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Posted

I'm a bit ashamed at having to ask this question. But here goes: Is it possible to wire a single single coil pu straight to the jack without any controlls? If so, does this give the same sound as vol and tone fully open? Where does which wire go? (and what about grounding)

I'm asking this as in the near future I want to try out a pickup without all the hassle of a complete wiring. Logically I couldn't find any schematics on aything as simple as this.

Cheers.

Posted

Yes you can connect a pickup without any controls. You ground the bridge in the same manner to the ground of the output jack.

Posted

The wiring is as Mammoth said. I have seen people talk about completely removing volume and/or tone controls and talking about it changing the tone. Generally it has been reported to brighten the tone some. When you think about it, the less things between the pickup and the jack, the truer the tone of the pickup is.

Posted

I think I'll be winding the pickup in question myself, because I'm stuck in bed most of the time (and this is about the only thing on guitarbuilding I'll be able to do (except research)).

I have a couple of simple questions though:

1. In my case I'm going to try something like the singlecoil sized p-90 that I posted a tutorial link on a while back. If I use ordinary polepieces (not magnetic) instead of polepiece screws, does this alter the sound of the pickup?

2. I'm planning on a visual experiment that leaves me another question: does it make a difference if the coil itself is farther down from the strings het the polepieces still have the same distance to the strings? The reason I'm asking is because I'm planning on mounting the homemade pickup under the scratchplate so only the polepieces show.

3. Is there a difference in sound between a normal pickup connector cable and a braided one (like on p-90's)?

4. is there anything special about polepiece screws, or could I head to the hardwarestore and just.... you know, get some screws?

Thanks in advance!

PS I posted these questions in the el. tutorials section in the "want to TRY and build own pickups" thread. But I'm kinda in a rush, and noone seems to be checking that thread I thought to hijack my own topic here. Hope this doesn't frustrate anyone :D

Posted

All these things make a major difference to the performance of the pickup. You will likely get sound of course, but the amount of material in the core (the type and diameter of the screws inside the coil for instance) and the distance of the coil from the strings does make a big difference. Fender tried making guitars with completely hidden pickups and it was a flop...but if you don't mind experimenting, it will make a sound but each of these suggestions compromises things.

Braided cable is for shielding purposes...the difference in "sound" is in reduced noise.

The screws need to be "magnetic"...steel or whatever, and different materials have different properties...stainless steel is not magnetic typically, nor aluminium...so obviously not suitable materials.

The tutorial section is not a place really to ask questions...it is intended as a place to resource answers...so few will reply to queries there I imagine and I tend to shy away from answering there as it only encourages more of it. :D

Anyway...hope that helps...maybe a little more research into pickup technology might give you a better grounding if you are venturing in to radically different design ideas...

pete

Posted

Could you tell me what the difference would be in sound between (the fatter) polepieces and polepiece screws? (I have normal polepieces from the pu I stripped way back to try and make one of your drivers :D.

Did the fender experiment have the polepieces still visible (at the usual height beneath the strings)? If not, who knows my idea might produce something. I'm only doing this in the neck position to keep the distance limited of course. In case it's worthless I don't exactly mind, cause I'm putting it as an extra in a guitar that was supposed to have just the bridge pickup (yet still has it's original 3 cavities.)

Posted

One thing to take note of is that most hardware store screw are either flathead countersink screws or domed head flat base screws. When you look at the screws in a pickup they are pan head with a tallhead area. Similar to an allen screw style. Now an allen head screw will work just fine if it is small enough, like in the SD Invader.

  • 2 weeks later...

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