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Posted

Hi I've been making some alterations to the setup on my strat. This has brought about some unexpected effects and if there's anyone out there who's good at this kind of thing it would be great if you could let me know what I've done wrong and how I put it right. The diagram is below. (If it doesn't show and you think you can help I'll be happy to Email it to you)

Switch S1 puts the Middle & Neck pickups in series by routing the neg of the neck from ground (Standard parallel setting) instead to the hot of the Middle pickup (Series setting).

switch s2 reverses the phase of the bridge pickup by routing the hot out and neg out of the pickup to (respectively) a hot out/ ground (normal phase) or ground/hot out (reverse phase)

Switch S3 is a coil tap. it optionally connects the link wire between the 2 coils on the humbucker to ground, shorting one of the coils.

Switch S4 is the 'bridge pickup always on' switch. It takes the hot out which has come from S2 and routes it to either the Bridge lug on the 5way selector (normal setting) or to the output of the 5 way (always on).

The problem is that S4 has the hot routed always to the output lug no matter what it is switched to (multimeter shows no resistance between the opposing connectors on the switch)

Also, when S2 is switched to reverse phase there is no output from the guitar at all.

Thanks for looking. This setup could be really cool if I get it to work!

wiring.jpg

Posted

I'm not sure I understand the 'BMN Out' part of your diagram.. What sort of switch are you using there? The usual 3-way blade switches or something else? There's always a chance that I'm wrong (too much work, too little sleep, too much beer :D ) but the diagram looks as if it should be working as you planned so I'm a little suspicious of the BMN switching..

Other possible trouble areas would be your solder joints and the switches (S1-4) themselves.. I'm just speculating, but either S2 or S4 could be busted, though to have both die on you is rather unlikely..

Hope this helps some..

Posted

First, S2 and S3 are interactive, and not in a good way - if you engage both, you ground out the whole pickup, and kill the whole guitar if S4 is engaged. And if S4 doesn't change anything, unsolder it and check it with a multimeter - it's most likely not working the way you expect it to. Also, I'm completely unfamiliar with any 5-way selector switch that wires or looks anything like the one you're showing - what kind is it? I think you can fix everything, I'm just gonna need a little more info if I'm gonna be any help.

Posted

To Clarify, the BMN switch is the standard 5 way pickup selector switch. The bits noted BMN are the bridge, middle and Neck lugs respectively. The OUT is the output of the pickup selector, going to the volume knob.

Posted

To Clarify, the BMN switch is the standard 5 way pickup selector switch. The bits noted BMN are the bridge, middle and Neck lugs respectively. The OUT is the output of the pickup selector, going to the volume knob.

Does S2 ground the pickup? I thought routing the + end of pickup to ground and the +end of pickup to the output would just reverse the phase?

Posted

I think what Lovekraft means is that when you flip both S2 and S3, you'll basically turn off the bridge pickup.. S2 and S3 alone are ok, they just give a 'side effect' of sorts when you turn 'em both on.. Incidentally, this could be the cause of the guitar going dead when you engage S2.. Don't know why it didn't occur to me before..

As for the S4 problem, it sounds to me like it's the switch itself (S4) that's a problem given that the 5-way switch sounds pretty much ok.. Like Lovekraft suggested, test the switch itself with your multimeter and see what you get.. I've gotten faulty switches myself so this isn't all that uncommon.. All the best!!

Posted
Does S2 ground the pickup? I thought routing the + end of pickup to ground and the [-]end of pickup to the output would just reverse the phase?

That's correct, but the coil-split (S3) is moving your ground point...

Try rewiring S3 as follows:

1 (top terminal in pic) - Ground wire from humbucker

2 (middle terminal) - #1 terminal from S2 (top left in pic)

3 (bottom terminal) - Center wire from humbucker

That should take care of your bridge pickup - temporarily take out S1 and S4, and make sure it's all working.

S1 should work OK in the neck only position - in the middle and middle+neck positions, it looks like it shorts out the neck pickup when it's engaged. Not a problem so long as you're aware of it and prepared to work around it.

For S4, I'd use a SPST switch to bypass at the selector switch and connect the bridge pickup directly to the volume pot from the selector switch bridge lug (top left, marked B in your pic). It's simpler, easier to troubleshoot, and it eliminates running the whole bridge signal through another switch. HTH - let us know if you have further problems, or if any of that wasn't clear enough.

Posted

Not sure about that last bit. I thought switch S4 did just that anyway? ie Bypassing the selector switch and sending the bridge pickup straight to the volume knob (or in the case the output lug of the 5 way, which goes to the volume knob anyway) Have I got that wrong?

And as for S1, is there a way I can wire it so that I can have the Neck & Middle in series without shorting anything?

And on S3, the - wire which goes to #1 terminal in S2 IS the ground wire. The humbucker has only a ground, a link wire and the hot output. I can't find the start wire of the 1st pickup. Is this a problem? Given this, if I wire S3 as suggested the coil will be permanently grounded will it not?

Thanks loads for your help so far , by the way.

Posted
Not sure about that last bit. I thought switch S4 did just that anyway? ie Bypassing the selector switch and sending the bridge pickup straight to the volume knob (or in the case the output lug of the 5 way, which goes to the volume knob anyway) Have I got that wrong?
No, it's just unnecessarily complex, and more prone to failure - it will work, it's just easier (and more robust) to do it another way. If you like it the way it is, leave it - I have this built-in "failure-mode analysis" fetish from growing up around engineers, so I try to simplify and reinforce everything, perhaps beyond what's necessary.

And as for S1, is there a way I can wire it so that I can have the Neck & Middle in series without shorting anything?
As I said, it's not a problem - you'll just have to remember that the series switch can only be used in the neck only position of the selector switch. That's one of the problems with using a tricky wiring setup, you'll have to remember how it works. B) You're using the simplest method I can think of - so long as you remember how it works, it's the best electrical solution available, so I wouldn't mess with it further.

And on S3, the - wire which goes to #1 terminal in S2 IS the ground wire. The humbucker has only a ground, a link wire and the hot output. I can't find the start wire of the 1st pickup. Is this a problem? Given this, if I wire S3 as suggested the coil will be permanently grounded will it not?
That's my mistake - I should have told you to disconnect the wire currently on S2/terminal 1 before starting, but I assumed that you'd just move it to S3/terminal 1, and didn't make my intentions clear. See if this is easier to follow:

Try rewiring S3 as follows:

1 (top terminal in pic) - Ground wire from humbucker (remove from S2/top left)

2 (middle terminal) - #1 terminal from S2 (top left in pic)

3 (bottom terminal) - link wire from humbucker

I hope that's less confusing - sorry 'bout dat! :D

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