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3 way switch ?

Posted by jeff weins on December 27, 2015 at 1:43pm

I recently finished my 1st CBG using 2 pickups and a 3 way switch. In the neck position is a lipstick tube(4.52 ohms) from Gitty.. A single coil(9.04 ohms)) from Guitar Fetish is at the bridge. The neck and bridge position sound like I expected, the neck is subdued and the bridge is harsh. My question is about the middle position. Both pickups are active but the neck pickup is dominate and the ohms drop to 3.05. I was expecting more of a equal blend. Any ideas? At the top of this page is a video http://bscbg.com/for-sale

thanks jeff

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  • jeff weins December 30, 2015 at 5:30pm

    David, thanks for the math explaining whats going on with the ohm drop. What a great idea, blending the pickups with diodes and pots, another project in the queue.

    thanks jeff

  • David L. December 30, 2015 at 12:44pm
    This is the demo video made by the person who came up with the idea of using diodes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWJeR_O5p44 the link to the original wiring diagram seems to be broken. Basically the diode is just inserted into the wiring circuit between the volume pot live output and the wire going to the Jack. Do this for a volume pot for each pickup.(I always use the 1N5819 ones which cost only a few cents each off eBay). Diodes have to been added with the non-shaded end Towards the pot and shaded end to the Jack socket
  • David L. December 30, 2015 at 12:21pm
    Hi Jeff,
    This site explains why you got the drop to 3
    http://physics.bu.edu/py106/notes/Circuits.html
    Adding hem in parallel gives you
    1/Rtotal=1/9+1/4.5
    So 1/Rtotal=1/9+2/9
    1/Rtotal=3/9
    1/Rtotal=1/3
    So TotalR is 3 which is what you found.
    For unmatched pickups (as in your example, or trying to add piezo plus hot magnetic pickup) I find it better to combine them using volume pots plus a diode on each pot signal out to tHe jack. This enables you to mix both pickups in whatever ratio you want giving much more tonal variation. This was explained fully in a previous discussion - I will add a link when I find it.
    Regards,
    David L.
  • Paul Craig December 29, 2015 at 4:21pm

    No problem. Now you have to build another CBG for the hot pickup.

  • jeff weins December 29, 2015 at 4:18pm

    I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out, Thanks

  • Paul Craig December 29, 2015 at 2:55am

    Whenever a power source/signal is shared, a drop in measured current will occur.  2 pickups together in parallel will have a higher drop than 2 pickups together in series.

    Parallel has 2 pickups drawing from the power source/signal separately=more drain, 2 pickups in series become one pickup=less drain. which is why Double Coil/Humbucker pickups tend to sound louder than 2 Single Coils in parallel/humbucking mode.

    I used the C.B.Gitty PBass pups and wired them as separate pickups to a 4-way switch. So I get- 1. bridge  2. bridge & neck parallel  3. neck  4. bridge & neck series. Had to get a Oak Grigsby 4-way switch from Stewmac and they cost around 14 dollars.

  • jeff weins December 28, 2015 at 4:09pm

    Thanks for your help Paul. I went with door number 2. Replaced the bridge P/U with a 5.5k RW/RP single coil. Sounds better. Any idea why in the middle position the ohms drop, in this configuration to 2.5k, lower then either one of the P/U's by themselves?

    Thanks again, jeff

  • Paul Craig December 28, 2015 at 4:30am

    Then the GFS single is a middle position RW/RP and the C.B.Gitty is either a neck position or weak bridge position pup.

    The GFS pup is real hot for a middle position RW/RP pup. Usual Strat pups are 4.5k to 5k for the neck, 5k to 5.5k for the middle RW/RP and 6k to 7k for the bridge.

    You have 3 options: 1. learn to like it.  2. Replace the bridge pup with one in the 6k range RW/RP.   3. replace the neck pup with a hotter one in the 6k to 8k range that's non-reverse.I say non-reverse because most pickups for 2 pickup guitars have a RW/RP pup in the neck.

     

  • jeff weins December 27, 2015 at 8:44pm

    The best I can tell you is that before I wired them up I held a North South horseshoe magnet to the top of each pickup, the C.B. Gitty pickup showed South and the single coil showed North. Wind direction unknown on the Gitty, according to Guitar Fetish the single coil is reverse wound.

  • Paul Craig December 27, 2015 at 5:18pm

    The bridge pickup is way hotter(9k compared to 4.5k). If you had used a neck position Strat pup, it would be the same wind direction as the bridge pup and same polarity, but lower strength. Probably around 5k to 6k and that would get you were you want in the middle position.

    Just out of curiosity, do you know the polarity and wind direction of the C.B.Gitty pup?

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