Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Warren on May 5, 2010 at 7:14am

My $.02. There are a number of ways to accomplish this. A reasonably easy way to try it is to unsolder all the leads to "everything" (jack, vol, tone, ground(s), etc.). Then, unscrew anything holding the pickups down from the front.

Gently, pull the pickups out. If you feel resistance, try to find the cause and resolve it. Having said that, if you can pull a few inches of wire for the pickup, you could cut the wire and solder new wire to the leads (probably shielded wire is best, not sure about that).

Good luck and see what other suggestions you get before digging in :)

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Permalink Reply by Tommy on May 5, 2010 at 9:05am

Its not the removal of the pickups etc thats the problem. I can get that sorted.
I wondered if anyone else has built a CBG with two humbuckers...

Is there any real advantages in doing so or will a single pickup sound as sexy?

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Permalink Reply by Warren on May 6, 2010 at 5:39am

I agree with Gary. You don't really need 2 humbuckers in a CBG, although it looks cool!


gary martin said:

Last week i put 2 hummbuckers ,1 volume anmd 2 tones into a cigar box ,looks fantastic but im still dickin around with the tone pots, im seeking help today]but when i put 1 hummbucker in ,without vol/tone ,they allways sound great .......id make two cbgs out of your project .

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Permalink Reply by Roger Martin on May 6, 2010 at 5:54am

I 3rd the motion. Tho it DOES look cool, I dont think I'd beat my head against the wall all that much , just to get 2 crammed in.
I'd just load up 1 and plug 'er in and have fun.
But then wife used to say ( until I got bit by the CBG bug" that I tended to be on the lazy side anyway,,,,,

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Permalink Reply by Tommy on May 6, 2010 at 6:48am

I think ill just slap one humbucker in and build a couple of guitars. xD

Thanx for the advice guys.
Cant wait to finish work tomorrow and get cracking on my first build. Although i hanvnt got all my materials...

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Permalink Reply by Tracy Kennedy on May 6, 2010 at 12:20pm

Good choice. Why have one piece of pie when you can have two!!!

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on May 6, 2010 at 12:27pm

2 in the hand is worth one in the bush, or is that one in the hand oh well you get what I mean, make 2 better than one confusion says.

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Permalink Reply by Shawn on May 6, 2010 at 6:41pm

If there is room in the box go for it I just built a two humbucker CBG 6 string and it turned out great. And with a 3 way switch you get lots of options. Take a look at my pictures it's the one in black. But it's your build do what your heart tells you too do, mine said go big!

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Permalink Reply by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on May 7, 2010 at 2:15am

There's a lot more to a multiple pickup configuration than just having it look cool. On a clean rig with no effects, a bridge mount pickup sounds completely different than a neck mount pickup. A bridge pickup will sound bright and lively and a neck pickup sounds warmer and mellow. Blended together they give the guitar an extremely full and vibrant sound. The reason for this is because of the mechanics of string vibration, especially how a string naturally divides itself up into nodal points when plucked. I have a fantastic book at home that explains the physics of this in detail and if I remember to do so when I get home tonight, I'll lift the info from that book and repost here (if I forget and you're really interested, message me to get me moving).

Now, if you want to do two pups in your guitar, you can drop that 5-way in the picture and get a simple 3-way. Wire it up so that you can select either pickup or both at the same time. There's tons of information on the web for doing this. I recommend using a Gibson/Switchcraft style switch as they are rock solid and have oversize lugs that are really easy to solder.

Warren said:

I agree with Gary. You don't really need 2 humbuckers in a CBG, although it looks cool!


gary martin said:

Last week i put 2 hummbuckers ,1 volume anmd 2 tones into a cigar box ,looks fantastic but im still dickin around with the tone pots, im seeking help today]but when i put 1 hummbucker in ,without vol/tone ,they allways sound great .......id make two cbgs out of your project .

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Permalink Reply by Tommy on May 7, 2010 at 5:50am

If i can get hold of a big enough box im going to go for two humbuckers !

Is there a set distance that they need to be placed apart so they wont interfere with one another?

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Permalink Reply by Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) on May 7, 2010 at 6:10am

The distance matters but it is not set. It's based on your scale length. What you're aiming to do is place your pickups where they are least likely to be under a nodal point on the guitar string. For a more detailed discussion on nodal points, see the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Node_%28physics%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_harmonics

So on a guitar string, the nodal point is a point where the string vibrates the absolute least when plucked. If you end up placing your pup under one of these points, there will be a minimum of signal transmitted and your guitar will sound dead and muted. You want your pup under the anti-node, where you get the maximum movement.

Tommy said:

If i can get hold of a big enough box im going to go for two humbuckers !

Is there a set distance that they need to be placed apart so they wont interfere with one another?

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Permalink Reply by Tommy on May 7, 2010 at 7:50am

Thanx Josh

Josh Gayou (SmokehouseGuitars) said:

The distance matters but it is not set. It's based on your scale length. What you're aiming to do is place your pickups where they are least likely to be under a nodal point on the guitar string. For a more detailed discussion on nodal points, see the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Node_%28physics%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_harmonics

So on a guitar string, the nodal point is a point where the string vibrates the absolute least when plucked. If you end up placing your pup under one of these points, there will be a minimum of signal transmitted and your guitar will sound dead and muted. You want your pup under the anti-node, where you get the maximum movement.

Tommy said:

If i can get hold of a big enough box im going to go for two humbuckers !

Is there a set distance that they need to be placed apart so they wont interfere with one another?

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