My Jag Mod

[DarkAvenger]

This is how I wired my Jag, I'd like to explain the theory of the binary switches a bit. Before that, you should know WHY I like this setup and what is special about it. With this setup in OoP, I can get huge bass on the lower strings OVER a really really nice trebble on the high strings- both ends come out crisp and clear. SO many tonal options and I find I actually use all of them. Also this might sound weird, but I have this lick I wrote that has never really sounded right except when I play it on THIS guitar or my cheapy nylon acoustic. PLUS, I can ditch OoP and go back to either or both regular pickups. One of the biggest reasons this setup works so well is my neck pickup is a nice warm low output and my bridge pickup is super high output, more for grungey?

On to the actual setup

The top switch on the jag is the neck on/off, with a vol/tone next to it

The bottom three switches control the bridge: on/off, series/parallel, coiltap and vol/tone

The complicated:

First, you have 2 on-or-off switches for two pickups(I have humbuckers) Normally, you might have a spot when both switches are off, no signal is reaching the amp. By doing a little bit of rerouting of the grounding(careful of vol/tone), you can be left with 2 pickups where both or either are on and sound normal, but when BOTH switches are in the off position, they will become out of phase with each other.

Grounding Routing

pup1 on; pup2 off

pup1 (+Jack) (-ground)

pup2 (+disconnected) (-Jack ,no signal to jack/no ground)

pup1 off; pup2 on

pup1 (+disconnect [at pup2 selector]) (-ground)

pup2 (+jack) (-ground)

For the interesting one

pup1 off; pup2 off

pup1 (+ goes to pup2 +) (-ground)

pup2 (+ goes to pup1 +) (-jack)

Since being out of phase means the two signals from each pickup are being partially cancelled out by each other, having a coil tap and series parallel just in the bridge opens up a lot of variation by changing how much of the signal is being cancelled out. Having both in series while out of phase produces a weak fender-like twang because most of the signal is cancelled (like cancels like). But having a series humbucker in the neck and a single coil in the bridge produces a warmer but still twangy sound.

See diagrams below

Feedback much appreciated!

Edited July 13, 2011 by DarkAvenger

[DarkAvenger]

I use Seymour Duncan color code, sorry its a bit hard to read. If I was going to change anything, I might change a the neck volume to a dail-a-tap