Chad

Yeah, with a no-load tone pot turned all the way up, it's pretty much like having only a volume control (the tone pot is completely out of the circuit), correct?

Thanks for the info, fellas.

I've just gotta ask about another guitar. I love the middle selection of the 3-way switch on the Lead Circuit of a Jazzmaster. In the middle selection, parallel or series? In-phase or out-of-phase?

I know it's humbucking because I've clearly heard the hum go away in live playing situations when I switch to the middle selection.

Those pickups are single coils. Is one RWRP?

If I were to guess, it would be that one of the pickups *is* RWRP and the middle selection is physically parallel out-of-phase, but electrically parallel in-phase.

I wonder if he just means that he is wiring the pickup directly to the output jack and doesn't have any tone or volume controls?

If so, that would be one massively bright sounding setup. Most people like to load down their pickups (with resistance of some sort....either a pot or an actual fixed resistor, etc.) at least a little bit to give them some warmth.

If you have a 500K volume pot and a 500K tone control and have both set at 10, is this the same as having a 250K volume pot on 10 by itself?

Doesn't the volume pot affect the amplitude of the entire frequency range of the pickup while the tone pot only affects the amplitude of the frequencies being filtered to ground by the tone cap?

With regard to my first question, it is my guess that a single 250K volume pot would sound similar, but not exact. The frequencies not affected by the tone cap would be at a higher amplitude in the 500K volume and tone pot situation, correct?

It would be interesting to see frequency response curves for those kind of comparisons. Does something like that exist on the internet? Link?

I'm thinking out loud...

So a humbucking pickup is physically out of phase, but the magnet being reversed makes it electrically in phase....

I think I've got it. I think I was mainly confused because Dan E. keeps referring to the Seth Lover style humbucking as "series out-of-phase". He is right because it is physically out of phase, but it is electrically in phase because of the magnet flip.

Am I correct on all of that?

Another question....it seems like this is mainly a communication/interpretation issue. If a humbucking pickup is electrically in-phase, why don't they just say it is in phase? Why does the physical status of the wiring have higher precedence over the electrical property in describing what the pickups are?

Thanks for all of your help!

On a 4 pole SuperSwitch, I basically assigned each of the 3 pickups a separate pole on the switch and wired accordingly to get the above-mentioned combinations. The 4th pole is unused. I connected the common to the volume control, then that connects to the tone control. Does that make sense? If not, I'll try to make a drawing and post it.

In phase, parallel.

Still humbucking?

Is there any sort of cancellation due to the phasing?

What happens if they are wired in series? Have any famous players had a guitar setup that way? I'm guessing that could lead to a mega high output sound.

Thanks for your help!

I'm trying to wire up a Strat and am needing help. The guitar has S/S/S pickups (middle pickup is RWRP), one master tone, one master volume, and I have a 5-way SuperSwitch. Here is what I want to accomplish:

1. Bridge (like normal)

2. Bridge + Middle (like normal)

3. Bridge + Neck (see below for more info)

4. Middle + Neck (like normal)

5. Neck (like normal)

For position 3, I would like it to be a combination of the bridge and neck pickups, but I'd like it to be humbucking and sound similar to the middle position on a Jazzmaster....that gets a really full bodied sound that would greatly add to the versatility of this Strat. I also like the sound of a Les Paul with the 3-way switch in the middle position and both pickups coil-tapped.....that gives a nice, full sound.

If anybody could provide help with that, it'd be greatly appreciated! I'd prefer this to all be done with the 5-way switch, but I will consider separate switches (probably via push-pull pots) if absolutely necessary.

BTW, I already tried one wiring method that gave me all five of the above-mentioned pickup combinations, but position 3 just didn't have the full bodied sound I'd hoped for. I'm guessing they are parallel and in-phase, but I'm not sure.

When using the middle selection on a Les Paul style 3-way switch with 2 humbuckers, are the two pickups in parallel? In-phase or out-of-phase?

According to Dan Erlewine's explanation of electronics in his "Guitar Player Repair Guide" book, he says that parallel and in-phase should be non-humbucking. I'm confused!

Hello.

On a S/S/S strat with a 5-way switch, I understand the positions to be as follows:

1. Bridge

2. Bridge + Middle

3. Middle

4. Middle + Neck

5. Neck

My question is about positions 2 & 4. Those appear to be humbucking, but are they in-phase or out-of-phase? And are they parallel or series?

Also, I was checking the magnetic polarity on one of my Strat guitars and the bridge and neck pickups are magnetically south....while the middle pickup is magnetically north. Is that normal? Please explain.

Thanks!