Reducing pickup output - anybody know how?

Kivitel

Kivitel

New member
Hi folks. I have a guitar with a dimarzio virtual vintage tele bridge pickup (output = 161, by whatever standards they use). Anyway I want to swap the neck out with a hum cancelling soap bar I have (output = 280).

Now, this is a tele, so obviously I don't have space for another knob to wire separate volume controls for both. I want to reduce the pickup's output before it even gets to the pickup selector. What are my options here? I don't want to reduce the high end.


Also, another question: do you think a p90 would sound good in the neck of a telecaster?
 
Re: Reducing pickup output - anybody know how?

P90 in the neck of a Tele is pretty popular. You can adjust the output of a pickup just by raising or lowering the pickup. Try the P90 as is and just adjust the height of it (and the bridge pu) up and down to see what sounds best. You can also raise/lower the P90 polepieces to affect output.
 
Re: Reducing pickup output - anybody know how?

I'll give that a go. Obviously I still need to extend the humbucker route.
 
Re: Reducing pickup output - anybody know how?

i find a sharp object jabbed into the coil with some force very effective at reducing a pickups output.

That's a joke folks don't do it for real
 
Re: Reducing pickup output - anybody know how?

If you find the pickup is still too loud after trying Zhangliqun's suggestion, you could make up a potential divider from two fixed value resistors to divide the output. a 2:1 ratio ought to do it but you could play around with the volume control to find the exact proportion that works best.
 
Re: Reducing pickup output - anybody know how?

You could also remove one of the two magnets in the P90...it works.
 
Re: Reducing pickup output - anybody know how?

It's a two step process:

1. Carefully remove the current pickup.

2. Install a pickup of lower output.
 
Re: Reducing pickup output - anybody know how?

Don't you need to write a social studies paper or something? Remember, introduction, point one two and three, conclusion.
 
Re: Reducing pickup output - anybody know how?

I like those pre wired pickguards by Acme Guitar Works. They use a combination of a resistor and capacitor, so the rolloff sounds natural all the way down. I don't know the values they use though. Once I know, I'm going to try it on some guitars. It's one thing that's interested me lately.
 
Re: Reducing pickup output - anybody know how?

Gearjoneser said:
I like those pre wired pickguards by Acme Guitar Works. They use a combination of a resistor and capacitor, so the rolloff sounds natural all the way down. I don't know the values they use though. Once I know, I'm going to try it on some guitars. It's one thing that's interested me lately.
Click to expand...

i don't think there is a formula for this; well there is, but I'm not sure how much use it is in practice. I've always selected treble bleed caps by trial and error and gone with what sounded OK. For a high-impedance system the value would need to be in the picofarad range rather than microfarad I would think. A fixed resistor could be used to modify the shape of the audio taper.

I'm thinking about selling a range of pre-configured switches set up to allow a variety of trick circuits to be installed. Do you think there'd be any interest in that?
 
Re: Reducing pickup output - anybody know how?

If you want to get a little fancy and brave, you can take a thousand or so turns of wire off the P90 -- but I don't recommend it if it's potted.
 
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