How do I do this? (Need help simplifying a project guitar)

[bard2dbone]

Hey guys.

I'm having yet another project idea. I thought I was done for a while...but then I got an email from the place I'd bought my last body. They had all rosewood necks for cheaper than I was likely to ever see one again. So I had to.

I got a Strat neck, modern 22 fret version rosewood board on rosewood neck for about a third of what I expected it to be...but I didn't have a guitar to put it on.

So it's time to build another one.

But here's the catch. I'm wanting more capability than I can do simply. I want two pickups with the ability to switch between them and control each tone separately. But I also want a piezo bridge with volume and tone as well. And the ability to choose piezo, pickups, or both.

So the easiest way to wire that would give me six knobs and two three way switches. On a Tele body that would look like NASA's Mission Control desks.

Help.

And for extra confusion, I haven't decided between two HB's or something like a P90 and a Charlie Christian.

I may need an intervention.

 

[chadd]

Re: How do I do this? (Need help simplifying a project guitar)

If it was me, I would use concentric pots for the magnetic pickups and run the piezo out via a trs cable to my acoustic board and control it from there. If you want all the controls on board, I don't see any way to avoid kludging up the tele look. You could probably squeeze a third concentric pot on the controls panel if you used a three way toggle instead of a 3 way blade switch.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: How do I do this? (Need help simplifying a project guitar)

Don't need a tone on the piezo (send via TRS to your acoustic processor as above), use a concentric tone, a mini 3-way for mag/both/piezo and I think Fishman or someone sells a Dual ganged pot for the volume that allows you to use a single control for both pickups.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: How do I do this? (Need help simplifying a project guitar)

I've done this on a Jackson MM1. 2 P-Rails and an L.R. Baggs T-bridge.

The guitar already had 2 mini 3-way toggles to do s/s/p on the pickups, but the P-Rails went on TripleShots, so one of the mini toggles was reassigned to select between the pickups and the T-bridge or both.

Since the body is hollow on either side of the neckthrough tenon, I added Barcus-Berry Disqus transducers to the inside of the top, and set up the other mini toggle to select between the T-bride, Disqus, or both.

At least, that was the plan. I baked the board for the T-bridge, still have not designed and built an effective internal transducer mounting system, and can't remember why there's a GFS clean boost board in it.

However, with only 4 knobs, you will need concentrics, if you want any control over the piezos. I'd suggest digging out a hole for an e/a piezo EQ/Vol assembly and be done with it.

 

[bard2dbone]

Re: How do I do this? (Need help simplifying a project guitar)

So it looks like two stacked concentric pots and a three-way switch for the pickups and a volume pot for the piezo with yet another three-way switch for mag/both/piezo.

I'm going to have nightmares about this wiring job.

Oh. And for extra drama: It just got worse. Fishman doesn't make a black Powerbridge for Tele that I can find. So I need to buy a plain black chrome Tele bridgeplate with a HB-sized hole and put in a Graphtech Ghost system.

I've never done that before.

This will give me nightmares and ulcers.

 

[AlexR]

Re: How do I do this? (Need help simplifying a project guitar)

What Tele body are you going for??? The Charlie christian pickup is no joke as an option and will need some routing done by you as I don't think a single stock tele body will come with the right setup as stock.

If you are still considering pickups it sounds like the body is either not bought yet or not made yet. You might consider the tele deluxe style pickguard and routing as that gives you 4 pots and a 3 way already.

 

[bard2dbone]

Re: How do I do this? (Need help simplifying a project guitar)

The body is bought. But not built yet. It's going to be Tele-shaped, mostly, with Strat -type cuts for the forearm and belly. And the neck pocket will also be Strat-ish in stead of Tele-like, because the neck has the rounded end.

I've decided to go with the two HB's. The P90/Christian idea was because of a Les Paul Junior that a friend had back in the day. He had a Christian put in because it sounded cool and then found out John Lennon had one with the same mod. It was an awesome guitar.

 

[Mincer]

Re: How do I do this? (Need help simplifying a project guitar)

P-Rails and Triple Shots would give you the magnetic's versatility. For the piezo, I'd consider a stereo output jack that uses a big insert cable. Master volume/tone for magnetics, and a volume for the piezo. Alter the tone on the mixer to EQ the piezo properly.

 

[bard2dbone]

Re: How do I do this? (Need help simplifying a project guitar)

While I am a BIG fan of P-Rails and Triple Shots, I've already got that setup on my Epi Dot. And (as I asked abut this guitar in a previous thread) this one is going to have the Tele bridge plate metal surround. It makes the Triple Shot impossible, at least for the bridge.

 

[bard2dbone]

Re: How do I do this? (Need help simplifying a project guitar)

Currently, until I change my mind again, which could be days or minutes, I'm considering the five knob arrangement I saw on a Ric 12 string. The HB V's and T's are arranged kind of like on an SG. And the piezo volume knob is sort of between and behind the T's.

It's ugly. But it's WAY easier to wire it up.