G&L tech resources: Wiring harnesses

 
 

Usually, given a certain model, variations in the wiring harness are rather minor: a value for a potentiometer here, a capacitor there. The Interceptor is an exception to this rule, with many different iterations even within instruments of the same generation. Hence this section will hopefully be a delightful melange of difference under the hood. As an example of differences between instruments in the same generation, one need to look no further than the Interceptor II and Interceptor III, both released in 1985. With HG-2R “Angled Offset” humbuckers in the former and S-500/Nighthawk MFD Magnetic Field Design single-coil pickups in the latter, these differences are not entirely without explanation. The Interceptor II harness has a CTS 250kΩ Audio Taper volume pot with a 20pF ceramic treble bleed cap. Its implementation of the PTB circuit uses a CTS 250kΩ Audio Taper treble cut pot in series with a 22,000pF cap to ground, and a CTS 1MΩ Reverse Audio Taper bass cut pot with a 2,200pF (.0022µF) treble bleed and another 2,200pF (.0022µF) cap from wiper directly to ground. The Interceptor III on the other hand has a volume control made up of a CTS 250kΩ Audio Taper pot but with a 200pF ceramic treble bleed capacitor. Its PTB circuit consists of a CTS 1MΩ Audio Taper treble cut pot in series with a 22,000pF (.022µF) cap to ground and a CTS 1MΩ Reverse Audio Taper bass cut pot with a 2,200pF (.0022µF) treble bleed. The 2nd X-body Interceptor HH from 1986 has 2 Schaller humbuckers. Although the volume control is identical to the volume control on the Interceptor III, it has a completely different tone stack. Each pickup has its own tone control made up of a CTS 250kΩ Audio Taper pot in series with a 22,000pF (.022µF) cap from wiper to ground. Located under the volume knob, the 3-position mini-toggle pickup selector is found. Such a control layout and harness was continued on the 3rd style Interceptor HH. However, both the HSS and SSS versions of the 3td style Interceptor have the same wiring harness as the Invader discussed in the previous section, i.e. a CTS 250kΩ Audio Taper master volume pot with a 200pF ceramic treble bleed cap, single CTS 250kΩ Audio Taper tone pot with a 100,000pF (.1µF) treble bleed cap and in series with a 6.8kΩ resistor to ground, and 3 MTA106D on/off mini-toggle switch for each pickup. Note this tone control is identical as the one used for the Broadcaster in 1985. Below the harnesses for an Interceptor HSS w/Kahler and Interceptor HSS w/LFV, both from 1988, are pictorially intertwined while the (identical) harness for a 1989 Interceptor SSS w/DFV is shown on a separate line.

 

Interceptor guitars