Can This Wiring Be Done?

[Lotza_Noize]

I have an H-H-H pickup configuration and my question is about how to wire these to the picture shown.

5-Way Super Switch selector. Plus 2 switches on the face (I will explain what each one does in a moment)

I want to have the neck humbucker and the middle (single coil humbucker) to 1 volume and 1 tone pot. And I want the bridge to be connected to just 1 single volume pot without any tone pot (3 pots total).

Now check out the picture.

You will notice that the 2nd, 3rd & the 4th position can be "out of phased" (On/Off for Switch #1). Also you will notice the lower section has the neck and the bridge humbuckers coil tapped (On/Off for Switch #2).

Seems real simple in concept to me. But it's real difficult to wire up.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Anyone have any idea on how to achieve this type of wiring configuration? Or am I just crazy for thinking this kind of $#!+ up?

[Ripthorn]

Just some quick observations:

1) you can't get 2, 3, and 4 in your first diagram all out of phase with a single switch, you will need at least two.

2) you will need a superswitch to do the switching, since the traditional 5-way blade switch really only has three unique positions with position 2 simply bridging contacts 1 and 2 and position 4 bridging contacts 2 and 3.

3) you can't get all your coil tapping options as shown in the second portion with a single switch, unless you get creative with a 4 pole superswitch.

Other than that, you should be able to manage. I'm sure others will chime in as to the specifics.

[Lotza_Noize]

Correction there is a 5-way super switch (Now fixed in original post).

[Lotza_Noize]

Just some quick observations:

1) you can't get 2, 3, and 4 in your first diagram all out of phase with a single switch, you will need at least two.

Do you mean have the 1st switch reverse the polls on the neck and 2nd switch reverse the polls on the bridge?

[Ripthorn]

Just some quick observations:

1) you can't get 2, 3, and 4 in your first diagram all out of phase with a single switch, you will need at least two.

Do you mean have the 1st switch reverse the polls on the neck and 2nd switch reverse the polls on the bridge?

That's right, because you don't have one pickup common to all three positions, so you can't do it with just one switch. Even if you used one switch to reverse two pickups' polarity, then there would be at least one position where they will be together and in phase. So you would have to have two switches to switch out the phase.

The coil splitting portion also requires the superswitch since you are changing which coil will be engaged as you change positions. Is there a reason to not select just one of the neck pickup coils for all positions? That would probably make this much easier. However, what you have should be possible, I just don't have the time right now to work it out (two little kids running around wreaking havoc and all).

[JohnH]

I reckon its all possible. the key to getting all the phasing to happen on one switch is to note that you never wish to have more than two pickups at a time. So, use the superswitch to select any two pickups

Pickup1 Pickup2

Neck none

Neck Middle

Neck Bridge

Middle Bridge

none Bridge

One pair of switch poles select pickup1, one pair selects pickup2. In each pair, one pole selects the ground side, the other the hot side of the humbucker or single-coil middle.

So you end up with not three but two virtual pickups. Put the phase switch on 'pickup2'

For coil cuts, use a dpdt to connect the series links in the centre of the humbucker coils to actual ground for the bridge pup and to the cold side of the neck pickup (ie where it usually is grounded. Now, to get position 3, select the neck and bridge pickups in reverse - hot to ground and cold to output. Due to the above coil cuts, the bridge coil slected will reverse but the neck single coil will remain. Both puops are reverse phase so overall phase is OK.

Youll get phasing in all settings of two pickups. Also,if you select bridge only and pull the phase switch,you get to hear the other bridge coil.

What Im talking about is similar to this HSS design:

http://guitarnuts2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=schem&action=display&thread=5624

You only need to change a single coil neck to a humbucker, and use the other half of the coil-cut switch as above to get your result. My design also has overall series/parallel, which you could omit.

John

Edited May 6, 2011 by JohnH

[JohnH]

just on my post above - I cant seem to edit it today. The last part about coil cutting, I got the B and N wrong way round when I was talking about which centre connection gets grounded to where, since I see it is the neck pup that you want to have different coils cut to. I hope its almost clear - but the theory should be OK!

J

[Lotza_Noize]

Thanks to eveyone. That may work. I will give to the luther.

[ansil]

now seeing as i don't have access to a mega switch but have seen the top wiring diagram before then yes its quite possible depending on a few factors.

one if you have access to a multipole three way switch that is off in center then you can accomplish this quite easily assuming you use the coil closest to the neck as your lead coil on the coil cut switch ie not coil tap because that is the wrong terminology. for you to have a coil tap you would need a multi layer pickup coil with separate [taps] on it for you to choose from. [sorry i am a stickler for details] now if you use the coil furthest from the bridge as your leading coil as well then the whole thing goes off without a hitch with a single flick of this switch till you get to the middle position then you would need to flick the switch in the opposite direction which would keep the original coil cut idea but it would reverse the hot and ground wires on your neck pickup so that it would give you your wiring diagram as you see it. other than that. i would recommend designing a switch to do this for you. it is possible to add more wafers to a switch if your willing to go through that kind of hassle it was well worth it for my five way to a six way switch mod. at least for me it was.

btw they carry some bizare switches at my local shop in Chattanooga and they can be quite expensive so as always YMMV.

Edited December 1, 2011 by ansil