Do I sound black or something? Southern... Yeah lol black? I don't think so... But I've been wrong before. Gotta give you credit though you're the first person to ever accuse me of being a "wigger" 🤣 points for originality brother.
Thank you for this explanation, tried many wiring diagrams but was always getting that annoying 1st pot cancelling both signals problem. Realized I needed to understand the circuit and your video did exactly that, wired it as you explained and of course it works perfectly. Greatly appreciated.
This was taught very well. Great explanation, great diagram. I'm surprised this isn't a more popular wiring style. Also, I have that same pen and it's a champ!
Gretsch wires their pickup leads to the second lug so when in second position you can do the various pickup blends but I my experience there’s very little ability to get varying blends. Also if you have two tones and two volumes like your diagram then you’re really loading down you pickups. I found doing this wiring really helps to have no load tone pots or at the very least just one tone pot as a master tone and to have treble bleeds on the two volumes. Basically, jazz bass wiring.
Yeah I do agree you lose some tonal control with this scheme. I haven't had enough cons with it to outweigh the pros for my particular taste. But everyone is looking for their own something so to each his own 👍
@@A_Stereotypical_Heretic I had to abandon this wiring because when I turn one volume all the way down then turn the other volume down a bit the pickup that I turned all the way down isn’t truly all the way down. Also, it just really dulls the sound vs a pickup selector with pickup soloed. Like I said previously, treble bleed circuits are highly recommended. I’d say if you don’t mod the tone pots to no load and they’re connected to the same lugs as the pickup leads then you’re going to have massive rolling off of the highs when rolling down pickup compared to standard. If you wire a standard tone pot to the output lug of the volume pot it alleviates it some. I mean you have four pots loading down both pickups simultaneously. Four 500k pots load is like 125k resistance to ground. So it’d have the sound of using a standard single pickup selected but with the volume rolled down. Because in a standard LP wiring when you have only one pickup select it’s two 500k pots to equal 250k so it’s less loading and you get a better volume taper and better treble retention, especially if you go with connecting the town pot to the output lug of the volume pot (50’s wiring). Sorry for the long write up. I’ve spend years working with this wiring. It seemed like there was a very subtle narrow window of tonal variation that warranted this wiring. Having a simple volume pedal I made that was basically a volume pot and a dpdt switch sounded better for cleanup sounds to keep treble from rolling off so much while using this wiring. This is the approach Gretsch uses by having a master volume. I’d go with Gretsch wiring: neck volume, bridge volume, master volume, and master tone. I’d even recommend using the pot values to 1 Meg if you’re not going to mod the tone pot do be no load by cutting the tracing at the non-grounded end of the tracing.
@@mindfield9832 hmm, that's definitely interesting, ive never had that volume issue myself. 🤔 But as far as the tone goes this is why I've said in other comments on here that I mainly recommend this for basses only, since you lose a little brightness from the load. And linear pots all the way. I've never tried this on a guitar personally. But using 500k linear pots for double coils and 250k for singles, everything does fairly well on a bass. At least it does for me. I can say with certainty the least amount of naked wiring in the belly the better. Some folks strip way too much sheathing off when they're soldering. 🤷 Little things add up in the end.
But if you want independently controlled pickups without a selector on your body, this is about the only wiring scheme that works. Sacrifices must always be made to get what we want I suppose lol.
This was very helpful thank you! I built a Les Paul model (with three way switch) for my son but had volume problems when using both pickups. When using both pickups, when I turned down the volume of 1 pickup, all output disappeared. this was the case for both volume pots Now I combined this wiring with the three way switch and with the switch in middle position (2 pickups) I can now balance the 2 pickups using the 2 volume pots. Endless amounts of sound options!
Hey you're very welcome. It's amazing how little information is available for all of the potential wiring setups for instruments with pickups isn't it? It's always the same old diagrams with the same old set ups
Other videos teach the hot wire of the pickup to go to the left leg of the volume pot and then middle lug of the volume pot to the output jack....yours is like in reverse.....my mind is completely blown. I guess I would have wired the hots to the left legs of the volume pots...jumper from middle lug of first pot to the middle lug of the second pot....second pot middle lug to the ouput jack. I was thinking of trying this without a tone control and no switch but never did. But I would like an explanation as to what would be happening wiring it this way. I was using single coils with 250 pots.
If you're asking what is happening or would happen if it was wired the way you're describing then you will have essentially a "master" volume... the first attached to the hot leg. If it is rolled back to nothing then it will kill the pickup that is wired to the volume pot down the line from it. You can have it on any volume amount and the down stream pickup volume will work just fine but once you roll it all the way back it will kill it. This is what happens when you wire to the left lug. The wiper will offer maximum resistance when rolled all the way "off" causing the signal to essentially die with it. If you wire to the center lug like in the diagram I'm showing the pickup is sending a signal regardless of the wiper position. Basically left lug the signal is wiper position dependant, center lug it isn't. It will never truly be zero volume...but for all intents and purposes it will be muted when rolled back... If that makes sense lol. See if the output is on the first leg, it doesn't matter if the wiper is at max resistance, because that's the amp is the end of the circuit anyway, but the pickup is the start of it, so the wiper position affects everything down stream of that first pickup, even tone.
Now if you want your volume controls to be independent of one another, and not have a master volume, just wire it like I've shown in the video, just ignore the legs running to the tone pots.
This is so useful omg if there’s any possibility could you show what 2 independent volumes and 1 tone would look like I’m working on a Strat with these concepts
@@Butterflyeggsprojectok got some bad news and maybe some good news. Bad news is, I sat down and started on your circuit diagram and quickly realized that if we connect the tone pot to both pickups it will cause the circuit to keep both pickups live no matter what position the switch is in... Being that the tone pot will act as a bridge keeping the circuit closed. The good news is possibly, is that there may be a way to use the ground wire off the pickups to act like a kill switch... But the problem with that is when the switch is in the center position if using a three way, it will ground and kill both pickups 😂 so I'm working on a workaround. Not using a switch and just using volumes to operate the pickups isn't an issue. The switch is the culprit. I'll keep you posted. If you find a diagram between now and then let me know as I'm very curious now myself!
@@A_Stereotypical_HereticSeriously thank you so much for finding that out I personally think that I’m probably going to go with the separate tones per pickup but I never would’ve known without your help!
@@A_Stereotypical_Hereticit sounds out-of-phase when the 2 pickups are activated. I'll try to wire it to have 1 volume and a 3-way lever switch and go from there. I think my last experiment that II'd do is to flip the magnet of either the telecaster neck pickup or the magnet of the bridge humbucker pickup and evaluate which of the 3 configurations would I like the most.
@@PeejWan yeah that sounds like a hot/ground in reverse or it could be a polarity issue with your magnets. Might be worth trying the hot ground swap before you flip the magnet.
hello sir, why is my tone pots producing more volume sound than my actual volume? i tried the wiring diagram given but the reault was frustrating. i didn't know what to do about my issue.
It seems like you have somehow wired your tone and volume into a parallel or series circuit, possibly into the other pickup circuit somehow. You want your tones to be complete dead ends out of your particular pickup circuit. If you wire the tone to another pickups tone, or jump it to another pickups volume, it may work somewhat as a volume pot. Make sure there is an open lug on the tone (#1). Make sure the circuit is going from the specific pickups volume into the specific tones center lug (#2). Make sure your ground is on the third lug (#3). If you have any wiring running into or out of the #1 lug you will have interference with whatever common point that wire is running to.
Ya know I'm not sure. I cap my tone to ground because I mainly build, therefore wire, basses. Let me look into it. If there would be any issue it would be the cap legs closing a circuit that needs to stay open for this setup to work. But I'll look into it tomorrow and get back to you. It's midnight in southern USA 😅
Man I got a question and I can't get an answer anywhere, How can I get an HH setup going with a blend instead of a switch, two volumes, two treble roll-off pots, and two bass roll-off pots?
Are you wanting to use a pre amp? Or passive? You'll lose a lot of frequency control going passive because you'll have to use capacitors and inductors to give the pots their intended job function (Ie differentiating one as being a bass pot, one being a treble). It's possible, but you lose some tonal control.
so the way the circuit works best is for the pickup to be wiped from output/ground with a pot, the way it sounds best, signal out wiped from pickup out to gnd out, ah ha
Adding to your thought, the wiper itself is just a tool to customize the resistance in the circuit. Rolled off, or down, the signal has to travel through max resistance, Ie less output... ≠0...Essentially... (there is always SOME output regardless, without opening the circuit you can never have complete absolute dampening). Rolled on, or all the way up, is minimum resistance, so the signal can travel more freely through the pot. You can think of the middle lug as a circuit outlet where the signal can travel somewhere else. Like a wall receptacle. It's a way to plug other things into the circuit, but the center lug signal strength isn't affected by the position of the wiper, it's just full throttle zero resistance. Ground is important because it snatches up all of the excess signal that is moving along the wires, (EM radiation doesnt travel INSIDE wires believe it or not, but around and along them like a cloud surrounding them) and puts it into the body of the pot, which essentially stops it from propagating freely. The caps determine how much of that excess you want to absorb and put back into the controlled signal. Some people, like heavy distortion players, enjoy a little excess signal, great for sustain, hard to control. Some players like myself want a good bit of it grabbed up and eliminated. Helps with clean playing, I'm a bass player jsyk. The bigger the value of the pot, the more signal it absorbs and the less it puts back into the circuit. Interestingly, if you want tons of feedback when you get near an amp, you can wire the tone pots straight to ground with no cap... But it's very very buzzy, and the tone is much harder to control. To each his own though!
@@idiotburns I wasn't trying to treat you like you're ignorant, sorry if it seemed that way. I was just expanding on your comment. Just rambling honestly lol
@@jimmylepog5133 ok take this video, ignore the bottom right tone, and instead, if your switch has three lugs on it, jump the bottom left tone pot to your 1 and 3 lugs on it, the middle or 2 lug should be ran to your input jack and the 1 lug on both volume pots. Basically everything will be the same in this linked video except remove the bottom right tone and instead run the bottom left one into both forward and back lugs on the selector. ruclips.net/video/V2Kw3BN8efQ/видео.htmlsi=qUTyTbaq_tVGZCp1 If that doesn't make sense I'll make you a schematic tomorrow and put it on the community page and drop you a notification
@@jimmylepog5133 awesome! Glad I could help brother. The way I wire is a bit unusual, but it's the only way I've found to not have everything interfering with each other. If you need anything else drop a line.
The A and B designation just refers to the amount of absolute control the wiper has. If one were to graph their "control" aspect a B pot would be a straight line from 0 to 100 or off to full on and an A would be more of a curved line on the graph, meeting B roughly at 50%, or halfway turned over. Other than that they wire and operate the same. That being said yes it is standard to use As on one parameter and Bs on the other. Mixing them on volume for example doesn't really make any sense. But you can use, and I often do, use one designation for tone controls and one for volume meaning I'll have both on the same circuit but only one type for each control.
@@FernandoRodriguez-kn1mm If you can't figure out the issue let me know and I'll upload a video with an actual bass guitar and show you the wiring scheme on actual pots.
Sure. Give me a day or two and I'll upload one with a switch. Are you wanting the switch to completely control bridge and completely control neck? Or blended?
no it isnt
Not sure what you're talking about 🤔
because youre an ahole mnkeyboy? or just a sad wigger?@@A_Stereotypical_Heretic
Do I sound black or something? Southern... Yeah lol black? I don't think so... But I've been wrong before.
Gotta give you credit though you're the first person to ever accuse me of being a "wigger" 🤣 points for originality brother.
Sorry man it won't let me show your second comment. I think it deserves recognition! Try rewording it a little less angry and maybe it'll show up.
Thank you for this explanation, tried many wiring diagrams but was always getting that annoying 1st pot cancelling both signals problem. Realized I needed to understand the circuit and your video did exactly that, wired it as you explained and of course it works perfectly. Greatly appreciated.
Great to hear brother! Enjoy the setup.
This was taught very well. Great explanation, great diagram. I'm surprised this isn't a more popular wiring style. Also, I have that same pen and it's a champ!
Gretsch wires their pickup leads to the second lug so when in second position you can do the various pickup blends but I my experience there’s very little ability to get varying blends. Also if you have two tones and two volumes like your diagram then you’re really loading down you pickups. I found doing this wiring really helps to have no load tone pots or at the very least just one tone pot as a master tone and to have treble bleeds on the two volumes. Basically, jazz bass wiring.
Yeah I do agree you lose some tonal control with this scheme. I haven't had enough cons with it to outweigh the pros for my particular taste. But everyone is looking for their own something so to each his own 👍
@@A_Stereotypical_Heretic I had to abandon this wiring because when I turn one volume all the way down then turn the other volume down a bit the pickup that I turned all the way down isn’t truly all the way down. Also, it just really dulls the sound vs a pickup selector with pickup soloed. Like I said previously, treble bleed circuits are highly recommended.
I’d say if you don’t mod the tone pots to no load and they’re connected to the same lugs as the pickup leads then you’re going to have massive rolling off of the highs when rolling down pickup compared to standard. If you wire a standard tone pot to the output lug of the volume pot it alleviates it some. I mean you have four pots loading down both pickups simultaneously. Four 500k pots load is like 125k resistance to ground. So it’d have the sound of using a standard single pickup selected but with the volume rolled down. Because in a standard LP wiring when you have only one pickup select it’s two 500k pots to equal 250k so it’s less loading and you get a better volume taper and better treble retention, especially if you go with connecting the town pot to the output lug of the volume pot (50’s wiring).
Sorry for the long write up. I’ve spend years working with this wiring. It seemed like there was a very subtle narrow window of tonal variation that warranted this wiring. Having a simple volume pedal I made that was basically a volume pot and a dpdt switch sounded better for cleanup sounds to keep treble from rolling off so much while using this wiring. This is the approach Gretsch uses by having a master volume. I’d go with Gretsch wiring: neck volume, bridge volume, master volume, and master tone. I’d even recommend using the pot values to 1 Meg if you’re not going to mod the tone pot do be no load by cutting the tracing at the non-grounded end of the tracing.
@@mindfield9832 hmm, that's definitely interesting, ive never had that volume issue myself. 🤔 But as far as the tone goes this is why I've said in other comments on here that I mainly recommend this for basses only, since you lose a little brightness from the load. And linear pots all the way. I've never tried this on a guitar personally. But using 500k linear pots for double coils and 250k for singles, everything does fairly well on a bass. At least it does for me. I can say with certainty the least amount of naked wiring in the belly the better. Some folks strip way too much sheathing off when they're soldering. 🤷 Little things add up in the end.
But if you want independently controlled pickups without a selector on your body, this is about the only wiring scheme that works. Sacrifices must always be made to get what we want I suppose lol.
This was very helpful thank you!
I built a Les Paul model (with three way switch) for my son but had volume problems when using both pickups.
When using both pickups, when I turned down the volume of 1 pickup, all output disappeared. this was the case for both volume pots
Now I combined this wiring with the three way switch and with the switch in middle position (2 pickups) I can now balance the 2 pickups using the 2 volume pots.
Endless amounts of sound options!
Hey you're very welcome. It's amazing how little information is available for all of the potential wiring setups for instruments with pickups isn't it? It's always the same old diagrams with the same old set ups
Thanks for the video, love the pen!
Thanks brother. Hope you got some use out of the video! Be well!
My problem fixed. Thank you sir!
Other videos teach the hot wire of the pickup to go to the left leg of the volume pot and then middle lug of the volume pot to the output jack....yours is like in reverse.....my mind is completely blown. I guess I would have wired the hots to the left legs of the volume pots...jumper from middle lug of first pot to the middle lug of the second pot....second pot middle lug to the ouput jack. I was thinking of trying this without a tone control and no switch but never did. But I would like an explanation as to what would be happening wiring it this way. I was using single coils with 250 pots.
If you're asking what is happening or would happen if it was wired the way you're describing then you will have essentially a "master" volume... the first attached to the hot leg. If it is rolled back to nothing then it will kill the pickup that is wired to the volume pot down the line from it. You can have it on any volume amount and the down stream pickup volume will work just fine but once you roll it all the way back it will kill it. This is what happens when you wire to the left lug. The wiper will offer maximum resistance when rolled all the way "off" causing the signal to essentially die with it. If you wire to the center lug like in the diagram I'm showing the pickup is sending a signal regardless of the wiper position. Basically left lug the signal is wiper position dependant, center lug it isn't. It will never truly be zero volume...but for all intents and purposes it will be muted when rolled back... If that makes sense lol.
See if the output is on the first leg, it doesn't matter if the wiper is at max resistance, because that's the amp is the end of the circuit anyway, but the pickup is the start of it, so the wiper position affects everything down stream of that first pickup, even tone.
Now if you want your volume controls to be independent of one another, and not have a master volume, just wire it like I've shown in the video, just ignore the legs running to the tone pots.
@@A_Stereotypical_Heretic Thank you for explaining this to me....I haven't been successful on getting a reply from others posting similar videos.
@@fleetwooddave you're welcome brother. I hope it made sense. If you need anything just drop a comment. Be well!
This is so useful omg if there’s any possibility could you show what 2 independent volumes and 1 tone would look like I’m working on a Strat with these concepts
One tone controlling both pickups? Each with their own independent volume?
@@A_Stereotypical_Heretic Yes as mad as that sounds lmao
@@Butterflyeggsproject I got you. I'll get you a video up tomorrow evening and drop a link here. Just let me know how it works out and we'll be even
@@Butterflyeggsprojectok got some bad news and maybe some good news. Bad news is, I sat down and started on your circuit diagram and quickly realized that if we connect the tone pot to both pickups it will cause the circuit to keep both pickups live no matter what position the switch is in... Being that the tone pot will act as a bridge keeping the circuit closed. The good news is possibly, is that there may be a way to use the ground wire off the pickups to act like a kill switch... But the problem with that is when the switch is in the center position if using a three way, it will ground and kill both pickups 😂 so I'm working on a workaround. Not using a switch and just using volumes to operate the pickups isn't an issue. The switch is the culprit. I'll keep you posted. If you find a diagram between now and then let me know as I'm very curious now myself!
@@A_Stereotypical_HereticSeriously thank you so much for finding that out I personally think that I’m probably going to go with the separate tones per pickup but I never would’ve known without your help!
This is similar to jazz bass. I'm trying to do this over a humbucker bridge and telecaster neck. Hoping I'd like the results. Thanks!
How did it go? Did you get a wiring setup you like?
@@A_Stereotypical_Hereticit sounds out-of-phase when the 2 pickups are activated. I'll try to wire it to have 1 volume and a 3-way lever switch and go from there. I think my last experiment that II'd do is to flip the magnet of either the telecaster neck pickup or the magnet of the bridge humbucker pickup and evaluate which of the 3 configurations would I like the most.
@@PeejWan yeah that sounds like a hot/ground in reverse or it could be a polarity issue with your magnets. Might be worth trying the hot ground swap before you flip the magnet.
@@A_Stereotypical_Hereticah yes! Will do. Thanks a bunch!
hello sir, why is my tone pots producing more volume sound than my actual volume? i tried the wiring diagram given but the reault was frustrating. i didn't know what to do about my issue.
Did you wire your pickup to the tone first perhaps?
It seems like you have somehow wired your tone and volume into a parallel or series circuit, possibly into the other pickup circuit somehow. You want your tones to be complete dead ends out of your particular pickup circuit. If you wire the tone to another pickups tone, or jump it to another pickups volume, it may work somewhat as a volume pot. Make sure there is an open lug on the tone (#1). Make sure the circuit is going from the specific pickups volume into the specific tones center lug (#2). Make sure your ground is on the third lug (#3). If you have any wiring running into or out of the #1 lug you will have interference with whatever common point that wire is running to.
amazing info
is it possible to adapt this to the "50's style wiring"?
thank you!!!
Ya know I'm not sure. I cap my tone to ground because I mainly build, therefore wire, basses. Let me look into it. If there would be any issue it would be the cap legs closing a circuit that needs to stay open for this setup to work. But I'll look into it tomorrow and get back to you. It's midnight in southern USA 😅
Just have the tone attach to the output lug of the pot. So it would be the outside lug if you’re wiring you pickup lead to the center lug.
Man I got a question and I can't get an answer anywhere, How can I get an HH setup going with a blend instead of a switch, two volumes, two treble roll-off pots, and two bass roll-off pots?
Are you wanting to use a pre amp? Or passive? You'll lose a lot of frequency control going passive because you'll have to use capacitors and inductors to give the pots their intended job function (Ie differentiating one as being a bass pot, one being a treble). It's possible, but you lose some tonal control.
so the way the circuit works best is for the pickup to be wiped from output/ground with a pot, the way it sounds best, signal out wiped from pickup out to gnd out, ah ha
Adding to your thought, the wiper itself is just a tool to customize the resistance in the circuit. Rolled off, or down, the signal has to travel through max resistance, Ie less output... ≠0...Essentially... (there is always SOME output regardless, without opening the circuit you can never have complete absolute dampening). Rolled on, or all the way up, is minimum resistance, so the signal can travel more freely through the pot. You can think of the middle lug as a circuit outlet where the signal can travel somewhere else. Like a wall receptacle. It's a way to plug other things into the circuit, but the center lug signal strength isn't affected by the position of the wiper, it's just full throttle zero resistance. Ground is important because it snatches up all of the excess signal that is moving along the wires, (EM radiation doesnt travel INSIDE wires believe it or not, but around and along them like a cloud surrounding them) and puts it into the body of the pot, which essentially stops it from propagating freely. The caps determine how much of that excess you want to absorb and put back into the controlled signal. Some people, like heavy distortion players, enjoy a little excess signal, great for sustain, hard to control. Some players like myself want a good bit of it grabbed up and eliminated. Helps with clean playing, I'm a bass player jsyk. The bigger the value of the pot, the more signal it absorbs and the less it puts back into the circuit. Interestingly, if you want tons of feedback when you get near an amp, you can wire the tone pots straight to ground with no cap... But it's very very buzzy, and the tone is much harder to control. To each his own though!
@@A_Stereotypical_Heretic haha, dont have to tell me twice, I have a degree in electronics and work in industry
@@A_Stereotypical_Heretic I like your expansion, I do think of it a little differently than that but hey it would be hard to explain in a text
@@idiotburns awesome! I have a degree in driving nails, about a second degree sunburn right now.
@@idiotburns I wasn't trying to treat you like you're ignorant, sorry if it seemed that way. I was just expanding on your comment. Just rambling honestly lol
Oi, I'm trying a 2 Volume 1 Tone 3 way switch, but i don't know what the hell I'm doing, what should i do?
So you want a master tone for both pickups but you want their volumes to be independent?
@@A_Stereotypical_Heretic independent volumes and a master tone yes
@@jimmylepog5133 ok take this video, ignore the bottom right tone, and instead, if your switch has three lugs on it, jump the bottom left tone pot to your 1 and 3 lugs on it, the middle or 2 lug should be ran to your input jack and the 1 lug on both volume pots. Basically everything will be the same in this linked video except remove the bottom right tone and instead run the bottom left one into both forward and back lugs on the selector.
ruclips.net/video/V2Kw3BN8efQ/видео.htmlsi=qUTyTbaq_tVGZCp1
If that doesn't make sense I'll make you a schematic tomorrow and put it on the community page and drop you a notification
@@A_Stereotypical_Heretic bro, you're a fucking genius!!!, you saved my confused ass!!!
@@jimmylepog5133 awesome! Glad I could help brother. The way I wire is a bit unusual, but it's the only way I've found to not have everything interfering with each other. If you need anything else drop a line.
All the pots have to be the same size like A500K and B500K or it doesn't matter
The A and B designation just refers to the amount of absolute control the wiper has. If one were to graph their "control" aspect a B pot would be a straight line from 0 to 100 or off to full on and an A would be more of a curved line on the graph, meeting B roughly at 50%, or halfway turned over.
Other than that they wire and operate the same.
That being said yes it is standard to use As on one parameter and Bs on the other. Mixing them on volume for example doesn't really make any sense. But you can use, and I often do, use one designation for tone controls and one for volume meaning I'll have both on the same circuit but only one type for each control.
But if you mean just the size as in 10/25/250/500 etc etc yeah you can mix them and I actually recommend you do on single coil pickups.
@@A_Stereotypical_Heretic i must check my connection again because is not working
@@FernandoRodriguez-kn1mm what isn't working? The entire circuit?
@@FernandoRodriguez-kn1mm If you can't figure out the issue let me know and I'll upload a video with an actual bass guitar and show you the wiring scheme on actual pots.
please with the same circuit diagram, can you pls show if a switch is added to it
Sure. Give me a day or two and I'll upload one with a switch. Are you wanting the switch to completely control bridge and completely control neck? Or blended?
ruclips.net/video/V2Kw3BN8efQ/видео.html
Just for you lol