PerfectCandor
Anti-Active-Pickup Activist
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2022
- Messages
- 55
- Reaction score
- 48
This is totally a specific request but I can't quite decide what would get my idea done. I guess I could buy and try a ton of things but as I am going to college in about a month I have worked to use up my parts and am ordering specifically for this last project so I don't want to spend extra and would rather ask first.
Esentially, my idea is to make a switch for a guitar without a tone knob that slightly alters the character, similar to backing the tone knob off a ways. I at first thought of using a DPDT to try to do the kind of thing Ibanez did with their Super Tap pickups in the 80s - I am not sure what they did but I may open my '81 Blazer up soon to see. I then decided on this idea.
I feel like I need to explain why this is even what I want instead of a tone knob aside from being unique. I am planning on loading a pickguard for my '50s reissue strat (not much room for electronics) with three rail humbuckers, a volume knob for each with push/pull coil splitting, and three switches instead of the 5 way (here is the pickguard if a visual helps) . I understand these are typically used for switching each on but the volume knobs can cover that and allow for blending. I want two of the switches to be phase inversion for bridge and neck pickups to get whatever out of phase sounds I want, no problem there. I may be able to squeeze one in but I think a tone knob is out of the question with what little space I have being used, and it would be in an awful spot.
So, my current idea is to run a tone cap to cut off high end and the teeniest bit of mids to get that slightly-backed-off-tone-knob sound. I am thinking a .015 uf could be alright for not too much, but a noticeable difference with the humbuckers (I plan on using these, I have had good experiences) and maybe better for split, but I am even considering a .010 uf for possibly better useability. For reference, I like backing the .022 off all the way on hot strat type sounds, and when playing jazz on my Strandberg with their in-house (high output and bright) pickups back off the volume about 10% of the way and the tone about 25-40% depending on the style. So I suppose I shouldn't mind going too light on the rating.
In terms of just adjusting output, would it be possible to run a super high or super low resistor to ground to get about 80-90% of the output? My brain seems to be too fried to figure out how I would do that without opening up my Blazer with relatively fresh strings and idk if I even wanna try this part lol.
Anyway, what are your suggestions? I doubt it but has anyone tried something similar? Would the .010 uf be too light for single coils?
Esentially, my idea is to make a switch for a guitar without a tone knob that slightly alters the character, similar to backing the tone knob off a ways. I at first thought of using a DPDT to try to do the kind of thing Ibanez did with their Super Tap pickups in the 80s - I am not sure what they did but I may open my '81 Blazer up soon to see. I then decided on this idea.
I feel like I need to explain why this is even what I want instead of a tone knob aside from being unique. I am planning on loading a pickguard for my '50s reissue strat (not much room for electronics) with three rail humbuckers, a volume knob for each with push/pull coil splitting, and three switches instead of the 5 way (here is the pickguard if a visual helps) . I understand these are typically used for switching each on but the volume knobs can cover that and allow for blending. I want two of the switches to be phase inversion for bridge and neck pickups to get whatever out of phase sounds I want, no problem there. I may be able to squeeze one in but I think a tone knob is out of the question with what little space I have being used, and it would be in an awful spot.
So, my current idea is to run a tone cap to cut off high end and the teeniest bit of mids to get that slightly-backed-off-tone-knob sound. I am thinking a .015 uf could be alright for not too much, but a noticeable difference with the humbuckers (I plan on using these, I have had good experiences) and maybe better for split, but I am even considering a .010 uf for possibly better useability. For reference, I like backing the .022 off all the way on hot strat type sounds, and when playing jazz on my Strandberg with their in-house (high output and bright) pickups back off the volume about 10% of the way and the tone about 25-40% depending on the style. So I suppose I shouldn't mind going too light on the rating.
In terms of just adjusting output, would it be possible to run a super high or super low resistor to ground to get about 80-90% of the output? My brain seems to be too fried to figure out how I would do that without opening up my Blazer with relatively fresh strings and idk if I even wanna try this part lol.
Anyway, what are your suggestions? I doubt it but has anyone tried something similar? Would the .010 uf be too light for single coils?
