more P-rail questions

[leejord]

have been following nicholasdaniel thread re his p-rail issues which makes me question advice I received from both warmoth and seymour duncan.building tele with p-rail in neck, SLL-6 (RW/RP) mid and quarter pounder for tele lead in bridge.Plan was for 5-way(strat like) switch to select b/w positions incl neck/mid(position 2) and mid/bridge (position 4). Emails to SD said a 500K push/push pot under vol nob would select between 3 options on P-rail. Will this work and if so, are push/pulls better than push/push ie more durable. thanks

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Push/pulls are more durable than push/pushes.  And yes, the P-rails pickup is capable of 3 sounds but 1 push/pull is only capable of capturing 2 of those sounds.  For my 2 cents, the P-90 section and the hum feature are the 2 of the 3 more desirable sounds.

 

[Firebird211]

Push/pulls are more durable than push/pushes.  And yes, the P-rails pickup is capable of 3 sounds but 1 push/pull is only capable of capturing 2 of those sounds.  For my 2 cents, the P-90 section and the hum feature are the 2 of the 3 more desirable sounds.

I agree completely as well.  I think they meant push/pull  when they told you push/push.  The push/push is very uncommonly used in a guitar because it is spring loaded and will break down quicker mechanically than a push/pull.  The p-rails have four sounds (P-90, rails, series hum, parallel hum).  The parallel setting may not be as big of a change in sound than the others, so it gets omitted from time to time.  I play on series settings more than anything, but switch to parallel once in a while.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I guess you could add 2 more because series and parallel can be in or out of phase.

 

[leejord]

Is there no pot that can be pulled out twice to get all 3.if not,would 2 push/pulls work and would they both need to be 500k.is 500k ok for tone nob.thanks

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I'm not aware of one.  It'd be cool though.  Thing is though, atleast for me, I'm not interested in getting all of the sounds, just the most useable ones.  A guitar with 50 pickup sounds in it, that's 50 positions you have to remember.  You might find too that you end up using 2 to 4 of them regularly.

 

[Firebird211]

I guess you could add 2 more because series and parallel can be in or out of phase.

The phase switch is alway real nice to have on your guitar. :icon_thumright: To state a reminder of the obvious to leejord, when you do lay all of the stuff out, when it is put into the guitar, keep in mind that all the positions make physical sense, and don't bury your functions with a cryptic interface.  If they don't  make sense to you when you pick up the guitar, it won't make sense to someone else that picks it up.  The 2 push/pull pot arrangement is kind of a pain that it takes up two pots, but the positions of the pots make sense.  For example, lift one and get the rails by itself by making it the top pot. Lift the lower and you will get the the P-90. Both down is a normal series, and both up is parallel.  This is just an example of a bridge p-rails.  I believe the neck is reversed from that where the P-90 is on top and the rails is on the bottom of the pickup.  These are just some of the things you will want to keep in mind with the placement of switches when you build it.  

 

[drewfx]

I believe the neck is reversed from that where the P-90 is on top and the rails is on the bottom of the pickup.

Yes, and the coils are also set up so either (Neck Rail + Bridge Rail) or (Neck P-90 + Bridge P-90) will hum cancel.

 

[tfarny]

I say keep your basic interface simple, and the complicated stuff if you want out of the way, like pulling the pot to reverse phase. You're never gonna use it, so better if it's not an additional switch on the main board. My early builds all had lots of options, but now that I know what tones I basically want the controls keep getting simpler. I like a 5 way mega switch - you can get almost any 5 sounds you want in almost any position, and 5 good sounds is plenty for an electric guitar.

For instance in a strat you could do: 1 neck, 2 neck / mid, 3 neck / middle series out of phase, 4 middle / bridge, 5 middle / bridge in series. Eliminates the tones no one uses and adds the most useful of the series / phase type combos.

 

[AutoBat]

tfarny makes sense here.  i have 3 single coils and all i ever use is Neck, Neck/Middle, and Bridge.  Primarily the latter two.  If I'm switched on Middle or Middle/Bridge it was by accident.

 

[leejord]

Strange thing is warmoth only sell push/push.I asked about push/pull and told they don't carry them

 

[tfarny]

One more option would be to dril a small hole in the tele control plate and mount a small 3-way mini switch in between the two pots. It would give you the three main Prails options without the need for push pots. It will be pretty tight under the plate though so your wiring will need to be pretty neat. Mini pots would help a lot. You already have a weird looking Prails pickup in there, so need to worry about spoiling the traditional looks. I'd still just go for 5 options total and put them on a 5 way mega switch.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Is this going in a Tele?

 

[leejord]

It is for tele.are you saying combining say neck & mid pick-up won't be worth it