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First CBG build: Wiring question

Posted by Dwight Sabo on October 20, 2013 at 11:11am in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

Ok,

I have a Vangarde Vista d' Tampa cigar box of unknown vintage (a garage sale find). I had a fretted 24 5/8 neck built by www.deltagrooves.com. Next, I ordered from G.B Gitty a pre-wired single coil pick with tone, volume and jack, and a Ukulele Rod Piezo. I have the box cut, neck recessed for the single coil.  It's looking really nice.

I would like to know: is it possible to wire up these two pickup combinations? I have a two way selector, but I think a 3 way would be better, that way I could get the single coil, single coil and Piezo, and just piezo.

Also, I looked at some suggestions for the piezo. I'm thinking a pre-amp would really do nicely.  What are the thoughts here?

 

Oh, and lastly I'm going to need some tuning pegs. I was thinking Stewart Mac, but I'm open to any place not unduly expensive.

Dwight.

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Replies

  • darryl kernaghan October 22, 2013 at 7:17am

    just another thought Dwight ,the preamp doesn,t have to be in the guitar,if that,s awkward,just need it inline b4 amp

    • David McQueen > darryl kernaghan October 22, 2013 at 8:09am
      That works nicely. I have one, in a cigar box of course, that I can use with all my piezo builds. Plug and play. When I get some time I want to do one specifically for disc piezos - really high impedance input, roughly standard pickup impedance output.
  • Dwight Sabo October 22, 2013 at 6:37am

    Thanks everyone.  I'm on the look out for a decent pre-amp that'll fit. I'll order the tuners this week. The diagram was a definite help!

    Dwight.

    • darryl kernaghan > Dwight Sabo October 22, 2013 at 6:58am

      like The P Kid says,the cheapo chinese ones may not do everything they claim too,they Will process your piezo signal and improve it immensely.i would suggest that you isolate it so that it only effects the piezo circuit and process your mag pup via the amp,others may not agree,but that works for me

  • David McQueen October 21, 2013 at 6:27am
    The only gotcha I see there is a simple preamp, such as the JFET ones you can make yourself, invert the signal. This would cause your piezo and your standard pickup to be directly out of phase when played together. So you need a preamp, probably two stage, that leaves the signal as it came in.
    • The Phrygian Kid > David McQueen October 21, 2013 at 7:14am
      Uh.. IF phase is an issue..
      it's pretty easy to flip the phase of a single coil...
      • TruckDrivingFool > The Phrygian Kid October 21, 2013 at 7:23am

        Since I've been messing with the same preamps David is taking about and hadn't thought about phase I'll ask -

        To flip the single coil phase you'd just switch your coil leads, +ve for -ve right? Or would you have to switch the magnet polarity?

  • The Phrygian Kid October 20, 2013 at 8:31pm
    Yes definitely add a preamp, even the $5 Chinese ones are a huge improvement. If you choose not to then probably stick with a two position switch, because without a buffer amp the piezo will totally dominate the coil pickup, so much so that two of the positions on a three way switch will sound exactly the same as each other. Also, without a preamp it's very difficult to dial in a sound on your amp that will suit both pickups nicely, they just differ far too much in terms of impedance..

    Mr gitty is the man for tuners, quite a bit cheaper than mr mac. They can be had even cheaper from china, eBay etc if you want to risk that, but really Ben Gitty is 100% reliable and makes a real effort to minimise your shipping costs (if you ever had a eight times as large as it needed to be box from stew mac then you know exactly what I'm talking about!)
  • Reeds Taylor October 20, 2013 at 11:18am

    Here's a wiring diagram for what you want http://handmademusicclubhouse.com/photo/wiring-diagram-mag-pupvol

    Yup, a pre-amp will make a big difference.

    Tuners at a good value, and anything else you need you can find here. www.cbgitty.com

    Hope this helps!

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