The Steel Guitar Forum

what is the advantage of two bridge pickups and
how are thay wired?

The advantage to as a builder is that I can have a slightly wider string spacing.

I dont know how they are wired though but I will be building one sometime in the next 3 months (2 P90 bridge pickups) so I will need to find out.

I don't know about the others, but, the Stringmasters were in series with a 250K ohm pot between them. By adjusting the pot, one could alter the tonal balance of the pickups. Fully closed, they only used one pickup- the one closest to the bridge, open both of them, in between, more of- the one closer to the bridge.

Jim

What Jim said, plus the fact that they were wired "north-to south" so as you dialed in the neck pickup, it went from a single coil to a humbucker.

thanks guys. building my second laptop. may be a good
idea to build two pickups. (can't hurt)

If I was building a steel, I would definately go for two pickups. The only disadvantage (that I've read, not heard or felt) is that another pickup adds magnetism which inhibits sustain.

Dual pickups are a great option that can add a ton of fun to a guitars sonic palate.

While in theory a second pickup could dampen sustain, my experience is much like James's.
Typically a neck / second pickup will be built and wound a little weaker and is typically adjusted a little farther away from the strings to compensate for the inherent extra volume from a second / neck pickup.
As such, string pull from a neck / second pickup can actually be less than some bridge pickups.

If you use the Stringmaster setup, you can shut off the second pickup if you want to, as Candide said, "the best of both possible worlds". Jim