Active Pick Ups Wiring

[JPK]

I ask building a les Paul type guitar for a friend, we recently built a guitar he uses with active pick ups which he is requesting again. He already had the pick ups and wiring was just a case of putting it all in. I have found a kit for active pick ups however it's for 2 pick ups only.. he is a start player and likes his single coils, his other guitar has 2 singles and 1hummer, all active. My idea is to give him the hum bucker and the 2 single coils (placed next to each other to maintain. The twin hum bucker look of the les Paul) 3 way toggle to give him option of hum bucker, hum bucker and lowest single coil and finally the single coil in the neck position. Through observing him play I realise h has no need for a middle pick up position or option, he uses the combo of single and hum bucker for certain rhythm parts and switches between hum bucker and neck single for soloing. Wiring is not my strong point in building guitars, if I purchase the kit (which is a solder less kit) what mods can be done so that I can wire the single coils as I individual pickups, and wire the switch to get those selections.... much help needed. Diagrams would be helpful and very much appreciated.

John

[ansil]

are all these pickups active??? if so then its not really a problem the old three pickup lespaul black beautys had a special switch in them that gave you bridge, bridge and middle and neck as the three options. check out the wiring diagram for the three pickup lespauls and you will see what i mean. ciao hope that helps

[curtisa]

Don't think it can be done with a standard LP-style 3 way switch, and to my knowledge the switch used in the Black Beauty is as rare as hens teeth. Could be done using a 3 position/2 wafer rotary switch, but they're not the most user-friendly in a situation where you need to quickly move from one pickup selection to another.

With two single coils side-by-side in the neck position the tonal difference between the two may not be enough to warrant the pickup combinations you've listed.

What about using a splitable active humbucker in the neck position, like the EMG 81TW, and leave one coil permanently disabled (or even switchable on a push-pull pot)? Then you could have [bridge] - [bridge/neck single]-[neck single] on a standard 3-way switch.

[ansil]

well I understand which is quite rare. but I don't understand why you don't think it could be done that way see if that's how the les paul is wired. I mean we're subbing out single coils for hun buckers other than that. hell just go down to your local switchh shop they have stuff like this all the time.

[curtisa]

Maybe the OP needs to clarify a little. My understanding was that it is an LP-style guitar with a bridge humbucker, and two singlecoils in a humbucker route in the neck position, and that the switching was different enough from a standard LP to make it unfeasible with a standard 3-way toggle, ie [bridge humbucker] - [bridge humbucker + neck inner single] - [neck outer single].

I actually agree with you though - the Black Beauty switch you suggested is the best alternative provided it's easy to get a hold of.

If the LP "look" is an issue then my suggestion of the rotary switch may be discounted by the OP based on appearance or practicality.

My other suggestion makes it possible to use a standard 3-way at the expense of losing the automatic swap of the two single coils when changing between the middle and neck positions.

[ansil]

If the switch is the issue. Low voltage Mercury wetted relays are cheap. So is a comparator and a standard lp switch. St the end if the day is probably easier to roll your own though. Like I did on my custom six way strat switch