Wiring Magnetic Pick up and Piezo to switch and single output

So I am working on an Octave Mandolin build right now with 2 different pick ups one is the Basic Piezo Kit for Cigar Box Guitar from cbgitty https://www.cbgitty.com/cigar-box-guitar-parts/basic-piezo-pickup-k... , and the other is the Delta Bucker Deluxe (pre- soldered) https://www.cbgitty.com/cigar-box-guitar-parts/pickups/deltabucker-...

i also bought a three way toggle from gitty https://www.cbgitty.com/guitar-electronics/switches/chrome-gibson-t....

My question is can i combine all these parts by wiring the both pick ups to the switch and the switch to a single output jack? The intent is to be able to switch between the two pick up styles of pick ups.

Or is it better to just have seperate output jacks and run them both to and exterior Pre-Amp? But then how do you add an extra input to that Pre-Amp?

Can anyone who is good with wiring help me out? I have a steady hand and decent soldering iron so the work does not scare me, i just need help figuring out the wiring.

Thanks in advance

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Permalink Reply by JL on November 7, 2017 at 1:34am

Short answer, yes you can wire the 2 pickups to the 3-way switch and straight to the jack, volume knob is optional since you can control the volume on your amp.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on November 7, 2017 at 10:54pm

Wire the 2 piezo in parallel( both red wires together for signal and both black wires together for ground). Solder the red wires to one side of the switch(outside lug of the 3 lugs) and the signal/+ wire of the pickup to the other side. Solder a signal wire from the center lug to a volume pot or to the signal/+ lug of the jack.

Ground wires go to the single lug on the other side of the switch and then to the back of the volume pot and/or to the ground lug of the jack.

If you use a volume pot, a 500k will probably do fine. If the pickup is too bright, then use a .022 cap inline with the pickup's signal wire to the switch(high pass filter)

I don't understand why so many don't want to use on-board guitar controls. You want your amp to be set at the point where it sounds the best at all times. Having to go back n forth to make adjustments will get tiring after awhile and your amp won't sound the same on different settings. Much better to set the amp at it's sweet spot and make your adjustments at the guitar.