the Fly Clone Project

Hello folks.
I am envisioning the possibility of a mod that would be reversible, I think.
Here’s the concept:
On my artist, I have come to enjoy the mid split position, contrary to my other Flys. Somehow, on that guitar, the mid position is not as wimpy as on the others.
I’ve always loved the sound of single coils, but hated playing them. That gave me the idea that, possibly instead of simply splitting the coils, connecting the coil split wires to a knob which gradually send this to Ground might give me an enjoyable “single coil” sound.
I don’t really use the mag pick up volume. I mostly use the master knob. So I am wondering if I could repurpose that knob to affecting the coil split amount.
Anyone here have the idea or the technical knowledge of how I could accomplish this without destroying the guitar?

Patzag wrote: ↑Wed Apr 10, 2024 11:14 am Anyone here have the idea or the technical knowledge of how I could accomplish this without destroying the guitar?

I think I do. I'll explain how, then explain what makes it difficult:

What you're describing would require a dual gang pot with a no-load mod to its tracks (so that, at 10, the series-connected wires are wholly unaffected). Each pot gang would be wired with a humbucker's series connection wires soldered to the center lug, with the left lug going to ground and the right lug left bare (as in a typical tone pot wiring arrangement). Seymour Duncan called this the "spin-a-split" mod when used with a single pot splitting a single humbucker.

You would desolder the input and output wires from the old mag volume pot and connect them out of the way, then relocate any other common ground wires from it to the coil-splitting pot.

The hurdle is in finding such a pot: You'd likely have to source a dual gang pot of sufficient shaft length which lends itself to disassembly, then sever each carbon track around the "10" position of the appropriate outer lug for the no-load mod (otherwise, the series connections are still loaded with resistance from the pot; and you may dislike how it sounds).

When I've previously bought dual gang volume pots for my Flys (to use as a mag/synth master volume), the only ones I found ended up having short shafts which required me to thin out the interior of the face of the guitar with a forstner bit to get them to poke just barely far enough through the front of the guitar to fasten a nut onto.

There are some ebay sellers who will piece together custom CTS pots - It may be worth messaging them with your requirements. If you're like me, you may also have some spare or used pots laying around which may be pieced together or parted out.

If you end up finding you prefer a particular "sweet spot" in the pot's travel, you could reproduce the effect with a simpler coil split switch in which the path to ground passes through a resistor to toggle between "full humbucking" and "tuned split."

Wow. A lot of work for a guy with 2 left hands! I’m going to think about it.
Thanks Marc for the insight, as always.