Wireless Pickup Switch

[FatMike]

Hi, I have no wiring experience beyond fitting a new humbucker, so excuse my ignorance if what I'm asking is either too much or too easy.

I play a lot of ska / punk rock, in the vein of Less Than Jake / Reel Big Fish / Streetlight Manifesto etc. This kind of playing involves frequent amp channel switches via foot pedal between clean and distortion sounds. That's easy.

Trouble is, I favour the clean sound produced by the neck-position single coil, whereas the distortion is obviously better handled by the bridge-position humbucker. The current pickup switch is a standard strat-style 5 position switch, and using this to switch pickups from bridge to neck whilst still strumming in the fraction of a second required by the music is near impossible by my reckoning (maybe i just need practice with that, but I've never seen it done by anyone else).

Hence, I was wondering if it would be possible to switch between pickups using a foot-pedal, and furthermore, whether a sytem is possible whereby this foot-pedal wirelessly controls the pickup switch.

Again, excuse me if this is either impossible or laughably easy.

Thanks.

[Desopolis]

I guess you could always make a foot switch for it, but it would be slightly complicated, and in the end I doubt you would think it that much faster.

what kind of guitar do you play?

for a strat if it were that much of an issue, you could always move the Volume pot down one, remove one of the tone pots.

in the Volume pot location put a simple 2 way on/off kind of switch(gibson round style to fit the hole)

then it would be changable with a up/down stroke(although alittle closer to the bridge) but would be pretty freaking fast..

PERSONALLY my hands are big enough that i can usualy grab the 5 way with my pinky or at least flick it

[Samuel McBrian-Brian]

If you've got two pickups you could give them each their own output, both going to a box on the floor where you can put all your switching and volume and tone needs. It would be hard to control volume and tone on the floor though, and you'd look silly with two cables coming out.

Love From Samuel.

P.S.

I think controlling each pickup I have with a separate volume control is aaaaaawesome.

[Sambo]

A relay (in the guitar), a stereo axe cable and a little stomp box is all that would be needed. Basically, you need to wire the footswitch to turn on the relay (takes place of the switch on yer axe) and change the amp channel when you thump it. Let us know what amp you're using and can help you out there. I take it you want a footswitch to change both?

If you're not adverse to the idea of FET switching (some people don't like it) then you could do it with a battery in your guitar (a relay isnt really do-able with onboard batteries... takes up too much power).

S

[BigG1986]

this topic looks like it could get REALLY interesting, i will be watching!!!

[GregP]

Whatever you come up with, I hope you make the guitar switchable in the conventional way as well-- you don't want that foot unit to become a ball and chain.

+me interested in this thread, too. Hope cool ideas pour forth.

[unklmickey]

If you've got two pickups you could give them each their own output, both going to a box on the floor where you can put all your switching and volume and tone needs. It would be hard to control volume and tone on the floor though, and you'd look silly with two cables coming out.

Love From Samuel.

P.S.

I think controlling each pickup I have with a separate volume control is aaaaaawesome.

the first part impressed me as thinking like a GuitarNut! ............................. but then you lost me.

think separate outputs, with the neck and middle being controlled by the 5-way, having their own volume and tone control.

the bridge HB has it's own volume control on the guitar, but the output is send through the extra connection on a STEREO shielded cable.

both signals travel separately down the same cable to a box where they are split.

from there to separate effects chains, the 2 chains joined by a A/B box, then to the amp.

one stomp on the A/B switch and you switch from normal to lead.

[Samuel McBrian-Brian]

the first part impressed me as thinking like a GuitarNut! ............................. but then you lost me.

think separate outputs, with the neck and middle being controlled by the 5-way, having their own volume and tone control.

the bridge HB has it's own volume control on the guitar, but the output is send through the extra connection on a STEREO shielded cable.

both signals travel separately down the same cable to a box where they are split.

from there to separate effects chains, the 2 chains joined by a A/B box, then to the amp.

one stomp on the A/B switch and you switch from normal to lead.

Oh man I would never have thought of a stereo cable. That's an awesome idea. That is certainly how I would fix the problem, if I was in FatMike's position.

Or perhaps I'd use USB cables.

For kicks.

[Desopolis]

If you've got two pickups you could give them each their own output, both going to a box on the floor where you can put all your switching and volume and tone needs. It would be hard to control volume and tone on the floor though, and you'd look silly with two cables coming out.

Love From Samuel.

P.S.

I think controlling each pickup I have with a separate volume control is aaaaaawesome.

the first part impressed me as thinking like a GuitarNut! ............................. but then you lost me.

think separate outputs, with the neck and middle being controlled by the 5-way, having their own volume and tone control.

the bridge HB has it's own volume control on the guitar, but the output is send through the extra connection on a STEREO shielded cable.

both signals travel separately down the same cable to a box where they are split.

from there to separate effects chains, the 2 chains joined by a A/B box, then to the amp.

one stomp on the A/B switch and you switch from normal to lead.

+1 on something I wasn't thinking of..

I kept seeing a standard switch on the ground..

I wonder also, with a stereo cable/jack is it possible to use the guitar with a normal cable? Assuming that the bridge pickup wouldn't work..

[Samuel McBrian-Brian]

+1 on something I wasn't thinking of..

I kept seeing a standard switch on the ground..

I wonder also, with a stereo cable/jack is it possible to use the guitar with a normal cable? Assuming that the bridge pickup wouldn't work..

Stereo jacks put L and R channels to one in mono cables.

mono:

/ \ tip +

| |

| |

| |

|__|

| | sleeve -

stereo:

/ \ left +

| |

|__|

| | right +

|__|

| | sleeve -

As in, they will become combined. But thats OK because they'd have their own volume control, so you can still pick whichever one. Just not fast on the floor.

Love From Samuel.

P.S.

I think.

Edited January 24, 2007 by Samuel McBrian-Brian

[Sambo]

Ok...

Fet switching guitar pickups! ha ha ha This is a quick idea when i really should be revising!!

The guitar:

The footswitch:

Power comes from a 9v battery onboard. THe current draw from the fets and the inverter (use a cd4069 or similar) isnt very high so the battery should last a fair time. You could even add flashy LED's if you want

The basic idea is the input (9v) from the footswitch up a stereo cable trips two FET switches which are kept on different statuses by the CD4069 inverter. The mode switch allows usage of the 'normal' pickup switch or the footswitch, and the inverter switch changes which of the pickups is active in each footswitch position.

I've left one pole on the footswitch so you can sort out your amp footswitch stuff on that. Use a 3 pole switch if you want LED's and such.

Cheers

S

[Sambo]

Sorry just noticed the diodes are the wrong way round on the diagram. Ooops.

S

[FatMike]

Hey guys, thanks for all the interest. To help, here's my gear:

The guitar's a yamaha pacifica 112, with one volume and one tone control and a 5 way pickup switch.

The bridge pickup is a Seymour Duncan SH-8 invader, and the neck pickup is just the stock yamaha single coil. We can foget about the middle pickup altogether as far as I'm concerned.

The amp is a 2 channel Mesa / Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head, and I already have a footswitch for the amp.

TBH, using the same switch to contol the pickup change and the amp channel doesn't bother me that much if it proves overly complex: I will willingly devise a device which depresses two seperate footswitches at the same instant, even if its just a flat plate positioned over both the switches.

My main concern is what kind of switch to use to switch between the two pickups without an off position. So just a two-way switch with one side for the neck and the other for the bridge. Does a common normally closed switch work for this or not?

And also, it would be hugely preferable (and cool) if the switch could be operated without a second cable into the guitar, as this would indeed look stupid and get in the way. I guess this would involve some sort of wireless receiver to power the switch, controlled by a remote transmitter (the foot pedal). IS THIS POSSIBLE?!!!

[Sambo]

Last bit confused the hell out of me!

A standard spdt (on-on) switch will switch neck to bridge pickups. But i'm confused what the rest of it was about!!

S

[Samuel McBrian-Brian]

Easier than FET switching. And if you don't have the box on the floor with the switch, or a stereo cable, you still have full functionality out of all your pickups (use the two volume controls).

Love From Samuel

P.S.

Nice banjo.

P.P.S.

The DPDT is on the floor.

P.P.P.S.

If all you've done is replace a humbucker, I could draw up that diagram better so you know which wires go where exactly.

[Odin]

Using the 5 way switch on youre guitar must be much faster than a pedal. Look at Malmsteen on youtube (he goes from bridge to neck very quick) and practice.

[Samuel McBrian-Brian]

Using the 5 way switch on youre guitar must be much faster than a pedal. Look at Malmsteen on youtube (he goes from bridge to neck very quick) and practice.

Ever wonder why he can do it very quickly? Because Malmsteen's hands are very quick in general guitar playing.

So your advice to Fatmike who plays ska / punk rock in the vein of Less Than Jake / Reel Big Fish / Streetlight Manifesto et cetera is to practice guitar so he can play like Yngwie Malmsteen?

A pedal would be faster, because you can step on it whilst using your hands for other things. I don't see why you think the five way on the guitar would be faster, no matter how fast you can flick it. Unless you can flick it and play at the same time. But then, why bother? You could just stand on it.

[Sambo]

Sorry samuel, But if i plugged the 'nice banjo' into any guitar amp of mine without the footswitch etc i still wouldnt be able to use my bridge humbucker. By its output to the ring, you're grounding it with a mono cable.

S

[Samuel McBrian-Brian]

Sorry samuel, But if i plugged the 'nice banjo' into any guitar amp of mine without the footswitch etc i still wouldnt be able to use my bridge humbucker. By its output to the ring, you're grounding it with a mono cable.

S

Oh darn you're right, I thought the tip was longer and the sleeve or whatever was the short bit, but I just looked at one and oops, my error.

It doesn't mean you cant use a USB cable.

Or an even better solution would be:

[Sambo]

is a USB cable code for something or am i missing something bloody obvious?!

S

[Samuel McBrian-Brian]

is a USB cable code for something or am i missing something bloody obvious?!

S

Universal Serial Bus.

But that revised diagram caters for having a mono cable. If I used amp distortion with my bridge pickup and I felt the need to change pickups quickly, I think that's what I'd do. I wonder what FatMike will do...

[unklmickey]

i think putting the stereo output directly into a switch is a missed opportunity.

if you break that out into 2 separate outputs, they can be connected to an A/B box.

if all you want to do is switch pickups this might seem like extra hardware, BUT.............

if you plug the HB output into a distortion pedal, then into the A/B box, you don't need to shut off the pedal. its always ready for the HB, when the HB "channel" is selected.

like wise, if you have a real pretty chorus pedal on the neck clean side, that will get bypassed automatically when the HB channel is selected.

basically you can have 2 separate chains that you have preset before the start of the song.

then all you do is step on ONE switch to toggle between the sounds.

cheers,

unk

[Sambo]

ok ok ok.... i know USB stands for universal serial bus, but why in gods name would you want to put your guitar signal down a usb cable?

S

[Samuel McBrian-Brian]

Ah, unklmickey I have but a humble bass amp and wouldn't know such things, and I had a hard time following your explanation. I was unaware that the A/B channels had separate inputs as well, but that might depend on the amp.

Why wouldn't you want to put your signal down a USB cable?

"Hey guys, my guitar is USB 2.0 compatable!"

Or perhaps a 25 (?) pin printer cable. The sky is the limit.

Oh and in my diagram, I realised that the SPST switch would send everything to ground when on. You'd really need a DPDT.

Love From Samuel

[crafty]

Wow, I'm all for experimentation and all, but for God's sake, just wire up a freakin' blower switch already! You keep the main selector switch on the neck pickup, and when it comes time to switch on the distortion, you flick the big blower switch thus bypassing the selector and stomp on your overdrive. It's a lot better than trying to stomp on your distortion AND your bridge pickup at the same time.