SH-1 Wiring Diagram

Hi all,

I'm currently building my first guitar (The SK-1 Headless guitar Kit) Just about finished the painting and keen to get onto soldering and hopefully playing it.

My problem / Question is the wiring diagram on Pit-bulls Website is for 1 Humbucker, 2 Single coils, 2 Tone, 1 Volume and a 3-Way switch. My guitar only has 1 Tone pole.

I have tried google and searched the forums but have had no luck. Was hoping someone could bless me with a wiring diagram.

Other info that may or may not be helpful... Pit-Bulls Diagram has a Switch with 8 terminals on the back (Where one is not being used) and mine only has 7.

Thanks in advance for any help received :)

EDIT--- Its not the SK-1... Its the SH-1

Hi Craig, I can't find the SK-1 on the store front.
My usual place to search is listed below, but only lists options with a 5 way switch. Personally with a 3 pick up guitar I'd go for a 5 way switch.
https://guitarelectronics.com/guitar...ring-diagrams/

The actual switch that I have will move in 5 different positions normally but when its attached to the guitar with the Cap / Knob on the switch there is only enough room for 3 positions. if I take the cap off it can move into all 5, even when attached to the guitar.

Sorry Dedman, its the SH-1 Kit, not the SK-1. Don't know where I got that from

I just noticed that all the diagrams on that page presume your humbucker has 4 wires coming off it, I'm betting yours has 2 if its the kit pick up. We may have to wait for WeirdBits to step in here as he is the electric guru. can you post a pic of your switch cavity with the switch in place? You should be able to get all 5 positions on the switch.

My humbucker is the one that came with the kit but its a single shielded wire (so basically 2).

I cant post any pictures at the moment as I'm half way through painting, once it dry's ill take some pictures.

This is the Pitbull wiring diagram for the SH-1, but it's wrong, as there aren't two tone controls.

https://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-co...PBG-KH1SH1.pdf

I'll notify Adam and hopefully it can get amended quickly.

I note that it also refers to the KH-1, which also has only one volume and one tone control.

It also sounds like the control cavity hasn't been routed deep enough for the switch to work correctly. That section of the control cavity where the switch goes really needs to be routed out so the top is only around 2mm thick. You wouldn't want to do that to the whole cavity as it would make the pot mountings rather weak. Those switches are normally designed to work with pickguard mounting, so poke through about 2mm of plastic at most.

So, how to get the switch working in all 5 positions?

One option is to thin the wood where the switch goes. You could probably do this with a Dremel and a drum sander. You could do it with a router if you were very careful. You'd need to measure the current depth of the slot first, to know how much wood you need to remove from the control cavity. My Ibanez RG has a control-cavity mounted 5-way switch, and that's got a 2mm depth to the top at that point.

Another is to look for a switch with a longer lever arm. I'm sure they can't all be the same length. However getting dimensions for these switches is difficult even, from the best suppliers, so probably not an easy option.

A simple option would be to put something down the slot in the switch tip, so that the tip sits higher on the lever arm, but still grips the switch firmly.

Or maybe file away at the bottom of the switch tip so that the switch can move properly into all 5 positions.

I'd also check that the switch slot itself is long enough. It may benefit from being very slightly lengthened usinga flat needle file.

Don't worry too much about the switch having 7 connections instead of 8. On the 8-connection switch, the two middle connections are the two common poles of the switch (it's really a 2-pole switch) and wired in a Strat, those two middle connections are always soldered together to take the pickup signal to the side of the switch that connects to the tone pots. On a 7- connection switch, the board inside the switch makes that link internally, so there's no need for that link to be made externally and the middle connection takes the place of the two middle connections on an 8-connection switch.

In the meantime, the SV-1 diagram should suffice. The connections are the same if the neck pup is a single coil or humbucker, so just follow that layout and you should be good to go.

Thanks for all the help everyone, think I'm all set to do the wiring now.

still not too sure what I'm going to do about the switch, it can reach all 5 positions without the tip on so its not the slot length or the width of the switch arm. The arm doesn't protrude enough for the tip to sit on all the way and still reach all 5 positions, as the tip ends up making contact with the body.
I don't have any power tools or even a dremel to thin the cavity so I'm might have to try something to make the cap sit higher on the switch arm.

or maybe shorten the bottom of the cap?

That sounds like a better alternative, that way it will definitely still be on the switch arm far enough to properly grip it. Thanks Dedman :D