Pickup routing for my custom guitar

[Hallvard]

Hi, I've now got many useful answers from my last thread concerning wich humbuckers to use. I haven't completely decided yet, but most likely it will be Seth Lover in neck and Custom or Custom Custom in bridge. To make my dream setup come true, I'm also thinking about a piezo powerbridge from fishman:

http://www.fishman.com/products/details.asp?id=64

and to control it, a powerchip:
http://www.fishman.com/products/details.asp?id=33

Now, I have never routed pickups myself before, and I'm only used to single coils.

Have I understood right if I say that coil tapping is a way of switching the humbuckers to get a SC sound?

I also don't want to have too many knobs on my guitar. But this is what I need:

Two volume and two tone, a blend knob for piezo/humbuckers, and you advised me to use a PRS-style 5-way rotary switch. Is that the one looking like a knob, and you turn it around in different positions?

If so. Is it possible to use two concentrick pots, so the two upper knobs would be 1; rotary switch(bottom) neck volume(top) 2; piezo blend(bottom) and bridge volume(top)? Or is it impossible to use the concentric pot with both a 5-way switch and a volume knob, as well as a blending knob under the other volume knob? Do I have to use the pot from the powerchip, or can i "link" it to the concentric pot?

How would you suggest to route the pickups?

I don't know much about this, so answers are highly apprechiated.

Thanks in advance,
Hallvard

 

[tone4days]

Re: Pickup routing for my custom guitar

yes, the 5 way rotary switch looks like a knob and you turn it around in 5 different positions .. it cannot be a concentric with anything else ... if you use this 5-way, you dont really need any other coil splitting options, because this takes care of it

and remember, in order to use the 5 way rotary switch to get the PRS switching options, the seth lover pickup must be custom ordered as a 4 wire model

i have a guitar with a piezo bridge (love it) ... i recommend that you keep the control for the piezo separate from the controls for the pickups ... and i recommend, that you look into having tone controls for the piezo on board too if at all possible ... godin does this with the piezo on their guitars (L.R.Baggs?) and i know that you can get the RMC piezo system with these too ... from my experience, there is no value in blending the electric and piezo signals .. they sound totally different and really require completely separate processing to each sound their best .. use a stereo output and run one side with pickups and the other with piezo ...

you can use concentric pots for volume and tone ... so one set would be neck tone (bottom) and neck volume (top) and the other set would be bridge tone (bottom) and bridge volume (top) ...

hope this helps

good luck
t4d

 

[Hallvard]

Re: Pickup routing for my custom guitar

Thanks for the answers.

Sounds like a good choice then to have volume/tone in one concentric pot.

In my setup I use a TC electronics fireworx. The FX out from my amp goes into the left TC channel, so I have one channel on my TC available. Could it be an idea to run the piezo through a DI and then into the TC right channel, and mix them both in the amp? then I won't get any distortion exept from the power amp wich usually is not much, and I can program seperate effects on the right channel..

But then again I use 3 stomp boxes, and I really don't want two cables into my guitar any idea how I can do this?