Possiabilitys With A 3 Way And 1 Pickup

[Daniel Sorbera]

Okay on my current project I decided to have just a bridge pickup. I came up with this after I drilled the hole for the 3 way pickup switch...

So what can I do with the 3 way switch with one pickup?

Here is idealy what I wan't.

up, one coil

middle, both coils parralell

down, both coils series

Basicly like this but imagine that "neck" means the top coil and "bridge" means the bottom coil. leaving out the 2 and 5 posistions.

Is there any way I can wire up the 3 way to do this? Mabye with the addition of a mini switch or whatever it takes...

Or is there anything else that uses a 1/2" mounting hole? Does bigDs varitone use a 1/2" mounting hole? It would be cool to get one of those...

Edited September 28, 2005 by Godin SD

[thegarehanman]

you could wire it up simular to big d's varitone. Basically have it switch between 3 different cap values for your tone pot(or no tone pot, doesn't matter). I think that would be preferable as it would stay clear of using just one coil. I only say that because I'm partial to humbuckers.

[marksound]

Why not just stick a BigD varitone in there and call it even?

[ansil]

i got it drawn for you got to upload right now

done only with a three way

hmm you know after re reading the post and seeing the lack of saying a gibson three way switch. when you showed a fender type schematic automaticly makes my brain think blade style switch. so my diagram works exactly as you asked it too. but since i didint' see you said a 1/2" hole and you didn't state what type of switch it may not be as much help as i hoped.

of course you can canibalize a standard gibson switch and modify it to do what you need but that would be something i would have to charge for as it took me many hours to figure out how much to shave off to get it to me a mutli multi pole siwthc

ed

oh yeah forgot

pos 3 is the humbucker in series. with one coil connected to ground and the otther connected to hot with the series link not grounded.

pos 2 has the series link as the output with the second coil grounded.

which makes it parrallel

pos 1 has the series link grounded and the top coil to the output..

Edited September 28, 2005 by ansil

[thegarehanman]

valid point, a hole's a hole...if it's the right size. i imagine he want's to be the magic behind his own wiring though. it's not like the "varitone" concept hasn't been done before. Infact, hisock mentions it in "how to build your own guitar," I believe.

[JoeAArthur]

pos 2 has the series link as the output with the second coil grounded.

which makes it parrallel

←

Hmm... sure it's in parallel... but aren't the coils also out of phase?

[ansil]

pos 2 has the series link as the output with the second coil grounded.

which makes it parrallel

←

Hmm... sure it's in parallel... but aren't the coils also out of phase?

←

true.. but then again.. it wasn't specified. and we are talking about a simple switch.. but i am open minded if you have a better one. please post as it willhelp out the electronics comunity. hmm you know thats a good idea what if we talked to the mods to get them to put all the diagrams on one page

[Daniel Sorbera]

Okay the varitone would be cool except it looks to deep. I'm dealing with a guitar thats an inch thick so I can't have something huge in there. I can't even put a fender style blade switch.

I'm thinking mabye I'll figure out a way to wire it up to change the tone like a varitone.

Edited September 28, 2005 by Godin SD

[JoeAArthur]

pos 2 has the series link as the output with the second coil grounded.

which makes it parrallel

←

Hmm... sure it's in parallel... but aren't the coils also out of phase?

←

true.. but then again.. it wasn't specified. and we are talking about a simple switch.. but i am open minded if you have a better one. please post as it willhelp out the electronics comunity. hmm you know thats a good idea what if we talked to the mods to get them to put all the diagrams on one page

←

Ansil... by any chance do you work in IT?

This is a schematic and not a pictorial - no pictorial because the range of switches that can be used is somewhat huge. The switch is shown in the "single coil" position. Middle is parallel in-phase, bottom is series... in-phase.

Godin SD... if you are really strapped for depth room, this can be implemented using a two-pole "on-on-on" mini-toggle switch. It was either Ibanez or some other Japanese manufacturer that used one of these switches for each pickup... I think they call it a "Tri-tone" switch.

By the way, a varitone, being a multi-position mid-cut type of tone control, is not mutually exclusive to switching the coils of a humbucker - they both can be used together if that is your desire... and you have the body depth.

[Daniel Sorbera]

Thanks for that schematic joe.

Edited September 29, 2005 by Godin SD

[Daniel Sorbera]

So basicly this would work but what kind of switch is that (if it even exists).

Will this work? What would a switch like that be called and where would I start looking for one? Do you see another way I could do this same thing with another less weird switch?

If I used a regular DPDT switch wouldn't both coils be in parrallel when the switch is up because pin four is mated to pin five? You said that you could use a on-on-on switch but I don't see how that would work...

Edited September 29, 2005 by Godin SD

[thegarehanman]

I haven't seen a switch like that. That definitely doesn't mean it doesn't exist. If it doesn't, you could definitely find a rotary switch that suits your needs. A rotary switch should easily fit in thin guitar. That would mean another knob though.

[Daniel Sorbera]

A rotary would be fine. I don't really care if thers another knob or switch or what... Can you point me in the direction of one that might work for this?

I've been searching mouser but there is so many and it's really hard to find what your looking for if you don't know exatly what it's called.

Edited September 29, 2005 by Godin SD

[Daniel Sorbera]

Okay I think I got one that might work.

link (.pdf watch out)

Notice that it only has three posistions, that last one isint on the switch I was looking at.

I'm prety sure this thing is what I'm looking for.

And best of all it will fit in my cavity nicely.

(and yes it does mount the way I need it, it's not a PCB mount one...)

It has a 1/4" hole needed but I figure I'll fill the hole I already drilled with a dowell and re-drill 1/4" and the knob will cover up the looks of the dowell.

Edited September 29, 2005 by Godin SD

[thegarehanman]

I couldn't quite make out the specs from the data sheet. This one will definitely work with that schematic you posted:

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/se...roductId=101557

[Daniel Sorbera]

Well alrighty. Thanks for the link.

Only one problem. Will it fit in my body depth wise? Is there somewhere I can see the specs of that swtich?

BTW thanks for all the help thegarehanman

Edited September 29, 2005 by Godin SD

[thegarehanman]

I have one right here, it's in my neck thru hollow body. If you can wait until saturday, I'll take it out and measure it for you. I don't think it sticks out any more than 3/4" from the inside of the top.

peace,

russ

[Daniel Sorbera]

I won't be needing the switch for a couple of weeks so that would be fine.

Thank you so much. You have really helped me here.

[frank falbo]

I don't see the need for a rotary. I think you could do some cool things with a regular LP switch. You could easily modify a LP 3-pickup switch to do what you wanted to do in your first post. Pre-set filters like the varitone are very cool, but I find them more useful on multiple pickup guitars, as is Lucille. If I only had a bridge pickup, I would use the switch to choose the coils and/or series/parallel wiring. I'm sure there's a way to do that with a 3-pup LP switch.

EDIT: Actually a rotary is a cool idea, but I would try to find a 5 or 6 way rotary, like the PRS ones. That way you could really explore all the possibilities of the coils, while still having some Varitone positions.

Edited September 29, 2005 by frank falbo

[thegarehanman]

That company has rotary switches with as many as 12 positions. The problem with more positions is that you start to lose how many poles are available(at least in a rotary). Here's a list of what they have as far as rotary goes:

1P12T

2P6T

3P4T

4P3T

It doesn't matter which one you use as far as size goes. They're all based off of the same frame, only difference is their guts. I'll take the measurements of the one I have when I get a chance.

[thegarehanman]

Here's an idea for a 2p6t rotary. It gives you 3 different capacitor values(I put in arbitrary values, they could be whatever uf you want), and either parrelel or split wiring with each cap value. You could even switch out one of the capacitors for a ground signal to incorporate a kill switch into your circuit.

[frank falbo]

And whtever the depth, it looks like you can bend the tabs back to 90 degrees if you need a little more room. Then just be clean with the solder so it lays flat.

[thegarehanman]

I thought about that. Bending the outside tabs would be problem free, but there are inside tabs(how many depends on how many positions the switch has) which might not solder too well if bent too much.

[lovekraft]

In re:the original post - take a look here - http://guitarelectronics.zoovy.com/categor...ckerwiringmods/

Right-hand column, fourth from the top - and that's a standard guitar mini-toggle DPDT On-On-On, so you shouldn't have any clearance issues or problems getting one. It ain't near as fancy as a rotary switch, but it gets you the choices you originally asked for in a small space with no heroic measures. HTH

[Daniel Sorbera]

Thanks for the link lovekraft. But the more I think about it the more I really want a rotary switch in there.

Also the problem is I already have a 1/2" hole in there and that litttle mini switch wouldn't cover up the dowell if I filled and re-drilled. But a knob from a rotary switch would cover it up.

Edited September 29, 2005 by Godin SD