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Mixing pickups

So any problem with using both magnetic and piezo pickups on the same guitar? Possible result? Downsides? Wiring? Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Don Stachovak on February 25, 2018 at 8:54am

I have one with a piezo at the bridge and a mag at the neck. It's got a 3 way LP style switch and volume knobs. Works great!

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on February 25, 2018 at 8:59am

I've done this a few times.

I built a Reso-Strat with 2 P90 style pickups and a round piezo wired to a 5-way switch, 500k volume and tone pots, .o22 tone cap and to jack. The Piezo was available in position 1 alone and position 2 with the bridge pickup. It does well in this setup except for a popping sound when switching from pickups alone to positions that have the piezo due to impedance mismatch. You just have to turn down the volume first which is a little bit annoying.

Another guitar has a humbucker and piezo on a 3-way switch. No popping on this one, may be due to hum cancelling of the humbucker.

I love the sound of the Rod Piezo over the Round Piezo, but the Rod Piezo needs a preamp for more volume.

Some preamps allow connections of piezo and pickups and they transition very well.

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Permalink Reply by David Bowes on February 25, 2018 at 9:24am

Just finishing a guitar and was thinking of using two pickups, can you also have the magnetic pickup and piezo operating at the same time? Or are they too much of a mismatch?

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on February 25, 2018 at 9:55am

There is a mismatch in the impedance, but they will work together.

I'll add that the single coils I used with the piezo are quiet(as in virtually no 60 cycle hum).

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Permalink Reply by David L. on February 25, 2018 at 10:11am

Hi Robert,

It works well. This is an old video I made years back and you need to turn up the volume to hear it. It compares magnetic, piezo (discs) and both. There are sound demos too of the signal straight to an amp and via an onboard preamp.

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/comparing-cbg-pickups

The wiring is simple - just pick a diagram that has a two wire magnetic pickup (humbucker or single coil) and substitute in the piezo + and - wires for one of the pickups.

I usually add a preamp and just send the common signal (that would go to the Jack socket had there not been a preamp) through it. The preamp gives good tone control over the magnetic/piezo/both signals.

This contains the usual wiring diagrams

http://www.artecsound.com/wiring/wiring_book01.pdf

Regards,

David L.

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on February 25, 2018 at 11:27am

I've used mag and piezo combination a lot on my guitars, especially if a resonator guitar. I have used two volume pots, one for each pickup, or a blend pot and a master volume. Both with tone pot of course.

Usually 250k pots for single coil pickup and 500k pots for humbuckers. Not sure what size best suits a piezo but either of these will work. You can change to combination around, it will change the sound of the pickups slightly.

cheers Taff

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on February 25, 2018 at 12:25pm

This sounds like the best option to me. You could use a Fender J Bass wiring scheme 2 volumes 1 tone and no switch to give any popping noise.

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Permalink Reply by David Bowes on February 25, 2018 at 9:59pm

Thanks all, I will give it a try, but only got a relatively small box so I may struggle with a volume and tone pot for each.

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on February 26, 2018 at 8:43am

Hi, what about a master tone for both PU plus two volume. Use mini pots. Or a push/pull pot for a function, to save space. I'm not sure but a click noise from the selector switch mentioned earlier may have been caused by the piezo picking up switch noise. Also, depending on the box, consider mounting pots in the rim of the box.

just my thoughts Taff