380L PZ Controls

Vintage, Modern, V & C Series, Signature & Special Editions

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drwinstonoboogiejr
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380L PZ Controls

Post by drwinstonoboogiejr »

Can someone explain how the controls and the two output jacks are supposed to work?

I've seen some stuff on this forum but it doesn't seem to gel with what my guitar is doing.
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jdogric12
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Re: 380L PZ Controls

Post by jdogric12 »

Should be the regular jack sends a mix if you only use that jack. If you plug in two cables, the regular jack sends the electric and the "other" jack (which on most deluxe models would have been Rick O Sound) sends the piezo. And then there is a weird thing you can do where you ONLY plug a cable into the "other" jack and get a mix, but with a darker tone. Is yours not working that way? Here is the old version of the manual, from when it included PZ controls, from the internet wayback machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20040429081 ... ntrols.htm
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jdogric12
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Re: 380L PZ Controls

Post by jdogric12 »

...oh and here is a video I made a few years ago. You can hear the two signals on either side of stereo.



...and the guts...

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doctorwho
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Re: 380L PZ Controls

Post by doctorwho »

IIRC, the 380L PZ I had appeared to have the piezo wired out of phase with the other pickups, so I got better tone when they weren't blended. :shock: :( 8)
It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing. - Seneca
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jdogric12
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Re: 380L PZ Controls

Post by jdogric12 »

I've read before that it's the nature of magnetic and piezo wavelengths to be 90 degrees out of phase. I think JH may have explained that here before, but I can't find it. You don't get the full cancellation of a 180 degree shift, but there is still a significant drop at the midpoint of the 5th knob.
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