Need help with wiring for Tractor Bass

[Eric Frey]

Hi y'all! I am in the finishing stretches of a Tractor build, and I'm seeking advice / perhaps even opinions of how to wire it. From my understanding, the original had VT for the Bisonic, and then the stock VVT controls for the Jazz pickups. I'm confident that I can wire this with the knowledge I currently have, but I'm wondering about doing it another way. I'm proposing to have the same VT arrangement for the Bisonic, but then running the Jpups in series (perhaps a pull switch to do series/paralell), essentially treating them as one pickup. In that case, I would have VT for the Jazz pups as well, and add a master Volume. So, in order from neck to bridge, the controls would be BS - V, BS - T, Master V, J - V, J - T.

One, are there any glaring reasons that this would either not work, or be a bad idea? Two, how do you wire pickups with individual and a master volume?

Any other ideas of how to wire? I've read all the threads on TB that I could find on the subject before posting here, but I don't believe this exact arrangement has been done.

 

[Eric Frey]

Ok, I have tried a couple different ways to wire this, but I keep having the same problem where all volume and tone pots are acting as masters. For the record, I tried the SFII wiring without a switch. Which leads me to wonder if a switch is necessary for this type of setup.... Any help would be appreciated.

 

[fig]

...I keep having the same problem where all volume and tone pots are acting as masters.

Currently, with the pickup outputs to the Vol pot's outer lugs, and the Vol pot's output on the center lugs, it will always make the Vol and Tone pots directly interactive with the other Volume and Tone pots as you're experiencing. Folk always avoid this.

So, notice the two green spots I marked. On each Volume pot, swap the two wires from the outer lug to the center lug. Connect the wire the was on the center lug to the outer lug. Done. You're now electrically sorted to give you the Vol and Tone separation. Except...

...when both Volumes are at max, the Tone controls become directly interactive again. It's a common and known issue with passive basses wired like this. Don't worry about it. If you want, just keep one Vol pot backed off a bit and this will keep the Tones separate.

Master Vol is fine, no changes required.