Led Indicator Lights

[TeiscosRock]

Is it possible to set up LEDs in a guitar to indicate which pickup(s) are on? I'll be using a single on/on switch for each pickup, if that makes any difference.

How would I go about doing this?

[thegarehanman]

You'd need to use double pole, double throw(dpdt) switches for this. You'd wire the positive terminal from the battery to one of the middle tabs of the switch, and the lead wire from your pickup to the other middle tab. Have a wire going from one of the outside terminals(the one that corrisponds to the lead from the pickup in the middle) to your volume(or output...w/e). Wire the led in series with a resistor(you're on your own determining the value of this, it's dependent upon your input voltage and led specs) and hook the cathode end up to the terminal(that's on the same side as the pickup output) which corrisponds to the battery input on the switch.

Oh hell, I'm so aweful at describing wiring...here's a diagram:

(CLICK THUMBNAIL TO ENLARGE)

peace,

russ

Edited November 15, 2005 by thegarehanman

[gripper]

A big problem with using LEDs to show selector positions is that there is no way to turn the things off without taking the battery out or adding a switch. Maybe someone can come up with that setup/schematic. I saw a guitar with neck LEDs that shutoff with the output cable unplugged but that was a lot more complex thing than what I think you want to do. LEDs ROCK!

[weezerboy]

surely that wiring (the battery cut off when the lead is not present) is exactly the same as a stompbox? in which case its really not that difficult

[TeiscosRock]

As long as I use a Stereo jack it shouldn't be a problem setting it up to cut the juice without a lead, though, if I'm not mistaken?

[thegarehanman]

They make a special input jack(9-pin I believe) to cut a signal(like a 9v power supply) when the cable's unplugged. Stewmac sells it. The reason is had so many pins is because it's something like a stereo jack and 3 spst switches in one. You obviously would only need 4 of the pins for one battery and a mono output.

You're a bit off base gripper. It'd be a piece of cake to do. All you do is wire the on/off input jack in series w/ you power supply and you're set. You also neglected to realise the fact that all he'd have to do to turn off the leds when he's not using the guitar is to turn each pickup to the "off" position. If he weren't using a seperate dpdt switch for each pickup, it'd be a different story.

peace,

russ

Edited November 16, 2005 by thegarehanman

[Gemm012]

Wouldn't you be able to use a triple pole double throw to cut the battery?

Galen.

[thegarehanman]

Why would you need a triple pole switch? That would be way, way overkill for this application. The most you'd possibly need for a battery kill switch would be a spst. Also, why would you want to when you could just as easily use the output jack.

[lovekraft]

Stereo TRS output jack (as mentioned above, repeatedly ), battery ground wired to the ring terminal, everything else normal - anything more is gilding the lily.

As for switching the LEDs themselves, a 4 pole superswitch should give you plenty of options.

[TeiscosRock]

Alright I know how to do it with the DPDT switches, but could you do it with a superswitch or something that would fit on a strat?

[lovekraft]

...could you do it with a superswitch [?]...

Of course:

Don't forget to include a current-limiting resistor in series with each LED (not shown) - a search for LED will link you to a calculator to figure out which resistor you need.

[gripper]

Luvcraft, how do you do thast diagramming so fast? That is very impressive! Do you have an actual function drawing of a Super switch or do you just do this so much that you know? I hate replacing switches because every body gives you a wiring DIAGRAM of how to wire it but nobody shows you how each position works schematically. Luvcraft rocks!

[Gemm012]

Sorry, I wasn't thinkin' straight. I'm not even gonna try and explain what I was thinking.

Galen

[TeiscosRock]

Your the greatest, lovekraft. These diagrams are going in my file

Thanks!

[frank falbo]

Sidebar-Do you mean to have three little LED's near the switches somewhere? Because it also would be really cool to have them located under the pickup, so the whole pickup cavity glowed from underneath. It would be like a car with ground effects lighting. The routes would have to be clean, and it should probably be direct mount pickups, but it should look pretty cool. You'd have to use springs to hold the pickups up, otherwise foam would just block out the light. You could even use color changing LED's, or different colored LED's in each pickup cavity.

You could also use pickups with clear bobbins, like the acrylic B.C. Rich's but those are probably hard to find.

[TeiscosRock]

I was playing around with a few ideas, if I were to do the LED thing. On one hand, the guitar will be a real vintager bluesman axe, but on the other hand, i think it would be cool to add a bit of new age glitz to it, know what I mean? Anyway, I played around with the idea of putting the LEDs (with a lower value resistor, to make it brighter) under the pickguard so that the light shows through a slit or something cut in the guard, or as you said, through the pickup cavities.

Right now I'm thinking maybe placing 3 LEDs oabove or below their respective pickups (blue for the neck, red for the bridge, and violet for the middle), mounted ON the pickguard. It might be a little more difficult to get them below the pickguard and still show in only thier own little area. I'm pretty open to ideas at this point.

EDIT:

OR! I just had a pretty good Idea. Since with the mods I'll be doing to this guitar (its a Strat), I'll only need 2 knobs, I'll put the three different colored LEDs all together somehow just below the empy hole in the pickguard where the third knob would be. That way when I switch pickups, a different color with shine through the hole. Whaddaya think? (I'd be using the superswitch so only one color would show at a time).

Edited November 17, 2005 by TeiscosRock

[lovekraft]

OR... you could use an RGB LED, and each switch position would be a different color!!!

[TeiscosRock]

Well, i wouldnt know how to set that up! Take it away, then lovekraft; how would I go about doing something like that?

[lovekraft]

An RGB LED is a 4 lead package, usually 3 hot leads ( one for each color) and a common cathode ( ground). You'd simply wire each hot lead (and a series resistor) to the switch as if it were a single LED. Since each LED is a different primary color, any position that lit two LEDs would give you another color (R+G=Y, R+B=V, etc.).

[TeiscosRock]

Could I get one of those RGB LEDs at the Rat Shack or would I have to get it from Mouser or something?

Edited November 17, 2005 by TeiscosRock

[lovekraft]

Could I get one of those RGB LEDs at the Rat Shack or would I have to get it from Mouser or something?

←

No, you'll have to go to an Electronics parts retailer - for the record, Radio Shack is a cellular phone and computer store that stocks a few components by accident and tradition, and can't be counted on to have anything useful on hand at any given time. Mouser has Kingbright 5mm RGBs for about $4.00US or so, and a 6-pin DIP package for about 50¢ more, see here.

[SamIAmUBUF]

While we're on the LED/pickup switch topic, Anyone know how I might wire a bicolor LED to a blend pot such that each color is tied to a single pickup?

[thegarehanman]

OOO. I like that idea. You'd need a dual blend pot though. I don't know if that exists.

[SamIAmUBUF]

OOO. I like that idea. You'd need a dual blend pot though. I don't know if that exists.

←

well, that idea was good while it lasted

[lovekraft]

Actually, it wouldn't be terribly hard to do, provided you don't mind using an active circuit to make it work. I don't see any practical way to do it with passive components.