A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

I have an electrical question that stems from a bridge issue I have on my LTD EC-1000 Deluxe. The saddles on the TOM bridge are worn out, especially on the 6th string, where there's basically 2 notches. I looked into replacement saddles such as these from graphtech: https://graphtech.com/products/ss-saddl ... 4980546593, but I'm also considering replacing the bridge for either a roller saddle bridge or a piezo acoustic pickup bridge.

I've been wanting to have an electric guitar with a piezo pickup for a while, but the main options are almost $200 and I never pulled the trigger. Looking at replacement bridges, I found this one for $37, which is low enough to make me want to try it: https://www.amazon.com/KAISH-Matic-Guit ... B1XW6&th=1

If I get this bridge, I want to wire it to a stereo jack so I can use a splitter to utilize 2 different wireless transmitters: one for the passive humbuckers, and one for the piezo pickup so that my Axe FX can process them separately. My electrical question is this: If I wire the humbuckers' hot lead to the tip and the piezo's hot lead to the ring of the stereo jack, if I use a mono jack when I only want electric guitar, would I be grounding out the piezo, effectively muting it? I believe that is how it would work, but I want some confirmation from you guys. See the picture of a mono input into a stereo jack below for reference.

My 100th post on this new site will be a pic of the guitar this is for...

Your thinking is correct in that a mono plug would ground out the piezo output, not that you need to ground it.
I guess my question is do you have a wireless transmitter with a stereo plug that understands there are different pickups connected to the tip and to the ring?

You are correct. I would probably lean towards a switch rather than a stereo jack unless you think you will use the piezo and regular pickup simultaneously to different amps/devices.

mickey wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 2:39 pm Your thinking is correct in that a mono plug would ground out the piezo output, not that you need to ground it.
I guess my question is do you have a wireless transmitter with a stereo plug that understands there are different pickups connected to the tip and to the ring?

I guess I worried that you'd somehow get the sum of both the piezo and humbuckers, which would be undesirable. I like the idea of having the ability to do a complicated dual setup while still having the ability to just plug in a mono cable and it working like normal.

I would plan on using something like this for starters: https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-YPP-117-Ste ... 162&sr=8-4
Once the concept is proven, I'd take two mono cables that came with the wireless units that I never use because they're straight plugs instead of right angle, chopping off the plugs, and combining the two onto a single right angle.
I would use 2 different wireless body packs on different channels. One would go into Input 1 on my Axe FX II XL+ like it does normally. The 2nd wireless system would go into Input 2. I'd make a patch that has Input 1 going through a typical electric signal chain that I use and have Input 2 go through the IR and blocks I use with my acoustic patch. I'd then use one of my 2 expression pedals on my board to either seamlessly switch between the two or even blend the two together.

Having a switch on the guitar would require switching on the guitar AND on my Axe FX, either require drilling into the guitar for micro switch or adding a 3rd DPDT pot, AND I wouldn't be able to blend the two, or if I did have a blend pot, both signals would have to get processed the same.

I have 4 transmitters and only use 3 guitars per show. I also have an extra receiver since I could get a opened box bundle for the same price as a new transmitter by itself when I was buying an extra body pack.

If I do get this bridge and it works well, I might take out the tone knob and make it a volume pot for the piezo. I rarely use the tone pot, but I never like the idea of having a guitar without having one.

Ok, I'm with you now. We are on the same page in the Hymnal.
That will do what you are looking for.

With it you are only connecting to the tip or the ring of the plug & do not need to be concerned with the pickups you are not connected to.

mickey wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 5:49 pm Ok, I'm with you now. We are on the same page in the Hymnal.

Tip-RingBreakout.jpg

That will do what you are looking for.

With it you are only connecting to the tip or the ring of the plug & do not need to be concerned with the pickups you are not connected to.

Exactly! I know it's a little complicated, but my digital setup makes it pretty easy once I do the initial work. And the beauty of it is that you can still plug it into a normal rig and it should work like a normal electric guitar like it does today.

Now, I have to make sure the bridge will actually fit...

Thanks for the help! Just to be sure I have the bridge measured correctly, this is close enough, right? I put my calipers to the measurements called out on the listed bridge and put them up to the current bridge. The bridge on Amazon says 74mm post distance center-to-center with a string spacing of 10.4mm. This looks right, right? If it was different, it would be pretty noticeable, right?

https://www.amazon.com/KAISH-Matic-Guit ... B1XW6&th=1

Also, I'm realizing that I'm going to have to drill a hole into the guitar below the bridge and into the bridge pickup cavity. If anyone has advice on that, I would appreciate that.

RockYoWorld wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 6:25 pm Also, I'm realizing that I'm going to have to drill a hole into the guitar below the bridge and into the bridge pickup cavity. If anyone has advice on that, I would appreciate that.

Don't you already have one (with a ground wire running thru it?)

mickey wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 6:31 pm

RockYoWorld wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 6:25 pm Also, I'm realizing that I'm going to have to drill a hole into the guitar below the bridge and into the bridge pickup cavity. If anyone has advice on that, I would appreciate that.

Don't you already have one (with a ground wire running thru it?)

It gets shoved into the post hole from the underside, bare wire shown. I can't put the pickup lead through there, can I?

RockYoWorld wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 7:28 pm

mickey wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 6:31 pm

RockYoWorld wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 6:25 pm Also, I'm realizing that I'm going to have to drill a hole into the guitar below the bridge and into the bridge pickup cavity. If anyone has advice on that, I would appreciate that.

Don't you already have one (with a ground wire running thru it?)

It gets shoved into the post hole from the underside, bare wire shown. I can't put the pickup lead through there, can I?

It doesn't sound like a good idea.

I’d cut a small notch in the pickup ring and run the piezo lead into the bridge pickup cavity and into the control cavity.