Hooya Posted November 29, 2012 Report Share Posted November 29, 2012 I have a Strat with a weird pickup configuration that I like but I'd like to be able to get more out of it. It's currently wired normally (1 master volume, 2 tone controls for Neck and Middle) with the following pickups: Neck: Standard Strat neck pickup Middle: Active EMG pickup Bridge: Specialty pickup ... can't recall the brand at the moment as I don't have the guitar in front of me, some signature series pup from the 90's. Using the wiring as shown here: http://static.zoovy.com/img/guitarelectronics/W575-H550-Bffffff/W/wd3sss5l12_000.jpg I want to leave the pickups in the positions they're in, and I want the 5 positions switch to operate as normal. However I want to change how the knobs work. I want to wire so that the Neck and Bridge pickups are controlled by one master volume and one master tone control. The Middle Pickup will be controlled by a double-knob pot, having its own volume and tone control. I do NOT want the middle pickup volume to bypass the switch configuration, so if the selector switch is on Neck pickup only the middle pup shouldn't ever be able to be heard regardless of its volume position. Is it possible to do what I want with a standard 5 position selector switch? The biggest issue I can see is that I can't run the middle pickup through the master volume, I want it controlled totally independently from the other pickups, but still only active when the switch is in one of the middle three positions. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted November 30, 2012 Report Share Posted November 30, 2012 (edited) The largest problem I can see is wiring the switch in with the actives. You will need to wire the EMG volume/tone control separate and before the switch. The switch will go to output directly. Ill whip something up for you real fast. Do you need a separate tone knob? Why not a master tone/master volume? I think the only real way to do this is to have separate volume/tones for each one, using stacked pots would provide you individual controls, and would be simpler to use Heres how I would do it, with stacked pots to fit in 3 slots akin to a normal strat setup. The switch will be based on whatever it is you use, so I just gave a basic setup on that. This will allow each pup to have its own controls, maintain the semi stock appearance, and allow to you to run an active in the middle. Drew this in mspaint real fast, so hopefully you can understand what Im showing you lol. I didnt draw the pots being connected to ground because it will make it even MORE messy, and that should be understood Edited November 30, 2012 by bob123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooya Posted November 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2012 Thank you! This is really close to what I want I do want separate tone and volume controls for the active pickup, and "master" volume and tone for the passive. So if you were to eliminate the upper right volume and tone pots there, what would it look like? I will be using three total knobs, but one will be a double pot, concentric ones, for the middle pup. So effectively I will have four pots, but only three holes in my pickup guard. I'm really confused by the graphic of the switch. Is that like if I just looked at the profile and every other one was on one side versus the other? Refer to my first post to see what I mean... Realizing the switch will go directly to the output wasn't something I thought of. That must solve my dilema. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim37 Posted November 30, 2012 Report Share Posted November 30, 2012 dont you have to have a mixer of some sort to use a active with a passive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted November 30, 2012 Report Share Posted November 30, 2012 (edited) dont you have to have a mixer of some sort to use a active with a passive? The passives will have a reduction in output while in series with the active pickup, this would probably make for some really cool tones though... Its not necessary, but you can use a trimpot to adjust the output of the passives to match the active, but Im not 100% certain how that would work out in keeping a normal strat setup however, perhaps someone else could chime in on that one. Thank you! This is really close to what I want I do want separate tone and volume controls for the active pickup, and "master" volume and tone for the passive. So if you were to eliminate the upper right volume and tone pots there, what would it look like? I will be using three total knobs, but one will be a double pot, concentric ones, for the middle pup. So effectively I will have four pots, but only three holes in my pickup guard. I'm really confused by the graphic of the switch. Is that like if I just looked at the profile and every other one was on one side versus the other? Refer to my first post to see what I mean... Realizing the switch will go directly to the output wasn't something I thought of. That must solve my dilema. Theres no way to do this unfortunately. The only other thing that would work is have a master vol and master tone, no independent controls. You could used stacked pots to have independent controls, while maintaining your separate controls. A normal strat is setup for the controls after the switch, not before, so its not possible to do it this way, sorry. The ONLY other way I can think of, is wire a push/pull stacked pot (do these exist? lol), and wire the active directly into the switch, and use a 3 way switch to wire the other two pickups. This way you can turn the mid on and off, and youd actually get more tones (all three pups at once) this way. Again, Im just theorizing, I've never seen this done lol. Edited November 30, 2012 by bob123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooya Posted November 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2012 No, not at all. You can wire up EMG pickups just like every other pickup you have in a guitar, you just have to use high impedance (250k-500k) value pots for tone and volume to. They don't work quite right though - they're to accommodate for the passive pickups but ideally the EMG should have 25k value pots for tone and volume and a .1mF cap for tone). But on my guitar as it is now, you could drop in a regular passive pickup directly in place without changing the wiring at all except for the battery line for the EMG and it would be absolutely typical Strat wiring. And the EMG works just fine, but the tone control is basically on or off, no gentle rolloff, so I want independent control of it, and have a tone control on my bridge pickup as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooya Posted November 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2012 Hmm... That kinda sucks. Or maybe not! So the best option would be three stacked pots, is what you're saying. Independent volume and tone for each without needing more than three holes in the guard. I'd really like to maintain the general look of the guitar, just want more control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted November 30, 2012 Report Share Posted November 30, 2012 Hmm... That kinda sucks. Or maybe not! So the best option would be three stacked pots, is what you're saying. Independent volume and tone for each without needing more than three holes in the guard. I'd really like to maintain the general look of the guitar, just want more control. correct, but keep in mind, two pickups wired like that, the lower resistance pot (based on actual ohm readin, not listed lol) will control the volume, so you wont have individual volume control. Whichever pot is lowering the volume, will control the overall volume. This is why when you combine the active and passive, you will have a considerable drop in output from the passives, but you should still have the "quack" lol. I am actually really intrigued by this, make sure you post some sound clips dude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooya Posted November 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2012 Hmm. That's because the wiring you gave me is series wiring? What about doing parallel? Any way to do that? I'm OK with getting a new 5 position switch if needed at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooya Posted November 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2012 The ONLY other way I can think of, is wire a push/pull stacked pot (do these exist? lol), and wire the active directly into the switch, and use a 3 way switch to wire the other two pickups. This way you can turn the mid on and off, and youd actually get more tones (all three pups at once) this way. Again, Im just theorizing, I've never seen this done lol. Woah. Well, that would be interesting. We'd still suffer from effectively one volume control, right? And even if not, we'd still get the volume drop from the other pickups when the active one is engaged. At any rate, yeah, I don't think that exists. But two of these: http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/CPCS55/CTS-Stacked-Dual-Concentric-Audio-Pot-500K500K.html And one of these: http://www.billsmusiconline.com/a25kx2.html Would get me where I want I think. Maybe. I'm concerned that the degradation in sound quality of the passive pickups when connected to the low value pots will be worse than the "switch-like" behavior of the high value pots with the active pickup. EMG makes a preamp for passive pickups that will get them to work right with low value pots, but it's another mini toggle switch, and $60... No fun. The more I discover about this the more I think I don't want to go this far with my re-wire. I will probably end up just wiring my second tone control to my bridge pickup, putting a treble bleed mod in, and just have no tone control on the EMG. We'll see. I'll play it as it is a little while longer and see how I feel about it. The other thought is to wire up my pups on the switch so position 3 is for the bridge pickup, that way I can use one or two passive pickups together, and the only combination of passive and active is position 4, which would be the bridge and middle. Position 5 would be the active pickup alone. Might lead to some interesting sounds, which is what I'm clearly in to. Neck Neck and Bridge Bridge Bridge and Middle (active) Middle With that setup and all dual concentric knobs (with low value pots for the Middle pup) I could probably be happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim37 Posted November 30, 2012 Report Share Posted November 30, 2012 Pm ansil he may be of help on this. I wouldnt worry about 250k pots with the emgs ansil taught me a trick about actives if you put a large pot they will scream. I swapped out the 25ks with 250ks on a strat with a kfk set then ran it at 18v that thing is insane. I have to turn the guitar volume down with the boost off just ro get cleans. Trust me Ansil is the man when it comes to crazy wiring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob123 Posted November 30, 2012 Report Share Posted November 30, 2012 Its not about the active working with the 250k, the passives have much higher output then actives, and the passives will "die" wiring them together with an active as in a normal configuration. The only way to do this properly is to have separate cricuits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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