Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Turkeychicken on May 8, 2013 at 5:29pm

OK, got home from work and I looked over my wiring/soldering etc. Everything looks OK. Disconnected the single coil and the piezos work fine. That tells me I cannot run both pickups to one output without a 3-way switch. Now my question becomes, should I use a small 3-way switch, or should I run dual outputs??

Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on May 8, 2013 at 5:31pm

Switch. Somewhere here there's a diagram of how to do what you wanna do.

Permalink Reply by Turkeychicken on May 8, 2013 at 7:15pm

That would probably be the most practical, considering the recipient. This has got me thinking though, if I run the same setup with dual outputs, I could theoretically accompany myself through a dual channel amp with one pickup playing clean and the other a little dirty couldn't I?

Permalink Reply by Fat Stan on May 19, 2013 at 2:20am

Before you wire up twin outputs, i would test the amp to make sure it will actually let you use two instruments together. Most guitar amps that say they are two channel amps, just mean a clean and dirty channel that you can use one at a time, and not both together. They won't play two instruments. If yours does just plug in two guitars together and see if they both work. Another way you could do this even on a one channel amp, is to use a small 3 or 4 input mixer, and go through that. I would still go with a three way switch thought, as that way you can use any amp to play through and still have te use of both pickup systems.
Hope that helps.

Permalink Reply by HarleyTodd on May 20, 2013 at 9:06am

there is a way to do this with no 3 way switch, and no blend pot, but rather just your 2 vol pots going to your single out.  you ahve to add a capasitor or something to make them work....someone explained this in something i posted in the last month...I will look for it.

Permalink Reply by HarleyTodd on May 20, 2013 at 9:08am

This is what David L. sent to me on a similar issue.  Its one I started in this Group, it shows up just a few down from your new discussion on the first page of the group.  All credit to David L.

 

Hi Harley, You seem to have a good idea about your options. Blending via the volume pots gives the best control and variation, but just using separate volume pots wired to the same output will not work because as you turn one down both signals will bleed to ground through whichever volume is turned down. You are on the right track though, if you add diodes (cost a few cents) on the output from the two volume pots they act like a one way valve for the electrical circuit and let the pots work independently of each other. This is where I first came across this idea http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/stratocaster-discussion-forum/13405... I recently wired up an electric guitar I made from a chopping board using this idea and it works so much better than a blend pot. I didn't bother with the treble bleed mod on each pot. You don't have to follow the diagram in the link exactly - I prefer my usual way of wiring a volume pot (left:in,middle:out (diode goes here),right:ground) so did it as per normal and added a diode to the hot output from each of the volume pots. The diodes I used were 1N5819 as I thought they would cope better with the theoretical high voltages a piezo can produce. You could also add a tone pot to the magnetic pickup as per normal.
Regards, David

Permalink Reply by Turkeychicken on May 20, 2013 at 10:00am

Sweet, thanks man! Gonna try that here in a couple days when I add a mag pup to an old reso build.

Permalink Reply by Turkeychicken on May 21, 2013 at 5:26am

Had some free time today, gave it a try. All I get is a hum, nothing at all from the pup or the piezo... Couldn't find 1N5819 diodes, used 1N4003 instead. Could that be my problem? No matter how hard I try, I just cannot grasp electronics. It doesn't make any sense to me, my brain just can't get wrapped around it...

Permalink Reply by Turkeychicken on May 21, 2013 at 7:10am

Nevermind, I have it figured out. Now my question becomes, how do you ground a magnetic pickup on a guitar that doesn't have a metal bridge?

Permalink Reply by HarleyTodd on June 5, 2013 at 10:30am

so did the part I pasted above about using the diodes work?  Is that how you did it?  I never actually didi it, just saved that info from "David", but I plan to on a future build. 

Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on June 5, 2013 at 10:46am

You need a couple 10c diodes. What was happening in the circuit originally, if either volume control was on less than 10 both pickups could follow that path to ground. I do these kinda circuits (with two magnetix tho) all the time. I'd be looking at a balance control and a master volume instead of individual vol controls is all but it's same thing