for an S420 I had laying around. I'm not as big a fan of the neck on it, but its not terrible to play.

If I go through with it I would probably order a new solderless kit for the C7 since its all standard stuff. The RG I would have to just stick with soldering in the switch I think, but I might be able to go solderless for the volume and 3-way. I need to look closer at the solderless offerings EMG has...if I could get a solderless 5-way blade for the TW's I would do that, I'm just feeling so fucking lazy about getting the schematic right and soldering everything in :coffee:
 
#5 ·
Yea. I could get the 5pos blade and obviously the volume pot. The toggle will always be soldered as they don't sell any of those. But I can't find the solderless TW wiring harness without buying a new pickup.... Stupid.

I need to just bite the bullet and figure out how to get it all wired up if I'm gonna do it.
 
#6 ·
turns out you cant operate two TW pickups on a DPDT switch. I emailed EMG and am waiting to hear back whether or not i can use the 5-pos switch to activate the single-coil mode on each pickup but I honestly doubt it.

Seems like my only options are to either try and find/fit a 4PDT switch to replace the killswitch, or just use a pair of push/pull pots and do a vol/tone instead of vol/switch. I did finally notice that the solderless kit for 2 pickups with push/pull comes with the TW wiring harness, so at least that is taken care of. If I want to convert the RG to solderless I just need the solderless kit + a solderless 3way blade and I'll be all set. The guitar ends up with two knobs instead of having the toggle switch, but I guess that doesn't REALLY matter...I'd just prefer to not have to use push/pulls, but its really not that big a deal. Its not like I'm doing any super fast changes or anything.
 
#8 ·
Assuming you have the 5way because you have a 3rd pickup?

I'd go for a push push, but I'm kind of stuck on getting this solderless setup (for no good reason...just feel like it) and they don't offer one.

I'm also kind of tempted to just buy a new set of TW's for the damn RG, buy the solderless 3way blade separately and give it all a go. At least that way if I don't like it I can just return it all, put the stock stuff back in and be done with it. Not fuck with the schecter at all, and I think I can get all the electronics out of the RG and only need to unsolder or clip the output jack. Then again...thats almost 300$ that I wasn't planning on spending. Fucking GAS.
 
#10 ·
No worries, appreciate the input.

I'm starting to lean towards either getting the solderless kit, swapping the pickups and using two push/pulls, or just buying a new set of pickups and still using two push/pulls. I don't care enough about that toggle switch to fight so hard to keep it. Unless EMG responds to my email with better options, thats probably what I'll do.
 
#12 ·
Yea, I believed it before getting the email back but emg did respond confirming that the 5 way won't do it. Each pickup requires a dpdt switch of its own.

I hadn't considered using one push pull and one toggle switch though, that's pretty brilliant. Conceptually it bothers me a little bit having the pickups controlled by different methods, but functionally it's perfect. Use the toggle for the neck since it's the one I'm likely to actually use and then the push pull for the bridge.

I just scored a minty pair of them on reverb for 75 shipped with the pickup cables and push pull pots, so I'll stick those in the RG and wire it up that way and see how it goes.

I also responded back to emg to ask about tonal differences between the 707 & tw. We'll see what the dude says about that.
 
#13 ·
I guess for posterity I'll add in the conclusion to this. I wound up finding a minty set of 707TW's with push/pull pots and pickup cables (all regular solder-type, but whatever) for 75$ shipped so I jumped on that. I installed them so I have a master volume & 3 way blade, the bridge pickup is split by the push/pull and the neck pickup is split by the toggle that used to be the kill switch.

I was really worried that putting the TW's in the Ibanez would give it a tone closer to the Schecter but thats not been the case at all. I guess I've just proven for myself EMG's indeed do not sound the same no matter what guitar they're in (I knew this, I've just never had many guitars with EMG's to have my own experience with it). The Ibanez (swamp ash) is just so much crunchier than the Schecter (mahogany). To me it sounds like its driving the amp harder, but that of course is not the case, the guitar just sounds that different.

So, 707's do indeed sound just like 707TW's. The RGIT27FE sounds a shitload better (to me) than the C-7 Hellraiser with identical pickups. And now that the things are installed its in no way worth spending 120$ to try and convert it to a solderless system.

Only thing I'm still considering looking into is finding a 4pdt switch to see if I can wire both pickups to that one toggle for the single-coil mode. I don't think there's any reason it wouldn't work, just need to make sure I get an appropriate sized switch and that it fits in the guitar. Not sure I care enough to do that now that its all done though haha.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top