Telecaster Guitar Forum - View Single Post - A Signal Injector for Pickups Without Strings Installed

tdowns · July 3rd, 2009, 02:05 AM

I have been planning this project for a while and finally had free time today to put it together (my 4 day weekend).

This device can inject a signal into the face of a guitar pickup without strings installed.

There have been many times I have wired a guitar from scratch, made a modification, or performed a repair. After putting the guitar back together, I find that I have overlooked something or made a mistake. A Telecaster has a control cavity so most problems can be resolved without removing the pickguard or strings. I really hate it when I work on a Strat, get all the strings installed, and find out I have a wiring problem and need to take it back apart. One method I used for years is to take a screwdriver and tap on the pickup you are testing to see if the switch and volume controls work. This works OK, but the "thud" created by tapping the pickup with a screwdriver is a very low frequency signal. This sound is about the same with the tone control at any position, so it's not the best source for testing the tone control operation.

The AWESOME mellecaster had a great innovation here, which is a tensioned string that can be plucked over a pickup under test.

I decided to go electronic with the concept. The nitty gritty details are on

T's Technical Notes - A Pickup Signal Injector

Here is a video demo. I apologize for the poor quality. This was uploaded to YouTube directly from my Blackberry.

July 3rd, 2009, 02:05 AM	#1 (permalink)
tdowns Friend of Leo's Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Wylie, TX US Posts: 3,108	A Signal Injector for Pickups Without Strings Installed I have been planning this project for a while and finally had free time today to put it together (my 4 day weekend). This device can inject a signal into the face of a guitar pickup without strings installed. There have been many times I have wired a guitar from scratch, made a modification, or performed a repair. After putting the guitar back together, I find that I have overlooked something or made a mistake. A Telecaster has a control cavity so most problems can be resolved without removing the pickguard or strings. I really hate it when I work on a Strat, get all the strings installed, and find out I have a wiring problem and need to take it back apart. One method I used for years is to take a screwdriver and tap on the pickup you are testing to see if the switch and volume controls work. This works OK, but the "thud" created by tapping the pickup with a screwdriver is a very low frequency signal. This sound is about the same with the tone control at any position, so it's not the best source for testing the tone control operation. The AWESOME mellecaster had a great innovation here, which is a tensioned string that can be plucked over a pickup under test. I decided to go electronic with the concept. The nitty gritty details are on T's Technical Notes - A Pickup Signal Injector Here is a video demo. I apologize for the poor quality. This was uploaded to YouTube directly from my Blackberry. __________________ Best regards, Terry Downs http://terrydownsmusic.com Equine quadrupeds may be coaxed to the reference of specific gravity but may not be compelled to imbibe thereof. Last edited by tdowns; July 3rd, 2009 at 03:05 AM.