#1 resource for Cigar Box Guitars, Free Plans, How-To, Parts & More!

Wiring 2 Pickups with Tone Control Board?

I am building a new guitar based on this box:

I cut the wood lid to fit the candy tin. I plan on using a Klangbox 3-pole pup on the neck and I would like to put a mag pup inside the tin to pick up on the lid. I have materials for a couple options and I don't have enough experience to know which is best.

I have a cheap strat pup pre-wired with volume and tone control (from C.B. Gitty). I could add the Klangbox pup via a 3 way switch and maybe moving some wires around or splicing into the volume and tone control. as supplied.
I have a pre-wired guitar tone control board like this one:http://www.amazon.com/Electric-Guitar-Control-Board-Switch/dp/B005L... Since no wiring instructions were included for the under $10 item, I'm not quite sure what to do with it, but I haven't looked at it much yet.

With option 1, my impression is I could use the 3-way switch to use neck, tin, or both pickups and use the volume and tone controls from the cheap strat style pickup.

With option 2, it appears that I could maybe choose neck, tin or blend of both and I could adjust the blend with additional tone control? Not sure.

In either case, I would appreciate some advice on what will yield the best result.

The rest of the construction is fairly simple. I have an oak neck that I will stain ebony. It will be fretted and I'm trying to find some red formica for inlays on frets 3, 5, 7, 10 and 12.

Thanks for the help and advice.

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on April 11, 2012 at 6:03am

A reply, so someone thinks there are replies, so I maybe can get a reply. :P /end smartazz.

The neck of this guitar is all shaped and I'm almost ready to plug in the soldering iron. I have a different idea about maybe putting a spring inside the tin and putting the pup on that instead of the lid. The pup on the spring will be off 90* from the lid so it only sees the spring. Can't wait to try it out.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by robert jones on April 12, 2012 at 3:23am

Artec Sound wiring diagrams page 11

Option 1 - you need to de-solder then re-solder as needed with the additional components in the circuit to match the diagram.

Option 2 - just add pickups wired per the diagram.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on April 12, 2012 at 6:44am

Thanks for the reply. Careful that linky. It redirects on me using Google Chrome. However, I was able to get to the book by manually keying in artecsound.com and then navigating to the wiring book.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by robert jones on April 13, 2012 at 12:30am

My bad, extra http:// at the end caused the redirect.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on April 12, 2012 at 9:23am

Just clip the hot wire between pickup and vol pot. The hot is the one that goes to the lugs on the pot. This is where you insert the switch, the centre lug on the switch feeds the vol pot, the hot from the pup to one side, the hot from the new pup to the other.. The ground from the new pup piggybacks onto the ground from the other one

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Bad Finger (Eric) on April 12, 2012 at 9:34am

Gotcha. Thanks.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by robert jones on April 13, 2012 at 12:46am

Do it right instead of sloppy. Cutting and splicing the wiring harness would be a half-assed approach. Splicing in is for emergencies or inaccessible points, neither of which apply here.

The idea in audio wiring is to have the minimal number of connections required for the circuit. This cuts down on potential connection related noise and makes any trouble shooting of the wiring simpler.