Another Minimal Scheme

[mattmayfield]

Hi everybody,

I'm doing another Variax transplant, with just a single 4-wire humbucker as a regular pickup. It's inconvenient to try to combine the Variax controls with normal pots, and I don't want to add more than the usual controls to the guitar, so I'm left with:

-> One half of a 5-way switch <-

And that's it. So, what I'm thinking is this:

- coil to ground
+ of full HB to "neck" pole of switch
coil tap to "bridge" pole of switch
ground, through a .022 - .047 µf capacitor and maybe a 100ish kΩ resistor, to "mid" pole of switch

If I'm right, this should provide:

N: Full HB
NM: Full HB with tone rolled off
M: OFF
MB: One coil with tone rolled off
B: One coil

That seems like a nice, compact use of the available components, with the most essential functions of tone and volume (or at least "off").

Anyone have any corrections, suggestions, questions, ideas?

[4real]

Hmmm

Not sure what you want from the single HB...I kind of assume it is in the bridge position.

I've been playing with an idea I call a "spin select" and perhaps some of the options that this kind of control gives could be wired into a switch.

I'd feel that the tone roll off thing isn't that useful...few people even use a tone control...and an HB tends to be a mid-rangy and there tends to be more benefit from brightening things up with coil splits than to dull things down with tone caps.

Also, the bridge most coil has a very bright sound while the inner coil has a sweeter sound...both are useful.

So...I'm imagining something like a split to either HB coil, full HB, perhaps the tone rolled off one coil of a full HB (gives a kind of parallel sound) or a straight roll off option and off...

I imagine there is that kind of switching power in a 5 way...better minds than mine could work it out.

It all depends on what you are trying to achieve...the variax is a powerful tool on it's own, after all the variax guitars have no pups at all yet can model anything. A single pup sounds like a bonus...but I'd kind of like the idea of a single coil sound with an acoustic model perhaps.

Not sure if you can get the "off" on one extreme of the switch..but this might be more 'practical' to get to quickly than finding the middle. For instance, the lowest selection tends to be less able to be knocked on...while the upper selection is less likely to knock the pup off...just a thought...

I take it that the relative volume of the PUP to Variax can be controlled by the variax controls?

[Yew]

I beleive it should be possible to do

EDIT: just a thought, but you should be able to get series/parallel and both coils individually, ill give it some more thought...

[newey]

MM-

Your scheme will work as intended. Do you insist on an "off" position?

[mattmayfield]

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

To answer some questions:
- Yes, the HB is in the bridge. That's the only place I can fit a regular pickup on this particular guitar.
- I won't usually use blending with the Variax, though they're separate circuits so it could be done. It's mainly a backup pickup for looks, and convenience when practicing, or playing on someone else's (non-VDI equipped) rig.

The goal just to get some useful combination of:
- Different sounds
- Different volumes, requiring full and off, also desiring an in-between

Plus it has to look stock with only 3 pots (the ones already there for the Variax), and not have to custom-make or -order push/pulls with the nonstandard Variax pots. That leaves just the unused half of the 5-way switch.

I hope you find this an interesting puzzle! All your ideas are appreciated.