Will this work the way I want it to?

Posted by Rob Uker on October 4, 2012 at 10:43am

I want to wire a guitar with one magnetic pickup and one transducer. I would like it to play with either one or the other pickup but never both pickups at the same time. I would like which ever pick up is live to work off a common set of volume and tone controls. The pic below shows a wiring diagram I came up with and was wondering if it would work the way I had hoped.  I also have never been clear on how many ohms I should use on the Pots and what size capacitor to use.

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Replies

  • Rob Uker October 4, 2012 at 3:50pm

    Hi Hal,

    After reading your response it occurred to me that I have a telecaster plate all wired and ready to go.  All I would have to do is solder in the pick ups.. 

    • Habanera Hal > Rob Uker October 4, 2012 at 6:11pm

      I'm guessing you're talking about one of these:

      I think that circuit runs both pickups through the tone pot, but it should work.  Try changing the cap values for different tone shapes.  Remember though that when switched in the position for just the piezo, the tone control's not going to do much if anything.  Good luck and let us know how it sounds!

  • wormil October 4, 2012 at 1:47pm

    For a single coil or piezo you'd generally want a 250K pot for a warmer sound.

  • Habanera Hal October 4, 2012 at 11:26am

    I did a similar build recently. (I know, it looks like a rat's nest!)

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    I used a 4-pole mag pup and a piezo encased in wood.  A three-way Strat switch lets me choose between just the piezo, just the mag pup or both.  The volume pot controls both, but the tone pot (.047 orange drop cap) is only wired through the mag pup as tone pots really have no effect on disc piezos (rod piezos seem to react a bit to tone controls).

    I'm curious as to why you never want to be able to utilize both pickups at the same time.  IMHO, the setup above has some of the nicest, richest, and adaptable tones of any CBG I've built. The only thing I might do differently in the future will to give each pickup seperate volume contols. 

    You've got both pickups, and you still have to wire a selector switch, so why not take advantage of both?  You may regret not having the versatility later on.

    Smoke 'em if ya got 'em. 

    • Jillian Holladay > Habanera Hal October 4, 2012 at 11:50am

      I wired one this way (Hal's) and it worked great.

    • Habanera Hal > Jillian Holladay October 4, 2012 at 12:05pm

      Hey, Thanks Jillian!  That's nice to know!

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