Help with wiring trembucker and super 2 distortion in ST-1

Hi, i have built the ST-1.
I have bought a seymour duncan trembucker TB-59 tb, and a diamazio super 2 distortion to replace the pickups
and also have bought a 3 way blade switch to replace the 5 way.

What i wanted to do it was take the the existing 1 volume and only 1 of the tone knobs and wire all this together , i have looked at a few sites and they are all fairly different and as i have never wired a guitar id thought id ask for help.

From what i can find out with the trembucker red and white get taped off together, black goes to switch and green and bare get soldered on the back of the volume pot like in this diagram below
http://www.seymourduncan.com/wiring-...ne,3-way-blade


In regards to the switch the one in the diagram has 4 terminals on each side where as mine has 8 on one side and im not sure how to wire this (please see pic)

For the super 2 black and white get taped off together, green and bare go to ground and red goes to switch (i think) i could only find this page which is a bit confusing
https://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Onlin...g_Pickups.html

Would anyone be able to tell me if this is correct and how to wire the switch .

Thanks Mark

I cant seem to get a image to upload but this is the 3 way switch http:/https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Hi...72.m2749.l2649

You've probably got a photo that's too large, so you'll need to resize it. No bigger than 1500 pixels on the longest side. Windows 10's default photo viewer has resizing as a right-click option. Choose custom size and whatever's the biggest dimension, type in 1500 pixels. There's also around a 1Mb size limit, but this isn't normally a problem, but if it is, just use a higher compression ratio/lower quality setting on the slider when saving. Otherwise use an external image hosting site and link to it using the image button. (Note that the default upload and host locally tick box needs to be cleared if the picture is bigger than the forum upload limits). A maximum width of 800 pixels seems to be best for fitting a remote hosted picture on the screen.

Your 3-way blade switch is equivalent to the one in the SD drawing, except that the terminals on one side have been moved round so that they are now in a line. The two middle terminals are the common terminals for each 'side' of the switch.

You'll find that in the SD picture, the pickup signal wires are taken to the common terminals of each side. So in your case, taking the '3-way switch' text in the SD pic as the nearest the neck end of the switch (just imagine it's 8 pins in a row, not 4+4) and the top pin as pin 1, you'd solder the bridge pickup signal wire to pin 4, the neck pickup signal wire to pin 5, and link pins 1,2 7 and 8 together and out to the volume pot. Pickup grounds get soldered to the back of the volume pot or the tone pot. So it's basically the same as the SD diagram, but with a different topographic arrangement.

What the SD diagram doesn't show is that the backs of the volume and tone pots need a soldered link between them or the circuit won't work.

As you have noted, for the SD 59, the signal wire is black and the green and screen wires get soldered to ground. For the DiMarzio, the signal wire is red and the green and screen wires get soldered to ground. The remaining pairs of wires are probably already soldered and taped together.

Thats great info , thankyou for clarifying that for me.

In regards to the link between the volume and tone pots, do i run the connecting wire from the solder points on the back of each pot where the grounds would be soldered?
And also on the SD diagram it shows a black line/wire connecting the two pots via there terminals, i imagine this is something different ?
And if so does that black line/wire need to be soldered aswell.

Thanks again
Mark

I put an arrow where the wire is. I imagine that one is to tell the switch to operate both volume and tone ,where as the link your talking about is to complete the circuit? .


Attachment 32936

Also do i have to run the main ground wire to the bridge plate? or can i run it to where the spring on a humbucker screw sits , as the underside of my pick guard is shielded?

It doesn't matter where on the back of the pots you run the linking ground wire. You could even run another wire from the output jack ground to the back of the volume pot, just as long as there's a connection to ground.

I tend to spread out the ground connections of the back of the pots rather than have them all in one location as it's a lot easier to keep one wire in place than three of four when you've only got two hands available and you've got to hold soldering iron, solder and the wires.

That arrowed black wire is the signal connection to the tone pot. It's not a ground connection, so you still need to link the back of the two pots (added grey line):

Attachment 32937

The bridge ground on a Strat with a trem normally gets soldered to the trem spring claw. An example on this page: https://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and...hoCC80QAvD_BwE

Excellent thankyou, much appreciated.

I was just looking at the wiring that came from the factory and was thinking i can unsold-er all the pick up and second tone pot wires,and wire the new pickups and switch in to save hassle.
Looking at it i can see the link wire (red arrows in pic) , but not a signal connection between the two pots, is this because its a 3 pot setup etc?
Do i run a wire like i have drawn in orange (orange wire goes from bottom terminal on vol to bottom terminal on tone, not connected to back of pot)

Thanks once again

Pic of wiring from factory

Attachment 32938

The signal link wire in this instance is the green one to one tone pot and the blue wire to the other tone pot. The selector switch has a different configuration to the type of switch shown in the SD drawing. This one has three inputs for the pickups (the yellow, red and white wires on the right of the switch) and three output connections that are all connected together on the circuit board on the switch (the green, blue and red wires on the left of the switch). It makes it easier/quicker for the factory to wire using that type of switch.

The yellow wire you've highlighted with the orange is one of the interconnecting ground wires. There are two more (black) ground wires soldered to the back of the volume pot, one of which goes to the output jack, the other to the trem claw.

I always use black wires for grounds, and then any other colour for signal wires which avoids any confusion.

You could unsolder all the wires, but you've now got two humbuckers, so you've presumably got a new scratchplate for them, you've got a new switch, and you'll want new pots, as the current ones will be 250k and for humbuckers you'll want 500k pots. The tone capacitors supplied with the kit are probably 0.047uF ones, and for humbuckers, the standard is normally 0.022uF.

So the only item you can really re-use from the kit is the output jack and the scratchplate screws.

Great thankyou, i think i will now start from all new.

Also i noticed on the north and south of the switch from the factory there is a terminal that is wired to ground , do i replicate this on the new switch?
(purple arrow in pic)

Thankyou
Mark

pic of ground purple arrow
Attachment 32940

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Also i noticed on the north and south of the switch from the factory there is a terminal that is wired to ground , do i replicate this on the new switch?

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^^^^
Yes

If you think of the switching circuit the same as a tele, the diagram below uses an 3-way "import" switch and is easy to follow. Since your not splitting coils, you can think of the HB's as just having 2 leads. 1 positive, 1 negative.
Wire the HB's just like the SC's in the diagram and you'll be right. The only change is that you'll be using 500k pots instead of the 250k shown.

Attachment 32948

I hope that helps and doesn't add to any confusion.

Cheers,
Mick

Awesome , giving it a go now .
Thanks all most helpful.
Mark

Hi just another question,
Looking at my bridge pickup on another guitar a TL-1 kit.
I replaced the bridge pickup with a fender one, underneath it has a blue ground wire that goes to a little plate that touches the bridge plate then out again.
I imagine this grounds the bridge plate?
I also put a neck humbucker in it and wired it all as per the diagram above.
I just realised when installing the input jack, i ran the ground wire from the back of the volume pot to the correct side of the input jack, but i also ran another wire again from the back of the volume pot to the ground of the input jack (so ive doubled up the ground.)
Can i leave this or will it cause problems, its not to much hassle i just have to take it apart again.

Thanks Mark

Also in regards to the ST-1, when connecting the ground to the bridge plate ( i have a hardtail bridge so no trem) it is chrome plated, do i have to scratch the chrome off before soldering? Or can i put the wire around a bridge plate screw?

Thanks Mark

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Originally Posted by Froffy

Also in regards to the ST-1, when connecting the ground to the bridge plate ( i have a hardtail bridge so no trem) it is chrome plated, do i have to scratch the chrome off before soldering? Or can i put the wire around a bridge plate screw?

Thanks Mark

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The application of chrome is referred to as 'electroplating', would lead me to believe that it's conductive already.
But then again, with most of my posts, someone will come along with a contrary viewpoint.

cheers, Mark.

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Originally Posted by king casey

The application of chrome is referred to as 'electroplating', would lead me to believe that it's conductive already.
But then again, with most of my posts, someone will come along with a contrary viewpoint.

cheers, Mark.

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HI, i should have put in my post, that i was reading you need to scratch the chrome off, as its vey hard to solder to chrome and you need the bare metal for it to adhere .

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...i was reading you need to scratch the chrome off, as its vey hard to solder to chrome and you need the bare metal for it to adhere.

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...do i have to scratch the chrome off before soldering? Or can i put the wire around a bridge plate screw?

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The ground wire to/from the hardtail bridge doesn't need to be soldered. It only needs to make solid metal to metal contact with the plate.

The way I ground a hardtail is:
strip off about 15-20mm of insulation from your ground wire > slightly splay the copper strands so they are thin & flat > tin the strands well with solder > stick the tinned wire into one of the bridge mounting screw holes (enough so about 1cm is in the hole and the rest will lay flat under the bridge plate) > mount your bridge with the screws making sure one screw makes contact with the tinned wire in the hole > use your multimeter to test for continuity between the bridge and the other end of the ground wire > done...
That wire isn't going anywhere and will maintain a good solid connection for all eternity ;)

I should have mentioned that this is presuming you already have a hole drilled in the body underneath the bridge for the ground wire.

This is just me and the way I do it. I'm sure others do it differently that work just as well.

Ok great thanks .
Yes there is a hole for the ground wire in the body.
And also as i already have a few wires grounded to the back of my volume pot, can i conect the bridge ground to the ground of the input jack? (there is a ground wire from the volume pot to the input jack already) or just make a new solder point on the volume pot.?


Thanks Mark

Hi Mark.
No need to double up on grounds to the jack. (it's not that you can't, I just don't know why you'd do it - it's not common practise)

I run my bridge ground to the back of a pot which is where I typically consolidate and terminate all my individual grounds. (there are exceptions but I won't get into it now).
For the most part with passive guitar circuits, ground is ground and there are multiple ways to achieve the end result.

Hi,
The reason i doubled up is because i miss read the diagram, i have now gone thru on both guitars checked everything, and also grounded from bridge to volume pot, and removed the doubled up wire.
Once my kid wakes up from nap time , ill be pluging in :P

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Once my kid wakes up from nap time , ill be pluging in :P

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Good stuff! Let us know how it goes.