balancing act

[Horizontalste]

Anyone have any tips for balancing the pickups on a Pj (yamaha bb). The Bridge pickup is so hot I'd like to tame it a bit. Is there a meter I can get to test the output?
Thanks in advance.

[ikay]

I'm sure you've already tried lowering the bridge pup and/or raising the P? If you can't get a decent balance by doing that then maybe it's the P that has weak output rather than the J being too hot.

[Ou7shined]

A bog standard multimeter should give you the ohmage of each pup. Generally speaking more ohms = higher output (but in the grand scheme of things it's only a single factor in a complicated equation of what the pup's output really ends up being). Strangely enough, most people find that the bridge pup in a PJ setup tends to struggle against the usually more powerful P (bucker) pup so it looks like Yamaha may have found a holy grail balance. Perhaps your bridge pup isn't, as you expect, a single coil but is a bucker too? It would be interesting to see your findings on the readings of both pups.

[Horizontalste]

Thanks for the reply's, I have adjusted pick up heights and it's close but I wanted a more scientific approach. I think I'll pop down to the local hardware shop and pick up a multi meter. I like to flick between pickups mid set but I don't like having to twiddle knobs everytime I do. Maybe it's just something I'll have to live with.

[MoonBassAlpha]

You could put a preset pot inside the control cavity to reduce the offending pickup and balance the two then forget about it and use the controls as normal happily ever after.

[Horizontalste]

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1392814250' post='2372985']
You could put a preset pot inside the control cavity to reduce the offending pickup and balance the two then forget about it and use the controls as normal happily ever after.
[/quote]

Didn't think about that. The local shop reckon they can balance them out so that's also an option as I'm considering sending it in for a fret dress anyway so they could do it while it's there.

[iiipopes]

Put a .01 capacitor inline from the bridge pickup hot lead to its volume control. This also will get rid of the impedance/volume drop that happens when both pickups are full on.

[Horizontalste]

[quote name='iiipopes' timestamp='1392992300' post='2375040']
Put a .01 capacitor inline from the bridge pickup hot lead to its volume control. This also will get rid of the impedance/volume drop that happens when both pickups are full on.
[/quote]

There's only one volume control, will it still work?

[ikay]

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1392814250' post='2372985']
You could put a preset pot inside the control cavity to reduce the offending pickup and balance the two
[/quote]
Here's a wiring diagram showing a 1 Meg internal trimpot to balance P-J pickup outputs. In this case the trimpot is on the P pickup but same technique would apply to trimming the J.
[attachment=155856:P-J trimpot wiring.jpg]

[Horizontalste]

[quote name='ikay' timestamp='1393079467' post='2375945']

Here's a wiring diagram showing a 1 Meg internal trimpot to balance P-J pickup outputs. In this case the trimpot is on the P pickup but same technique would apply to trimming the J.
[attachment=155856:P-J trimpot wiring.jpg]
[/quote]

Thanks for that I'm going to give it a try. Let you know how I get on.