First Offset Build

[benjaminr]

Hi all,

This is my first post to UW, as well as my first project guitar.  I'm starting fairly simple with a warmoth offset body and eventually a warmoth vintage modern straight 9.5" neck.  I will be rerouting the body to accommodate a lovely red spitfire tort guard and will be finishing this one with wudtone's satin saffron finish.  I've got a Novak JM-V for the neck, a JM-FAT for the bridge, and a lipstick for behind the bridge.  This guy will also be getting the mastery M1-V kit when available (hopefully soon).

I did have a question... I want to use the rhythm circuit controls for the behind the bridge lipstick pup, but am pretty new to wiring guitars.  I know I'm not breaking new ground here, but does anyone have any diagrams that retain the lead circuit for the neck and bridge pups and use the rhythm circuit for the BTB pup?  I want to be able to blend the BTB pup at times and completely cut it off at others.

Here is a picture of what I hope the finished product looks like:



And a picture of my Novak's:



And a picture of my first wiring attempt (before I decided to go with the BTB pup--just practice on an old guard I had--good thing too, the solder was too thick, and my joints and grounds were admittedly terrible.  Here's to my next attempt!):



A simple search revealed this circuit (thanks In-Sound).  I'm wondering if wired in this way, I will be able to completely cut the BTB off via the switch, just like I would cut the rhythm circuit if wired normally.

I'm a little concerned that the above wiring would not allow me to blend the BTB pup with the lead circuit... i.e. I would only have a signal from the BTB OR the lead circuit, not a blend of both...  But again, I'm terrible at this.

Anyway, thanks for checking this out, and I'll update accordingly.

 

[Cagey]

First off, welcome to the board! We have a lotta fun here, and there's a lotta high-priced talent floating around.

Second, I'm not sure what you mean when you say "behind the bridge". I don't see anything behind the bridge, nor would you want anything there. But, we'll leave that alone for the moment. According to that wiring diagram, you'll get the mix you want. The center position of the selector switch will give you both pickups. It may not look like it because they show the center wafer grounded. But, when you see the switch, you'll understand what they're talking about. You can adjust the volume/tone controls to make it behave. Personally, I sincerely dislike that control scheme, but I understand that sometimes you want to do the retro thing. The Jaguar/Jazzmaster control scheme has always been a mystery for thinking users. Between that and the goofy vibrato, we gotta think those were Leo's LSD years.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Cagey - there's been a few folks out there that have modded Jazz/Jag bridges to have a non-trem end plate with a pickup in it, thereby getting the overtones from the strings behind the bridge.  See here for an example.  It's kind of a neat idea - could get some atonal but vaguely sympathatic sounds - though I don't know how practical it might be for getting usable musical sounds, but YMMV.

 

[Fat Pete]

Most of the behind the bridge pickups I've seen are between bridge and tailpiece like this:

 

[bagman67]

Check out Hans Reichel for weird overtone pickups stuff - he's got some seriously strange ideas that I really like.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8uGNY2Qf9Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmX1_dHm5uw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qh2kOpPlXk

 

[bagman67]

Especially nice example:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Wi9HFfzFw

 

[benjaminr]

Here are a few updated wiring schemes that may work better.  Feel free to chime in if you see something I'm missing.