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P-J-J wiring - help!


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Perhaps against my better judgement, I decided to overhaul my old Frankenbass and give it not one, but two more pickups. Trouble is, the wiring's been driving me mad.

I've attached a diagram but I appreciate it's a bit of a sod to follow. Current situation is that I can blend all three pickups, up to a point: the volume control on the P-pickup (V1) seems to be acting like a master volume control. Obviously I'd prefer to have the option to solo each of them, and have combinations that don't involve the P being on full volume.

Previously, I had the wires reversed on V1 (hot to middle terminal, output from left-hand) - then I had no sound from the P-pickup, but the two Jazz pickups worked perfectly well together. Should I reverse the wires on the other two volume pots, or was it a bad idea to daisy-chain the Earth wire across all the pot cases? Or have I got this all hopelessly wrong?

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As an aside: When playing a normal Jazz, have you noticed that when both volume pots are up full, the output drops off?

Assuming you do resolve this current issue that you're having, what will happen to the "volume crazies" when you have 3 pups?

IF I may be so bold; perhaps you should think about which pups you will want going at any one time, then fit a pup selector switch to control them?

It would be worth taking a look at a strat, 3 pup system wiring diagram and see how that works.

Edited by Grangur
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Indeed I have - I personally like Jazz basses (and Thunderbirds) best with the front pickup on full, and the back wound off to about 8ish - or basically just below where the output drops off and the tone gets really scooped. This was the main motivation for having individual volume controls.

I've played around a bit with the combinations available where all 3 are active at once - it certainly creates some interesting sounds! But I can mainly see myself using only one or two out of the three at any given time, so I might consider a switch once I've got them working properly.

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Yes, your wiring on the P pickup grounds the whole bass when it is down, so it is a master volume (but not a linear one) for the whole bass. I am not sure this is what you wanted. If you rewired the two non earth terminals of the P pickup to match the other pickups it will be more like you are looking for

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Indeed, it is not what I wanted! See, I had the two non-Earths the other way round initially, and I got no sound from the P-pickup, though the two Js worked independently. Could have been a stray filament shorting one of the terminals of course (my soldering is not the tidiest!) so I'll try swapping them back again.

Edited by EliasMooseblaster
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[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1492980512' post='3284637']
Would it be worth looking for a wiring diagram from a Yamaha sheenan bass I think they are wired in the same way that you want
[/quote]

I thought the Yamaha Attitude was wired for a stereo setup? (Or am I thinking of the wrong model?)

Latest: as per Woodinblack's suggestion, I've swapped the wires from the P-pickup on V1. Now the two J pickups work independently, but I've got no output from the P...which makes me wonder if the wires from the P might be back-to-front. Is it possible to wire it up the wrong way round at the pickup end?

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[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1493035034' post='3284978']
I thought the Yamaha Attitude was wired for a stereo setup? (Or am I thinking of the wrong model?)

Latest: as per Woodinblack's suggestion, I've swapped the wires from the P-pickup on V1. Now the two J pickups work independently, but I've got no output from the P...which makes me wonder if the wires from the P might be back-to-front. Is it possible to wire it up the wrong way round at the pickup end?
[/quote]
I don't think WIB meant to reverse the pickup wires, but the two terminals on the pot V1. Thus Hot->middle lug, left hand lug -> output to V2.

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[quote name='hubrad' timestamp='1493036194' post='3284996']
I don't think WIB meant to reverse the pickup wires, but the two terminals on the pot V1. Thus Hot->middle lug, left hand lug -> output to V2.
[/quote]

Sorry, I should have phrased that more clearly - I have indeed reversed the terminals on V1! What I meant was that I'd had to put some new wires on the pickup itself (the original ones fell off...) so, as it's now not giving me any signal, I was wondering whether it would make a difference if they were the wrong way round.

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No. from an output point of view it doesn't matter which way the wires are from the P pickup, the output is the same either way, but the wrong way round they would be out of phase, so that when the other pickups were also up the sound would be thin and nasally.

If you have the output as per that diagram, but with the wire you are calling hot at the jack socket going all the way to the outside terminal of all the volumes, and the pickup outputs going to each middle terminal of the volume, then it should work. Are you sure that the pickup is making contact and isn't shorted?
Do you have a meter or anything? Can you check carefully that front volume that it isn't damaged?

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[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1493036714' post='3285007']
so, as it's now not giving me any signal, I was wondering whether it would make a difference if they were the wrong way round.
[/quote]

As I say, it will make a difference, but it will still give you full volume from that pickup when nothing else is on.

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Just a quick update: thanks to you all for your advice; after checking the terminals on the pot, and thoroughly cleaning what was left of the outside one, I'm delighted to say that I had all three pickups working yesterday evening!

Early tests suggest a nice broad palette of sounds, but the pickups were only loosely screwed into place so I'll adjust their heights this evening to try and improve the balance between them all. There's some life in this experiment yet!

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