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Weird wiring idea.

StSpider

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Aug 24, 2002
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2,148
I have this wiring idea for a flying V, so a 3 knob setup plus 3 way selector switch.

I want to have a master volume like a telecaster, but also and individual volume for the neck. That's because I want to be able to use it as a master volume/master tone pickup, but also be able to roll off just the neck pickup for that "clean neck pickup, lead bridge pickup" type of moments.

3rd knob would be a master tone.

It it possible to do all this with the pots behaving like in a traditional 50's wiring setup? Or the fact that the signal is going through both the "master volume" and the "neck volume" affects the taper and treble rolloff of the neck pickup? That would be a big no-no.

If it helps with clarity I could have master volume / neck volume / bridge tone, as in removing the tone knob (aka one more resistance) from the neck volume so that it's clearer (I only really need the tone for the bridge pickup).

Can this work? Thanks a lot, unfortunately I understand very little about wirings myself.
 

PaulD

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Jun 25, 2007
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Having 2 volume controls on one of the pickups will reduce the loading on that pickup and result in a darker / muddier tone, e.g. if you had 2 x 500k pots the overall effect would be like having a single 250K pot.
 

StSpider

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Aug 24, 2002
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And I guess I can't revert this by skipping the tone pot for that pickup either because the load is not the same...Damnit. But thanks for clarifying.
 

PaulD

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Jun 25, 2007
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No, taking out the tone pot won't make much difference, the tone capacitor de-couples the tone pot so it doesn't have much effect on the load on the pickup, only the volume pot(s) load it down. Of course you could use 1meg volume pots to counteract the effect but then that would mean the bridge pickup would have a 1meg load which would make it brighter - whichever way you did is going to change the tone in some way I'm afraid.
 

zacknorton

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Aug 26, 2011
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Gretsch’s use master volumes and tones on a ton of their guitars.

Ive got a duojet with a master volume and a volume for each pickup. It works fine.

You could also use 1meg ohm pots if you were worried about loading.

There should be plenty of diagrams out there in gretsch land
 

PaulD

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Jun 25, 2007
Messages
673
Gretsch’s use master volumes and tones on a ton of their guitars.

Ive got a duojet with a master volume and a volume for each pickup. It works fine.

You could also use 1meg ohm pots if you were worried about loading.

There should be plenty of diagrams out there in gretsch land

Only problem is the Gretsch has 4 controls (each pickup has an individual volume + a master volume and tone). The OP's guitar only has 3 controls so whichever way it is wired one of the pickups is going to have 2 volumes and the other will only have one resulting in different loadings and a change to the tone. It can certainly be done (and if the OP wants one I can draw up a wiring diagram for him) but it will have some effect on the overall tone of the guitar and may not be quite what he is looking for.
 

zacknorton

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Aug 26, 2011
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731
Not all gretsch’s have what you’re describing.

Mine is. 6xxxx double cut duojet. One volume for each pickup. One master volume
and a 3 way tone switch...and a 3 way selector switch.

I know exactly what what you’re talking about RE loading etc. it’s not a problem on the guitar I have. But...we’re talking about parallel coil wired filtertrons too. So there’s that.

S
 
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