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1981 360/12 with odd pickup configuration?
Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 4:52 pm
by akpasta
Hey all,
I have a 1981 360/12 with toaster pickups, (all original as far as I know). I'm a big fan of having the pickup selector in the middle position and using the fifth knob to blend both pickups to my liking, it's like the ultimate "tone" knob. But I noticed something odd the other day:
When I have the neck pickup selected, the blend knob still seems to alter the sound somehow, whereas on the bridge pickup it doesn't have any effect at all. I assumed the blend knob was only supposed to work when both pickups were selected.
Could I have something going on under the hood??
Yhanks!
Re: 1981 360/12 with odd pickup configuration?
Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 8:23 pm
by jps
akpasta wrote:Hey all,
I have a 1981 360/12 with toaster pickups, (all original as far as I know). I'm a big fan of having the pickup selector in the middle position and using the fifth knob to blend both pickups to my liking, it's like the ultimate "tone" knob. But I noticed something odd the other day:
When I have the neck pickup selected, the blend knob still seems to alter the sound somehow, whereas on the bridge pickup it doesn't have any effect at all. I assumed the blend knob was only supposed to work when both pickups were selected.
Could I have something going on under the hood??
Yhanks!
The 5th knob is a second volume control for the neck pickup, but without the third lug grounded as on a normal volume control. It will lower the volume of that pickup, just not all the way to 0.
Re: 1981 360/12 with odd pickup configuration?
Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 8:26 pm
by akpasta
jps wrote:akpasta wrote:Hey all,
I have a 1981 360/12 with toaster pickups, (all original as far as I know). I'm a big fan of having the pickup selector in the middle position and using the fifth knob to blend both pickups to my liking, it's like the ultimate "tone" knob. But I noticed something odd the other day:
When I have the neck pickup selected, the blend knob still seems to alter the sound somehow, whereas on the bridge pickup it doesn't have any effect at all. I assumed the blend knob was only supposed to work when both pickups were selected.
Could I have something going on under the hood??
Yhanks!
The 5th knob is a second volume control for the neck pickup, but without the third lug grounded as on a normal volume control. It will lower the volume of that pickup, just not all the way to 0.
Ooooooh I get it. So it’s not a blend exactly. So does that in in the middle position the bridge pickup is always on?
Re: 1981 360/12 with odd pickup configuration?
Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2020 2:00 am
by jps
Yes, the controls that have an effect on the bridge pickup are the selector switch and the volume and tone controls for the bridge pickup. The blend knob does nothing in the treble circuit at all. Basically, you are changing the volume of the neck pickup in relation to the bridge pickup with the blend control, pretty much just like using volume control to do so, the only difference being that the blend knob is wired in-circuit backwards, that's what screws people up in figuring out how it works.