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National Triolian – Fishman Resophonic/Lipstick pickup rewiring
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National Triolian – Fishman Resophonic/Lipstick pickup rewiring
Hey everyone. I’m trying to figure out a wiring scheme for a modded National Triolian resonator guitar. It has a Fishman Resophonic end pin jack pickup (link to that is below) as well as a lipstick pickup that was installed along with a three way switch, and two potentiometers.
Essentially what I’d like to do is wire it so there is one volume control for the lipstick pickup, one volume for the piezo, and the three way switch controls each pickup in the up and down position, with the middle position being both.
The main question is whether or not the wiring diagram that I came up is correct?
Thanks!
-David
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4 Replies
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Here’s some reference files that may be helpful:
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Hey David
Usually, connecting piezo and magnetic pickups gives a pretty poor result. Piezo pickups are usually ultra-high impedance while the magnetic pickups are lower and the two tend not to mix well.
Usually it’s recommended to use something like the Fishman PowerChip (https://www.fishman.com/portfolio/powerchip/) to bring the piezo impedance and output to levels that match the magnetic pickup and then blend the two signals. It MIGHT be possible to use the Fishman endpin preamp to do that (I’ve never seen it done like that) but I don’t think the way you have it drawn is a runner for a couple of reasons (one being a mistake in the wiring — that ground wire from the piezo volume pot shouldn’t join the switch wire).
That wiring issue aside, what you’re attempting with your diagram is to mix the two mismatched signals and THEN send the combined signal through the preamp. That will probably just boost the mismatch. If things were to work with this particular hardware, you’d probably want to send the piezo through the preamp on its own first and then mix the preamp output with the magnetic signal. That’d mean this endpin preamp became an ‘internal’ component, used only for the wiring and you’d need a completely separate output jack to output the signal and act as a power switch (which would need to be integrated into the preamp/’internal’ jack). Not sure if this will work (it feels like it might) but, if it does it’s going to be very messy.
Have a look at the instructions for the PowerChip to get a feel for what’s involved in its installation. There are other options out there too (GraphTech Ghost is one). If the budget stretches, I recommend going with something like those.
fishman.com
Powerchip Piezo Volume Control Onboard Accessory | Fishman
With Fishman Powerchip Piezo Volume Control makes it possible to mis the signal from your Powerbridge with the magnetic pickups in your guitar.
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Oh wow! Look at what Gerry found, that’s cool. You’d have to experiment though…
But yes, combining a powered Piezo with a regular magnetic pickup is not feasible. I discussed this with Doug Proper yesterday. Your only option is 2 separate outputs going into some kind of blending device or 2 separate amps. The electrical engineers at Taylor did get pretty close with a crazy printed circuit board preamp but the project was scrapped after almost a year of trying to make it work.
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Thanks for the advice guys! Yeah this is potentially a bit of a mess but I’ll discuss these options with the customer. One thought I had is since there are already 3 holes drilled in the top, I think I’m going to ask the customer what he thinks about having the lipstick pickup get its own electronics top mounted, basically a volume, tone, and output jack, and then if he wants the piezo, he can plug into the end pin jack. I think this might get him most of the way there without having to gut the electronics and start from scratch. I’ll see what he thinks and get back…
-David
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