I apologize if this is a basic and/or dumb question... I've googled and wiki'd and youtubed and searched the CBN forums for 2 hours now and still cannot find the answer...

I'm finishing my first CBG, 3-string, with a magnetic pickup. I've never installed a magnetic pickup before. It has a grey ground wire and a white wire which I assume is the "hot."

My question is, can I just solder the leads to the jack directly? Do I HAVE to put them through volume and/or tone potentiometers first? Would that be better to to anyway? Trying to keep it simple as possible. Though this is an expensive pickup to mess around with... if I must I must. Guess its just been a little too long of a project and I'm just hoping to be finally done soon!

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide!

Kristen

Views: 2728

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Direct to jack is fine. But if you add a volume & tone pot it enebles the player to do a few things. First, he or she does not have to go to amplifier to turn volume up or down. Also, tone can be adjusted to suit different sounds or styles. The "Pickups & Wiring" group can help

I've got a Red Dog cbg (single coil pickup) and a Swamp Witch guitar (humbucker), both of which do without volume or tone pots. Many wire their pickups directly as a matter of course.

Straight to the jack is fine, but you really should ground the strings somehow too, connecting the sleeve of the jack to the tailpiece or bridge usually, as well.. When you do this you can kill any buzz by just touching a string.

We also have a group for wiring questions and suggestions. There are a bunch of diagrams for how to wire stuff up as well:

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/cbgwiringelectronics

As long as you've got volume or gain controls (and ideally tone too) on your amp then you can get by fine without controls on the guitar. There's even a school of thought that says you might get a better sound that way (depending on what kind of sound you're after). 

As Phrygian Kid says, you need to ground the strings by connecting them to the ground of the jack socket somehow. If you don't do that then they can act as antennas for any stray electromagnetic noise that happens to be around, which then gets picked up by your pickup and amplified by your amp before coming out the speaker as annoying buzz.

The wiring that runs around inside your guitar also acts as an antenna so by cutting out the controls and thus reducing the wiring you're also improving the odds on avoiding noise. (I've learned the hard way the value of having some screening around your wiring if there's a lot of circuitry on board).

Simplicity is often beautiful.

RSS

The Essential Pages

New to Cigar Box Nation? How to Play Cigar Box GuitarsFree Plans & How to Build Cigar Box GuitarsCigar Box Guitar Building Basics

Site Sponsor

Recommended Links & Resources


Forum

crossover guitar.

Started by Timothy Hunter in Other stuff - off topic, fun stuff, whatever. Last reply by Timothy Hunter Mar 21. 11 Replies

Tune up songs

Started by Ghostbuttons in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Timothy Hunter Mar 9. 5 Replies

Duel output jacks

Started by Justin Stanchfield in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Taffy Evans Mar 8. 6 Replies

How to Get Your Own Music on Spotify

Started by Cigar Box Nation in Feature Articles. Last reply by Southern Ray Feb 21. 2 Replies

CB Bass Guitar

Started by Mi Rankin in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Justin Stanchfield Jan 27. 5 Replies

Latest Activity

A.D.EKER commented on A.D.EKER's video
Thumbnail

Im Troubled (Tribute) Mc K Morganfield by BCB - A.D .Eker 2024.

"Thank you Poorness ! for loving it ! appreciated!"
10 hours ago
Southern Ray replied to Timothy Hunter's discussion just came accross this pickup idea on youtube.
" Very interesting. Thank you Timothy!"
10 hours ago
Kent Thurston updated their profile
11 hours ago
Southern Ray posted a photo

Punch Project!

She now sports gold metal CBGitty knobs, speaker and an Artec 2.5 watt speaker. Finished this in…
11 hours ago
Southern Ray posted a photo

Project Punch!

Gonna finally get back on this long-delayed project that is more than half complete. (The matching…
12 hours ago
Poorness Studios liked A.D.EKER's video
14 hours ago
BrianQ. left a comment for Rob (Uker) Porras
"Hope this helps?"
14 hours ago
Doug Thorsvik commented on Doug Thorsvik's photo
Thumbnail

Dueling Flatheads

"I appreciate the kind words Papa D! I have always loved the look of these cigar boxes. Glad to have…"
16 hours ago
A.D.EKER commented on A.D.EKER's video
20 hours ago
A.D.EKER posted a video

Im Troubled (Tribute) Mc K Morganfield by BCB - A.D .Eker 2024.

The recorded History By Alan Lomax for the library of Congres of the Blues, from Mc Kinley Morganfield (Aka Muddy Waters) the in this take recorded Tribute ...
20 hours ago
Papa D commented on Doug Thorsvik's photo
Thumbnail

Dueling Flatheads

"Beautiful..Nice work Doug.."
yesterday
Papa D commented on Papa D's photo
Thumbnail

american1 Sun Glo

"Thanx AGP & Doug..  4 more coming soon"
yesterday

Music

© 2024   Created by Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

\uastyle>\ud/** Scrollup **/\ud.scrollup {\ud background: url("https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/963882636?profile=original") no-repeat scroll 0 0 transparent;\ud bottom: 25px;\ud display: inline !important;\ud height: 40px;\ud opacity: 0.3 !important;\ud position: fixed;\ud right: 30px;\ud text-indent: -9999px;\ud width: 40px;\ud z-index: 999;\ud}\ud.scrollup:hover {\ud opacity:0.99!important;\ud}\ud \uascript type="text/javascript">\ud x$(document).ready(function(){\ud x$(window).scroll(function(){\ud if (x$(this).scrollTop() > 100) {\ud x$('.scrollup').fadeIn();\ud } else {\ud x$('.scrollup').fadeOut();\ud }\ud });\ud x$('.scrollup').click(function(){\ud x$("html, body").animate({ scrollTop: 0 }, 600);\ud return false;\ud });\ud });\ud \ua!-- End Scroll Up -->