Nikster Posted December 19, 2006 Report Share Posted December 19, 2006 I'm new to this forum. I just started my first major project. It's a Malmsteen inspired, double neck strat. Not that it matters but unlike the Malmsteen strat, I have the 6 string neck on the top anf the 12 string on the bottom. The body is white and all the hardware is gold. To continue with the "gold" theme I bought 2 sets of 25th Anniversary LACE Sensor pickups. My challenge is that I cannot find a cohesive wiring diagram. I downloaded many of the diagrams from the Fender site for regualr six strings so I have the jist of those set ups. I can't figure out how to configure 2 sets of pickups, one 5-way, 1 vol, 2 tone, and 1 toggle. Let me back up. I did figure out a way based on a post in this forum, using a 3P3T switch, running the 3 hots from the each set of pickups to the 3 poles on the mini switch, but I can't find a gold 3P3T. There was another suggestion of using a super 5way, 2 pole switch like this one; 5 Way Switch Grigsby 2 pole Single Wafer ... and simple toggle switch which is more common. Again there are posts on this board vaguely explaining this set up but they are from 2004 and the attachements have been removed. Any help would greatly be appreciated. Nikster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 Someone here made a fantastic twin neck strat...may have been a GOTM entry or winner... Anyway....I imagine you want to treat each neck as a separate guitar and then take the outputs of each and switch it with a gibson style (gold) three way angled selector (as used in SG's and explorers, etc) so as to select on, both or the other... Make sure you place this selector out of the way though as if you hit it it may turn off the neck you are playing, often they are mounted between the necks and back behind the bridge... Hope that helps and you get some more useful replies as well...good luck... pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikster Posted December 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 Hi Pete, Thank you for your reply. It would be nice to be able to set up 2 indipendant 5-way switches. Not only because the wiring would be easy, but it would be nice to be able to come off the 12 string in the neck postion and go onto the 6 string in the bridge postion for a solo with only one flick of a switch. Unfortunately, I don't have the room in the body cavity for another 5-way and I don't trust myself with a router to create a new cavity. A few things I've read since my original post say that I need to use a 5-way 4 pole from StewMac like this one; 5-way 4 pole Super Switch Of corse, there was no explaination of how to incorporate this switch into a double neck scheme. That would've been too easy. java script:emoticon('', 'smid_4') There is a digram explaining the switch on Stew Mac's website. But not ever having wired a guitar, I can;t realte it to anything. What I can't figure out is this. On a regular 5-way switch for a strat, there are 8 lugs. (1-Bridge, 2-Middle, 3-Neck, 4-Crosses over to 5, 6 is empty, 7 goes to a tone pot and 8 goes to the other tone pot. On these super switches, there are only 5 per pole. So, lugs 1,2 & 3 are obvious (B, M, N). What do you do with the other 2? Or maybe you use 2 poles at a time? I was going to get the guy at my local guitar shop to do the wiring, but I've been reading about guitar wiring for the past 3 days and I think I can do this myself. Obviously, a double-neck is probably not the first wiring project you want to tackle on your own but, now I'm so close. If I can just figure out this super 5 way switch, issue I'm home free. If anyone can put me out of my misery, I'd appreciate it. Nick java script:emoticon('', 'smid_18') (...back to reading more about guitar wiring) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 Someone here made a fantastic twin neck strat...may have been a GOTM entry or winner... Actually, it was a tie. I used a single Stew Mac 5-way superswitch in the traditional strat configuration, one side being the 6-neck and the other side being the 12-neck. Master volume, master tone, and a 3-way toggle switch in place of the 3rd strat knob to switch between the necks (12-both-6). Wire it up just like a regular strat, leaving the toggle last just before the output jack. You could certainly do it with 2 5-way switches and a 3-way toggle as well. Not too different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikster Posted December 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 Someone here made a fantastic twin neck strat...may have been a GOTM entry or winner... Actually, it was a tie. I used a single Stew Mac 5-way superswitch in the traditional strat configuration, one side being the 6-neck and the other side being the 12-neck. Master volume, master tone, and a 3-way toggle switch in place of the 3rd strat knob to switch between the necks (12-both-6). Wire it up just like a regular strat, leaving the toggle last just before the output jack. You could certainly do it with 2 5-way switches and a 3-way toggle as well. Not too different. Fantastic! I never thought of using one 1 master vol and one master tone. Brilliant! Thank you very much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 Good luck with it....and DO post pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikster Posted December 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 Someone here made a fantastic twin neck strat...may have been a GOTM entry or winner... Actually, it was a tie. I used a single Stew Mac 5-way superswitch in the traditional strat configuration, one side being the 6-neck and the other side being the 12-neck. Master volume, master tone, and a 3-way toggle switch in place of the 3rd strat knob to switch between the necks (12-both-6). Wire it up just like a regular strat, leaving the toggle last just before the output jack. You could certainly do it with 2 5-way switches and a 3-way toggle as well. Not too different. I went back to my diagram and I'm confused again. Can you be a bit more specific as to what wires are going to which lug on the switch. I thank you in advance for patience. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 That's right, and it is worth a link to have a look...so here's a LINK The GOTM entries... GOTM March 2005 And the results... GOTM Votes pete ps...this is a preferable scheme I guess than what I was thinking of which were separate controls. The down side is that the selector is working on both necks so it is tricky to go from one pickup setting on one neck to another on the other neck on the fly. Otherwise, a beautiful guitar and well worth reposting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikster Posted December 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 ps...this is a preferable scheme I guess than what I was thinking of which were separate controls. The down side is that the selector is working on both necks so it is tricky to go from one pickup setting on one neck to another on the other neck on the fly. Otherwise, a beautiful guitar and well worth reposting WOW!! What a beautiful guitar! If I wasn't inspired before, I am now. This set up is perfect. 2 sets of pickups, 1 5-way, 1 master vol, 1 master tone, 1 toggle. If I could get the schematic for that, I'd be set. In devloping this thread, I have come to realize that there is some merit to having 2 5-ways to control the 6 and 12 independantly. I think the 2 5-way switches are not as esthetically appealing as having one. So the argument will be functionality over estetics. I'm leaning toward 1 5-way. (If I can get a wiring scheme) The 5-way is close enough to the toggle that switching to different pick-up setting after switching necks shouldn't be an issue. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted December 20, 2006 Report Share Posted December 20, 2006 (edited) It's pretty simple, here's a wiring diagram c/o StewMac, scroll down to the diagram for a 3-single coil strat with master volume & master tone. click here This is where you start. The 3-way toggle goes just before the output jack. If you're using two 5-way switches, then just send the hots from each switch to the 3-way. If you're using the Super Switch, it has two sides to it, each of which functions exactly like a single 5-way switch (literally two 5-ways in one switch). I had thought about a pair of 5-ways like you're thinking, but I didn't want them side by side (switch confusion) and I didn't want one in the center between the string courses (I'd hit it for sure). Edited December 20, 2006 by erikbojerik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Mailloux Posted December 23, 2006 Report Share Posted December 23, 2006 Thanks for the link PSW, it was funny seeing my first bass competing against all the other instruments. I was pretty insulted to only have gotten 7 votes back then but look at the competition, wow! that was a killer month. I remember having as hard time between voting for Erik's double-neck and my own bass too of course I voted for myself I love seeing that spalted double-neck whenever I can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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