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I'm planning to use my first magnetic pickup. I've already built 15+ cbg's using simple piezo disc hard wired to output jacks with great success. So my plan was to incorporate both a disc and a "Gitty magnet pickup" via a 3way to a pre-amp etc. The problem/question arises. The "Gitty pre-amp uses a 2.5 jack to receive signal from the three-way ( which I got covered), my problem enters here. I want to use the "Gitty idea of using plugs and jacks to make electrical connections within the cbg. It will make any changes later easier and faster assembly time initially. Gitty doesn't sell 2.5mm pickups or jacks so I went to my local Raido Shack store to get some, but to my surprise I got mono plugs but could only get stereo jacks. So if I use the stereo jacks, should I only use one side out to the 3way or run lines off both sides of the stereo jack together into the 3way? I'm almost a novice at this wiring thing and would appreciate any and all help you could send me. Thanks in advance!

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on June 11, 2015 at 7:18pm

I think you ought consider putting the preamp at a different point in the circuit, between the piezo and the switch so that it amplifies the piezo only.

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Permalink Reply by Preston J. Laisure on June 12, 2015 at 4:46pm

That's a interesting idea. I'll certainly keep that in mind. The question was concerning the use of 2.5mm mono plugs combined with 2.5 stereo jocks. Must I combine both lines out to continue the strongest mono signal possible? Since the stereo jack was designed to send two separate signals. The best solution that I can come up with is just hard wire as I always have. Thanks. Preston

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on June 12, 2015 at 6:31pm

The 'ring' (middle) conductor will be shorted to ground in a mono plug, so don't even worry about it

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Permalink Reply by sparky37 on July 20, 2015 at 3:22pm

I ordered mono 1/8" solder male and female jacks from mcm electronics in packets of 10 each. http://us1.activepoint.com/MCMelectronicsC57/slider.html?page=625 The output of the preamp is only mono. I believe the output of the uk 2000 preamp also has a switch to turn on and off the preamp, hence the the third connection on the jack. When you plug in the 1/4" mono output jack it turns on the preamp when you unplug it turns off the preamp. Because of this using the preamp output as one of the inputs to a three way switch could be a problem. If you bypass the output third connection how would you turn on or off the preamp? I used C. B. Gitty's rail runner bridge and piezo pickup plugs right in to the input on the UK 2000 pre amp works great, but got to have lots of string pressure down on the bridge.