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Double-neck wiring...


erikbojerik

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Hi gents,

I'm working on a double-neck Strat proj, S-S-S on both necks. I'd like to have a single 5-way switch (standard wiring), one volume and one tone, and a single 3-way LP-type switch to switch between the necks (upper, both, lower necks).

It sounds simple, but I can't for the life of me draw a sensible wiring diagram for it, the main problem being how to use a single 5-way switch for 2 sets of S-S-S pups. I thought about sending all the hot leads to the 5-way (and then to the jack), and all the ground leads to the 3-way (and then to the jack), so that the 3-way just cuts the grounds out of the circuit, but then I worry about ground loop hum...

Am I just retarded? 8^B

thanks in advance

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Thanks for the pics Litch. It's a little hard to see what's going on without putting a meter on it, but I'm guessing you have two pairs of humbuckers...? A single LP switch for the pup selection...? The the TPDT for the neck selection...?

Are the leads on the TPDT are the grounds?

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I think what you need is a TPST toggle. Connect the three hot leads from one neck's pickups to the outer set of lugs on one side, and the three hot leads from the other neck to the lugs on the other side:

Hot lead from upper neck pickup-----O O O---Hot lead from lower neck pickup

Hot lead from upper middle pickup---O O O---Hot lead from lower middle pickup

Hot lead from upper bridge pickup---O O O---Hot lead from lower bridge pickup

The middle poles should be wired to the lugs on the 5-way where the neck, middle and bridge hot leads are supposed to attach.

The switch operates like this:

Switch up:

O-O O

O-O O

O-O O

Switch down:

O O-O

O O-O

O O-O

With the toggle up, the hot leads from the upper neck will be connected to the 5-way, and the pickups from the lower neck will be out of the circuit, and vice versa when the switch is down.

I think this should work. The trick is finding a TPST mini-toggle.

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hmm couldnt' you just run both sides of the five way and run the outputs to the toggle for the neck selector. or did i miss something.?? also they make a great mini toggle to do just that it looks like a dpdt but is internaly differnt i get them here for around 3.50usd. i used one on my old strat that i set up like a les paul

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Are you saying that the 5-way has 2 circuit paths for each switch position?  So that each position has 2 possible outputs?

No, a standard Strat switch doesn't, but the new fancy 4-pole switches do. I feel kinda stoopid for not thinking of it earlier. :D You could wire each neck to a different side of the switch, and use a standard Gibson-style toggle to select between necks. The Stew-Mac Super Switch, or something similar, would let you wire each neck separately, with a few fancy options if you wanted 'em.

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Are you saying that the 5-way has 2 circuit paths for each switch position?  So that each position has 2 possible outputs?

No, a standard Strat switch doesn't, but the new fancy 4-pole switches do. I feel kinda stoopid for not thinking of it earlier. :D You could wire each neck to a different side of the switch, and use a standard Gibson-style toggle to select between necks. The Stew-Mac Super Switch, or something similar, would let you wire each neck separately, with a few fancy options if you wanted 'em.

Bingo! B...I....N-G-O! OK OK...that sounds like the way to go, thanks very much guys!

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I drew up a cool DN wiring diagram, but I don't remember what I did with it. LOL

I wired up my JEM77FP-DN with the ability to go:

UP- Top neck only

MIDDLE- Both necks on

DOWN- Bottom neck only

Switch: 3PDT

The Top Neck has it's own pickup selector (3-way mini-toggle) for the H-x-S config.

The Bottom Neck has standard JEM wiring with an OTAX-VLX91 swtich.

If I find the diagram, I'll send it to Brian for posting in the Archives. It'll at least be a good starting point for others.

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well i am just glad to help yeah i didnt' think to mention that original strats dont' have the extra side to it. but all the ones i have ever owned have had the guts replaced at least pots and switches so thats all i have ever known. :D

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