Jazz Wiring

[andvari7]

For the neck that I bought in an effort to fix a $40 bass, but wouldn't fit, I want to make a body with j-pups. However, rather than using the traditional three pot setup, I want to use no pots, and have the pickups wired straight to the jack. How can I do this?

[luknfur]

Originally Posted by andvari7

For the neck that I bought in an effort to fix a $40 bass, but wouldn't fit, I want to make a body with j-pups. However, rather than using the traditional three pot setup, I want to use no pots, and have the pickups wired straight to the jack. How can I do this?

Assuming passive pups

Series:

wire the hot lead of one pup to the hot lead of the jack

wire the ground lead of the same pup to the hot lead of the other pup

wire the ground lead (only one left) to ground of the jack

Parallel

In some form:

wire both hots lead to the hot of the jack
wire both grounds to jack ground


Either way, both pups will be as one and you will have no seperate tone and volume controls for each pup - they will be united. The only way around that is to run stereo.

[andvari7]

But I have to ground the pickups to the bridge, correct? And which would be louder? Otherwise, that's EXACTLY what I needed. Thank you so much.

[luknfur]

Originally Posted by andvari7

But I have to ground the pickups to the bridge, correct? And which would be louder? Otherwise, that's EXACTLY what I needed. Thank you so much.

FWIW:

Typically series is about twice as loud. The bridge ground would need to run to jack ground as well. Running a lead off the hot and ground of the jack and tieing the other wires in a junction would probably be the simplest way to wire it.

In fact you could simply use small wire nuts at the junctions instead of soldering them. Otherwise you will basically have to cut the wires at the solder joint for removal cause you would have to twist the wires together to be able to solder them to begin with. May seem Mickey Mouse on the surface but your house is wired with wire nuts.

[andvari7]

I don't think wire nuts would work on a bass. The bass obviously resonates, and that would mess with the connection. On a house, you're not expecting heavy vibration.

[luknfur]

FWIW:

Actually I know for a fact wire nuts work on a bass cause I use them all the time. I've had them in basses for months sometimes with regular play with no problem. They're also mentioned as an option for connections in Guitar Electronics For Musicians.

Where there are only a few connections there's no problem. If you've got a half dozen or so connections in a bay it becomes an issue for various reasons.

Under most circumstances it's not something I'd recommend permanently but it's no less secure a connection than a 9v battery and a battery clip. They're espicially ideal for temporary wiring (like experimenting with wiring combinations) where you can run leads and quickly and easily disconnect and reconnect different wires without having to jack with soldering.

[andvari7]

I see. What kind of wire nuts would these be?

[luknfur]

Originally Posted by andvari7

I see. What kind of wire nuts would these be?

Just regular old household wire nuts from Home Depot. About the size that comes with a ceiling fixture, maybe a little smaller. Grey and blue (two different sizes) are what work for bass. A box for a couple bucks - 100 or so. Home Depot also has some nice small electronics shrinkwrap cheap - not like that plastic garbage at radio shack (Located next to the wire nuts).