Humbucker/Piezo Custom Wiring Help Requsted.

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WavMixer

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I have a guitar with two humbuckers and a piezo bridge. I'm running vol/tone controls for each humbucker and separate vol/tone controls for the piezo. There is the standard 3-way pickup selector switch for the humbuckers and an addition selector switch for humbuckers/both/piezo. The output jack is a 3 conductor stereo jack. My plan is to split the cable with a Y into separate amps, one for the humbuckers, one amp for the piezo. I can wire it so the humbucker/piezo switch send both signals into one amp, but I don't want to do this. I could add a separate mono output jack and have two mono jacks, one for each amp, but I don't wanna do this either. Below is one the instructions that came with the piezo bridge with a couple of options, but not the option I'm looking for. Any suggestions? I have tried to wiring the hot leads directly to the jack and using the selector switch to complete the ground for the humbucker/piezo but they both got mixed into the signal. I thought of placing diodes in line to block the signal from the unwanted pickup but that did not work as I had hoped.


Wiring Schematic
 
What kind of switch are you using for the mag/piezo selections? I would use an on/on/on mini toggle with the # of poles dependent on the wiring needs.

It may help to post pics of the hardware.
 
I would say figure 7 is the option you want, I did the same thing to a Tele that I built several years back. I just bought a "Y" guitar cable with a stereo plug for the guitar end and 2 mono plugs on the other ends. When I did not what the piezo sound I would just roll back the volume on it.
 
I am using the same kind of switch for the piezo/mag as standard pickup selector for a LP or SG.
 
I have tried fig. 7, however this does not allow independent tone controls for the mag and piezo.
 
I don't see why you cant take the wire out from the piezo, marked ring and just add the tone pot there.
T it into the wire before the jack. I use a 1 meg pot along with a .0022uf capacitor wired normally on the pot & 100k ohm resistor in series with the piezo output for my passive piezo applications.
 
I did add a tone pot for the piezo, but the volume control for the humbucker seems to also effect the piezo. That's why I added diodes to the grounds. I'll need to tinker with it more today.
 
I wish you nothing but luck, Grant.
Wiring gremlins can be frustrating.
I hope the solution that you're looking for is possible with your setup.
It has to be, somewhere...

Now you've got me thinking about adding a piezo bridge to an SG.
Perhaps my blue one.

Hmmmm... the hackery never ends.
 
OK! At long last I finally have everything wired up on my custom spalted maple LeSG. I still do not have the stereo jack splitting the piezo to one amp and the magnetic pickups going to a separate amp, but all the pickup combinations are working into a single channel. I'm using option A below for the 5 pot option. I do have a 6th pot installed for the tone, but it is a 500k pot and I need to replace it with a 1 meg pot as per the Hackmaster's recommendation. I'm still hoping to find a way to split the signals for piezo/mag pups into separate amps.


Instructions_2_6_12-5.jpg
 
Sorry - hadn't picked up on this thread.

Diagram 7 on the original post is the one to go for. It needs a stereo jack lead to plug into it, obviously. At the other end of that lead should be a splitter box, with a stereo socket to plug this lead into, and a pair of standard mono jacks to carry the two signals away to separate amps. The incoming tip should go to the live of one jack, and the incoming ring to the live of the other jack. Grounds should all join together.

Does that do what is needed?
 
You can get Y-cables that will do the same job, but I reckon it is preferable to only have one cable trailing from your guitar. And of course the plugs will pull out of this easily if you tread on a cable.

9925851_800.jpg
 
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