jvh4 Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 I'm building mt first guitar and ive decided on using two active humbuckers. Each will be connected to on/on mintoggle swithes so that the the two coils will be connected in series in one position and paralell in the other. Now my question deals mostly with the next part. From there I was thinking of using a pot rather than a 3-way pickup selector. my thought is that i can have both pickups in linked inparallel at 5 and 0 it would be just bridge and at 10 all neck, but i could blend anywhere between. Now it seems to me that in theory it should work brilliantly, I was wondering if you all think its sound or if im over looking something or if its just a dumb idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Won't those mini's be your switching system with both pickups at full on or off with a set up like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvh4 Posted September 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 ok im not sure if my discription is unclear or if im just missing what youre saying, so ill clearify and hopefully things will go well from there. The bridge hum will be connected to a switch so that in one switch position, the two coils of the pup will be in series. In the other position, the two coils will be in paralell. The same would be done with the neck hum. Then the output after the switches would be the same as if the hums were just installed normally. Then they would go into the pot which would determine the level of each hum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibum5545 Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 So what you want is parallel/series switches for each hum, and a blend pot? Doesn't sound too hard to me! Guitarelectronics.com will almost certainly have a diagram for what you're looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvh4 Posted September 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 (edited) yeah exactly. I have a pretty good idea how to wire it, i mean its just switches and pots, but im new to guitar building so i wanted to make sure that my idea behind the wiring was good, and that it will do what i want in the end thanks Do the hums being active change anything? Edited September 22, 2004 by jvh4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 I was thinking of using a pot rather than a 3-way pickup selector. my thought is that i can have both pickups in linked inparallel at 5 and 0 it would be just bridge and at 10 all neck, but i could blend anywhere between. You'll have to use a dual-ganged blend pot, but there's no reason why it won't work great, even with active pickups. Take a look at Stew-Mac's blend pot for more info on how it works: Blend Pot Wiring I have several basses set up that way - it works pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvh4 Posted September 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 Thast perfect, thanks a lot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHowell Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 The only problem with the passive blend pot wiring as posted is that when the pot is in the middle position ie both pickups at same level they are only at 50% each (if a linear pot is used) In order to have blending with 100% output you need some active electronics. Have a look at Geofex for how to do this. He has an article called "Panning for fun" . Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 According to Stew-Mac, that's not a problem: ...both signals are full at the center detent... I don't think blend pots are just standard dual-ganged linears. On all of mine, the center detent position is definitely louder than either extreme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted September 22, 2004 Report Share Posted September 22, 2004 If you had something where you can feel the centre (like a click) it would work great as it would be easy to select either end and the extreme....LK is that what they mean by "center detent"? Anyway's, I was just going to say that I have a strat with a three way selector and three phase switches. The selector, Gibson type, selects neck, bridge or both. The bottom tone is a master but for only these pickups. The middle tone, however, is set up as a fader for the middle pickup. Turning it up fades it in. The phase switches mean you can preselect the phase it will have in relation to the others. This radically changes the effect of the control from adding that strat "inbetween" sound, the ellusive all three pickups on, or added fullness and midrange given the correct phase selection. You even get a cool wah type effect on some settings...more so than a standard tone pot. The only problem I've had is that....I used the original cheapo tone pot and not only wore it out but separated the spindle from the wiper...anyway it's completely stuffed!...it's simple enough to replace but my point is...any control that will be used a lot, should be of the best quality...especially strength...that you can find. Oh...and make sure you put that knob where you can reach it without twisting your wrist...ideally you should be able to reach down with your little finger and give it a spin strat or tele style...I suspect you'll be wanting to use it a lot good luck psw PS...your not adding single coil or phase swiching to the pickups? Or is this not an option with the actives? You can even have tone control selctotion, where you can blend in a little bass heavy neck with a bright bridge sound...kind of a strange harmonica type sound if you get it right...it's a Jeff Beck Trick...his own strats allow for it apparently. These switches don't need to be so close to hand...actually you want them out of the way...I think of them as a kind of presetting mechanism for the way the blend will work...you have to keep it simple when you are actually playing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvh4 Posted September 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2004 ok now active hums usually require 25k pot, but since its a mastertone supa phat ass they recommend a 250k. That means i can just use the same passive wiring right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovekraft Posted September 24, 2004 Report Share Posted September 24, 2004 Yes, use the passive wiring, no problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setch Posted September 24, 2004 Report Share Posted September 24, 2004 I used a 500k blend pot instead of a switch on this fella: It sounded great - you didn't need a tone control, since adding a little more edge to the neck could be doen by blending in some bridge, and you could fatten the bridge by mixing on some neck - No more subtractive tone adjustments! I found it very helpful for betting balanced clean tones too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvh4 Posted September 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2004 I didnt want to start a new tread for this next question so ill stick it here. I know nothing of active wireing, i have finished my wiring plans, but its drawn based on passive pickups. Now, from what i understand the pups will have red wires which will connect to batteries then to an extra connector on the output jack. Is there any other part of the wiring i need to change to make the system work with active pups? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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