Winter Build-Off 2023 [Assembly] - The Double Dumbucker VI

[J Posega]

Now you can go mad thinking of all the switching possibilities.

Yup, my head is already spinning with possibilities. I'm thinking some marriage of Superstrat wiring (3x on/off/on mini switches) and the Brian May phase switching (3x on/on switches).

One thing I just learned about the Brian May setup is that it has all 3 pickups (in his case, measly single coils) in series. But, this also exists:

Brian May switching with a master series/parallel switch. But what if we put a series/split/parallel switch on each pickup, too? Now we go from a paltry 7 switches to a middling 10.

But wait, there's more.

Who needs pots when you can use (wait for it) switches!? Of course we have our momentary killswitch (11), but will forego a volume control.

And rather than a boring tone pot, how about we wire in a varitone switch (12) so we can flip through a couple different capacitors?

Obviously, series/parallel switching, phase shifting, and a varitone aren't quite enough tone shaping options, so we need a passive bass cut switch. That brings us up to a respectable and lucky 13 switches. Of course, we would prefer 42 switches, but I didn't budget for that many switches and that many miles of wire.

I love how dumb(ucker) this is. How does the neck/bridge clearance look? In other words, is the neck pocket deep enough for the strings to clear as things currently are?

Yup, the neck and neck pocket both match up to standard Fender thickness/depth, so there's plenty of room for adjustability up and down. I'm honestly surprised by how well everything is coming together so far.

 

[ardgedee]

What is the wiring on those quads? If you can access each pickup individually you could probably set up some interesting phasing too.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

You need a kill switch and you definitely need to figure out how to turn the volume up and down with a momentary switch. There…. try and sleep until you figure that one out…

 

[Max Bogosity]

Needs a 'call flight attendant' button.

 

[NKBassman]

Just looking at that wiring diagram is a waking nightmare for me.

 

[Max Bogosity]

Every time I see the title I think of this scene from Glass Onion.

 

[ardgedee]

Yup, my head is already spinning with possibilities. I'm thinking some marriage of Superstrat wiring (3x on/off/on mini switches) and the Brian May phase switching (3x on/on switches).

One thing I just learned about the Brian May setup is that it has all 3 pickups (in his case, measly single coils) in series. But, this also exists:

Brian May switching with a master series/parallel switch. But what if we put a series/split/parallel switch on each pickup, too? Now we go from a paltry 7 switches to a middling 10.

But wait, there's more.

Who needs pots when you can use (wait for it) switches!? Of course we have our momentary killswitch (11), but will forego a volume control.

And rather than a boring tone pot, how about we wire in a varitone switch (12) so we can flip through a couple different capacitors?

Obviously, series/parallel switching, phase shifting, and a varitone aren't quite enough tone shaping options, so we need a passive bass cut switch. That brings us up to a respectable and lucky 13 switches. Of course, we would prefer 42 switches, but I didn't budget for that many switches and that many miles of wire.

That's (2^12) = 4,096 different pickup combinations, and 12 * (2^12) = 49,152 total different tone options with the varitone! I modestly suggest that instead of two switches per pickup, using 4-position switches (or 5-position, if you want to include an off state), which can retain all your pickup combinations while nearly halving the number of switches you have to install and wire up. Or ignore me, if you want to achieve switch overload!

Anyway, I want to hear how it sounds with all pickups parallel vs all pickups series.

 

[J Posega]

What is the wiring on those quads? If you can access each pickup individually you could probably set up some interesting phasing too.

Unfortunately, the double buckers are only four wire.

You need a kill switch and you definitely need to figure out how to turn the volume up and down with a momentary switch. There…. try and sleep until you figure that one out…

Will have an arcade button kill switch and individual on/off switches for each pickup, so a master kill might be… overkill.

I think I’d need some sort of digital element to do volume up and down with a momentary switch. But who needs a volume control anyway?

Needs a 'call flight attendant' button.

Noted and researching options.

Just looking at that wiring diagram is a waking nightmare for me.

Normally, I’m a fan of simplicity, but this thing is supposed to be dumb.

Every time I see the title I think of this scene from Glass Onion.

Then I’m doing the right thing.

That's (2^12) = 4,096 different pickup combinations, and 12 * (2^12) = 49,152 total different tone options with the varitone! I modestly suggest that instead of two switches per pickup, using 4-position switches (or 5-position, if you want to include an off state), which can retain all your pickup combinations while nearly halving the number of switches you have to install and wire up. Or ignore me, if you want to achieve switch overload!

Anyway, I want to hear how it sounds with all pickups parallel vs all pickups series.

My varitone will probably just be a 3 position switch. I guess part of the design aesthetic for this build is now avoiding knobs.

Thanks for doing the math! I’m a qualitative researcher by trade, so math scares me.

I like the idea of 5 position (blade) switches but not cutting for them. But luckily, I also like the idea of having a ton of switches. I’m also plotting some ways of labeling them.

 

[Jon Clegg]

If we consider each coil-pair in the quads as a pickup, this will have 6 pickups; each pickup has 3 states: on-parallel : off : on-serial for 3 ^ 6 combinations = 729 (acutally 728 since all off doesn't make much of a sound) Also eliminate 6 combinations that are single pickup where series or parallel makes no difference, so 722. Not even considering in/out phase.

 

[ardgedee]

If we consider each coil-pair in the quads as a pickup, this will have 6 pickups; each pickup has 3 states: on-parallel : off : on-serial for 3 ^ 6 combinations = 729 (acutally 728 since all off doesn't make much of a sound) Also eliminate 6 combinations that are single pickup where series or parallel makes no difference, so 722. Not even considering in/out phase.

One thing the builder can do to make their life a little easier is leave out the phase switches for one pickup, because all its settings will be redundant...

The number of phase options is slightly more than half of the number of switch positions, because pickup A 0°phase plus pickup B 180°phase is effectively the same as pickup A 180°phase plus pickup B 0°phase. So while you need phase switching for pickups B and C and etc (even tho one will be redundant when combined with the other), you don't need a phase switch for pickup A to have all possible options with any other pickup.

Pickup A won't need a parallel/series switch for the same reason; pickups B, C, etc. will be defining their p/s state relative to pickup A.

Beyond that, practically speaking it's going to be way easier to accommodate a lot of pointless and/or redundant settings rather than design an optimized switchboard that won't be as intuitive to use. To argue against myself for a moment: It will be easier and quicker to switch phase on pickup A than to switch phase on pickups B through F to get the same result.

 

[J Posega]

Great point about redundancy. Interesting… built-in redundancy seems to be antithetical to the build being dumb. But having too many switches is dumb. Seems that this build is becoming a bit of an oxymoron.

Also, I’m kind of thinking of putting a piezo pickup in it.

 

[Flamingo21]

Don't forget a producer switch.

 

[Max Bogosity]

The more redundanter, the dumberer.

 

[J Posega]

Don't forget a producer switch.

I think that one should be a missile launch switch.

 

[Mickey666]

I think that one should be a missile launch switch.

Don't forget the "eject" button

 

[ardgedee]

Great point about redundancy. Interesting… built-in redundancy seems to be antithetical to the build being dumb. But having too many switches is dumb. Seems that this build is becoming a bit of an oxymoron.

I kind of went through this when I tried designing, as a thought experiment, a double-humbucker bass with all serial/parallel and phase combinations. Ultimately I came up with a plan that required three 4-position switches, two volume pots and two balance pots. With only four coils, the efficiency of switching coils B,C,D rather than switching coil A isn't all that stark. (And four volume pots (one for each coil) is hypothetically more fiddly than two balance pots (one for each coil in each humbucker) and two volume pots (one for each humbucker).)

With ten coils, you have a more complex system to overthink!

Also, I’m kind of thinking of putting a piezo pickup in it.

I love it!

 

[J Posega]

You asked for it…

Next step is to put some time against developing a pickguard and control plate that I can make with the laser cutter at my local library. This requires some drawing IRL and then taking it into the digital realm, which I’ve never done anything like before, but I have some ideas for making it easy on myself.

EDIT: My plan is to remove most of the front face of the control cavity and slap a plate of acrylic over it. The control cavity has a weird topography of different depths and because I'm aiming to install 13 mini-switches in it, it will be easier for me to simply take all that wood away.

I'm thinking a rather simple, angular "pickguard" (really more of a neck and middle humbucker pickup ring) and a "lightning bolt" sort of pattern for the control plate, with each "branch" of the bolt holding a bank of switches (neck, middle, bridge). Excuse me while I crudely go draw what I mean.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I’d say you have room for 2, maybe 3 more pickups in there…

 

[ardgedee]

I’d say you have room for 2, maybe 3 more pickups in there…

He could have put another one in easily if it wasn't for that silly neck.

It's like, what's more important? A lot of pickups or a playable guitar?

 

[Reedt2000]

Yeah, you can fit at least 4 more traditional coils in there, plus piezo saddles and a transducer in the neck pocket.