xaghce Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 I'm working on building my 2nd guitar and am debating about something simple while waiting for my laquer to dry. the salvaged body I'm using, originally had a stereo jack in it and I'm wondering if there's merit to continue using one. I asked a repair guy at a shop and he said there's no real point of having a stereo jack unless u have active pickups (which I do not). However, given the choice I find it hard to choose something called "mono" over "stereo". I've searched around but can't seem to find much info. Can anyone give me some more info about the difference between mono and stereo jack usage? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackdog Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 I'm working on building my 2nd guitar and am debating about something simple while waiting for my laquer to dry. the salvaged body I'm using, originally had a stereo jack in it and I'm wondering if there's merit to continue using one. I asked a repair guy at a shop and he said there's no real point of having a stereo jack unless u have active pickups (which I do not). However, given the choice I find it hard to choose something called "mono" over "stereo". I've searched around but can't seem to find much info. Can anyone give me some more info about the difference between mono and stereo jack usage? Thanks! A stereo jack has three connexion points that correspond to the ground, ring and tip of a stereo plug. When you use a mono plug into a stereo jack, the sleeve connexion of the jack makes contact with the ground of the plug (as it has no ring). This is normally used to ground the negative pole of the battery in active pickups configurations, thus effectively acting as an on-off switch for the electronics. When no cable is plug into the guitar the electronics are off. If you're using passive pickups, with a mono plug and cable, running into a single amplifier, then there's no use for a stereo jack. You might as well use it, simply leave the ring connexion of the jack unconnected and it's goint to be the same as a mono jack. If you plan to use a stereo cable (or two mono cables and a "Y" splitter), into two separate amplifiers, then you might think of some stereo wirings in your guitar. The ES-345/355/Lucille Gibsons come to mind: you can run the neck pickup into one amp and the bridge pickup into another. Another possible use of a stereo jack with passive pickups is when you add a piezo-loaded bridge, connecting its output to the ring connexion of the jack. Then you can split the output as above and run the piezo into one amp and magnetic pickups into another. Or, if you simply plug a normal mono plug and cable, use just the magnetic pickups in the normal way, ignoring the piezo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeAArthur Posted September 3, 2007 Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 I'm working on building my 2nd guitar and am debating about something simple while waiting for my laquer to dry. the salvaged body I'm using, originally had a stereo jack in it and I'm wondering if there's merit to continue using one. I asked a repair guy at a shop and he said there's no real point of having a stereo jack unless u have active pickups (which I do not). However, given the choice I find it hard to choose something called "mono" over "stereo". I've searched around but can't seem to find much info. Can anyone give me some more info about the difference between mono and stereo jack usage? Thanks! I think the repair guy just wants to sell you a set of active pickups. Gibson, Rickenbacker and probably several others have been making stereo capable guitars... probably for more decades than your ex-spurt has been alive. A stereo jack in and of itself isn't going to do much for you unless you wire it for stereo, as it can be wired as a mono jack as easily as a standard mono jack. You'll also have to use a stereo cable to receive any benefit. The benefits - you can route each pickup of a two pickup guitar through separate effects, amp channels, and/or separate amplifiers. The sound possibilities are endless. In the old days, BBKing ran his Gibson Stereo ES-355 through both channels of a Twin Reverb. If you only have the single jack, then a separate switch would need to be rigged so the guitar could be used in a standard mono mode. With two jacks, a stereo and mono with switching, you could have the benefits of both depending on which jack you decide to plug into. Or you could accomplish the same thing with two jacks but eliminate the need to use a stereo cable using two standard mono cables instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xaghce Posted September 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2007 Ah, Thanks guys! ^-^ I didn't know that there was so much to jacks! I think I'm just going to wire it like a mono and but maybe change it in the future if I feel like taking on the task =D money and time, never enough of either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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