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

[J Posega]

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?

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

There's certainly enough room to enlarge that single coil slot to fit a full-sized humbucker. And, if I cut off the heel of the neck, I could fit a single-coil sized pickup in there. But I'm not really interested in that amount of work. I think I'm striking a nice balance of playability and absurdity.

Without a buffer/balance or preamp circuit, a piezo won't sound good in combination with the magnetic pickups, so I think I'll table that idea for later reconsideration.

 

[NKBassman]

a transducer in the neck pocket.

Now there's an idea. Is that a thing that people do?

 

[cheapbasslovin]

Now there's an idea. Is that a thing that people do?

I got a wishbass with a piezo that I screwed up while trying to make it playable. When I went to replace it getting good tone was really finicky, and that was right under the bridge.

One could try it, and it would be dumb, but I would not expect a great tone from that choice.

 

[J Posega]

Now there's an idea. Is that a thing that people do?

I’ve heard of it being done before. A quick Googling suggests it’s something Zappa did with some of his guitars to bring out more percussive qualities and string noise (not sure I’d want that at all).

 

[ardgedee]

I'd bet it sounds better on guitar where the body noise is going to be sufficiently lower (in frequency) than the notes played to make it relatively easy to manage through EQing.

Usually bassists are trying to suppress body thuds rather than add them into the mix.

 

[NKBassman]

I got a wishbass with a piezo that I screwed up while trying to make it playable. When I went to replace it getting good tone was really finicky, and that was right under the bridge.

One could try it, and it would be dumb, but I would not expect a great tone from that choice.

I've had a bass with a piezo bridge before (Supro Huntington II) and I didn't really care for it except under very specific circumstances. Bridge transducers seem very commonplace, but the idea of putting the transducer in the neck pocket is new to me though.

 

[cheapbasslovin]

I've had a bass with a piezo bridge before (Supro Huntington II) and I didn't really care for it except under very specific circumstances. Bridge transducers seem very commonplace, but the idea of putting the transducer in the neck pocket is new to me though.

I suppose if you blend it with a magnetic pickup it could introduce a bright overtone, but by itself I'd not expect goodness.

Could be good, though?

 

[Reedt2000]

For the record, the piezos suggestion was made in jest (can't fit more pickups in? Start adding piezos ). Now a mini condenser mic to pickup the true acoustic qualities...

 

[J Posega]

For the record, the piezos suggestion was made in jest (can't fit more pickups in? Start adding piezos ). Now a mini condenser mic to pickup the true acoustic qualities...

I really did think about adding a piezo, since a part of the idea behind this build is "why not?!" But it's too much effort and expense just to achieve middling sound quality. A mic would be really fun for making wild feedback sounds.

I had an Ibanez SRH500F which is a fretless bass with a piezo pickup wired to a volume and active tone control. It sounded good, better than many other piezo pickups I've heard, but I was close to having the bass routed for a magnetic pickup before I sold it.

 

[J Posega]

An idea:

Cut from acrylic at the pencil line, laser etched with what each control position does. In this position it covers all the pre-existing holes that are drilled in the top. Not married to this design yet, but definitely wanting to do something angular. Also need to work on ideas for the actual "pickguard." It does need to be separate from the control panel since it's going to hold the pickups.

 

[J Posega]

I just committed and ordered my switches, which cost more than my pickups. To recap the wiring plan:

• 3x On/Off - Each Pickup
• 3x Series/"Single"/Parallel - Each pickup (single meaning north or south coil, not really single on the dumbuckers, but yes single on the neck pickup)
  [*]3x Phase - Each Pickup
  [*]1x Series/Parallel - Global
  [*]1x Treble Cut - Global
  [*]1x Bass Cut - Global
  [*]1x Momentary Killswitch - Global
  

There's a ton of redundancy here and I don't know how useful most of the possible sounds are going to be, but dammit Jim, I'm a bass player not a philosopher. Me think many switch sound fun, me stick many switch in silly guitar.

 

[Flamingo21]

My screen seems to be acting up.

That last post looked really stripey.

 

[J Posega]

My screen seems to be acting up.

That last post looked really stripey.

Yup, no idea what happened there. It's got strikethrough applied, but I can't seem to un-apply it.

Here's what it should say:

• 3x On/Off - 1 per pickup
• 3x Series/"Single"/Parallel - 1 per pickup (single meaning north or south coil, because it's not truly a single coil with the quad coils)
• 3x Phase - 1 per pickup
• 1x Series/Parallel - global control
• 1x Treble Cut (low pass) - global control
• 1x Bass Cut (high pass) - global control
• 1x Momentary Killswitch - global control

 

[J Posega]

I have no idea why I decided this was a good idea. Oh wait, it's not. It's a dumb idea. If anyone cares to tell me that I got this diagram horribly wrong, please let me know (yes, I drew it in Excel).

 

[MonetBass]

Here is the Red Special wiring with on/off and phase switches from Burns:

I used this setup for a guitar I built a couple of years ago. Hope this helps.

 

[postalflunkie]

My excel skills are a bit rusty, but you could create if/then links in each cell and virtually test the circuit

 

[Flying B]

I have no idea why I decided this was a good idea. Oh wait, it's not. It's a dumb idea. If anyone cares to tell me that I got this diagram horribly wrong, please let me know (yes, I drew it in Excel).

View attachment 4971718

I've suddenly got a craving for spaghetti Bolognese

 

[J Posega]

Here is the Red Special wiring with on/off and phase switches from Burns:
View attachment 4971738
I used this setup for a guitar I built a couple of years ago. Hope this helps.

Thanks! I found the version that I included in my diagram which adds global series/parallel switching because I guess this project is all about making the wiring as hard as it can be.

My excel skills are a bit rusty, but you could create if/then links in each cell and virtually test the circuit

I barely know how to use Excel, I just don't have a drawing program nor did I feel like learning how to use one.

I've suddenly got a craving for spaghetti Bolognese

One of my life goals is to learn enough about electronics to make wiring up stuff like this a lot easier. What I'd really love is to learn something about PCB design, too, so I could make up little PCBs for each switch to simplify wiring even more.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

 

[J Posega]

View attachment 4971801

I ordered like 100' of wire yesterday, I hope it's enough.