Tele - single coil bridge - humbucker neck wiring

[WeirdBits]

Sorry Stefano, I didn't realise you were asking a question.

Your compass indicates that the humbucker's screw coil is magnetic south, and the TDPRI link appears to show that the green/red wire pair are connected to that coil. That means the north slug coil is the black/white pair. If your bridge single coil is south polarity as you've stated then you'll need to split to the neck's black/white slug coil to get a hum-cancelling coil pair with the bridge. That means rearranging the mini-switch connections to split to the slug coil. Like this:


It's possible you may still have phase issues, particularly if the two pickups are different brands/manufacturers. It this is the case it will sound thin and nasally in positions 2 and 3, regardless of the mini-switch setting. In that situation swapping the black and green connections on the 4-way switch should solve it. That is, black would go from the mini-switch to the top two connections on the 4-way and the green would go to the lower left connection instead.

[Tidus55]

Sorry Stefano, I didn't realise you were asking a question.

Your compass indicates that the humbucker's screw coil is magnetic south, and the TDPRI link appears to show that the green/red wire pair are connected to that coil. That means the north slug coil is the black/white pair. If your bridge single coil is south polarity as you've stated then you'll need to split to the neck's black/white slug coil to get a hum-cancelling coil pair with the bridge. That means rearranging the mini-switch connections to split to the slug coil.

It's possible you may still have phase issues, particularly if the two pickups are different brands/manufacturers. It this is the case it will sound thin and nasally in positions 2 and 3, regardless of the mini-switch setting. In that situation swapping the black and green connections on the 4-way switch should solve it. That is, black would go from the mini-switch to the top two connections on the 4-way and the green would go to the lower left connection instead.

Hi Scott,

I had the impression that this was the case, but one thing at a time:

1- the manufacturer of the pickups is the same (Donlis), what I have read and heard have a truly excellent yield, I hope there are no out of phase problems
2- does the fact that I split the slug coil compromise the sound in single (position 4) at the neck ?
3- and if yes, I could put the pickup like in Keith Richards' Micawber, would it be better ?

After these last explanations I will finally go on to finish all the connections, and then put the strings, do the intonation, the action and so on, finish my first guitar
Thanks a lot, Stefano

[WeirdBits]

There is no compromise/problem splitting to the slug coil, in fact it is quite normal (particularly on a bridge pickup).

There will be very little sound difference splitting to the slug or screw coil (mainly from the slight positional difference along the string length). The most important thing is that the split coil is reverse wound reverse polarity to the bridge single coil so you get a hum-cancelling pair when combined.

Good luck.

[WeirdBits]

Just posting an image related to this thread for a member.

Quick sketch of a 4-way twin hum layout with two volumes. Not ideal, but designed to minimise the compromises of having the individual volumes:



Neck volume is always in the circuit, so 1M volume pots would help to reduce the impact.

For those interested, a 3-way with a separate multi-pole series/parallel switch would be a better option for this type of configuration.

[Tidus55]

There is no compromise/problem splitting to the slug coil, in fact it is quite normal (particularly on a bridge pickup).

There will be very little sound difference splitting to the slug or screw coil (mainly from the slight positional difference along the string length). The most important thing is that the split coil is reverse wound reverse polarity to the bridge single coil so you get a hum-cancelling pair when combined.

Good luck.

Hi Guys

I want to confirm that everything is fantastic and working ...... Now I am learning to play ...... My blondie yellow mesh.

Thanks for all ..... Cheers.

[Gogu]

Hello, I have to do a 4 way single coil bridge - humbucker neck, 4 way Oak Grigsby for my son. As it is a first, your variations for the 4 way switch with single and hum were the closest to something i can understand Now, I have 500k volume pot, 500k tone push/pull CTS DPDT, 0.22uF capacitor (got an 0.47uF also, just in case). Bridge is 6,1k single coil, humbucker is Alan Entwistle HV75A, 4 wire. If i go for the clasic (guitar is a telecaster) bridge, bridge+neck (parallel), bridge+neck (series), neck, can i use a 470k resistor from the hot bridge switch (yellow on the diagram) to C1 on tone push/pull, and from 1 on the pot to ground, so when I pull the bridge would be more like a standard tele? Is there a better use for the positions 2 and 3, or for the push pull tone? Thanks!

[Trevor Davies]

Hi and welcome Gogu.

Hopefully WierdBits will answer your question. But your diagram is not attached!

[Gogu]

Thanks, I was referring to his 3d diagram for 4 way, from the first page of the topic.

[fender3x]

Hello, I have to do a 4 way single coil bridge - humbucker neck, 4 way Oak Grigsby for my son. As it is a first, your variations for the 4 way switch with single and hum were the closest to something i can understand Now, I have 500k volume pot, 500k tone push/pull CTS DPDT, 0.22uF capacitor (got an 0.47uF also, just in case). Bridge is 6,1k single coil, humbucker is Alan Entwistle HV75A, 4 wire.If i go for the clasic (guitar is a telecaster) bridge, bridge+neck (parallel), bridge+neck (series), neck, can i use a 470k resistor from the hot bridge switch (yellow on the diagram) to C1 on tone push/pull, and from 1 on the pot to ground, so when I pull the bridge would be more like a standard tele? Is there a better use for the positions 2 and 3, or for the push pull tone? Thanks!

You're talking about doing a Keith Richards mod, but instead of having it on all time you'd be able to switch it on and off, right? I think that should work. The question is which way would you want it to be default. That will depend on how twangy you'd like your bridge pickup to be.

The other question I would have is balance between the pickups. Not sure what you are using in the bridge. Ohms ratings by themselves may not tell you much about output when you are mixing and matching pickup types. But the way to bet is that a hot modern humbucker could overpower your bridge pickup. If that's the case you might want to use the push-pull switch to be able to switch the neck pickup to parallel, which will get the neck pickup closer to single coil output. In that case you'd want to decide whether you like your bridge pickup better with the resistor or without it, and just hardwire it the way you like it best.

[Gogu]

So I followed the 3d diagram for 4 way from 1st page, with 470k resistor to hot bridge single coil on pull tone pot, as both tone and volume are 500k. Took me few hours, as the most I soldered before were 2 wires on a Pentax camera solenoid (well 4 wires since i repaired 2 cameras). Deciding what to wire first, what wire to use, man, was tough first time experience, but in the end hoped for the best and pushed all back under control plate. As my guitar is a cheap Jet Guitars JT-300 (my son loves the neck by the way), had to enlarge the holes for control plate and the one for jack. Switch was fine, fitted without problems. One other challenge was the pickguard, as there is no official one for SH, and the tele Fender ones, while having the same number of screws, only 2 holes are on the same position, and the curved space for control plate is smaller. So I bought 4 boards 25x25cm (enough for a tele pickguard), 2 forex and 2 some harder plastic, 3mm. Since I don't have any electric tools or workshop, had to use a regular cutter, the forex board is not that tough. Neck humbucker cavity is rough, well I guess could and should have done a better job, but that's that, it is first try, I will try later on to do better. Went for a dirty look, don't know how to call it, probably ugly would be a fair description, but it had to do since all i had was a black permanent marker, some white paint and isopropyl alcohol.
Now for the is it working part - have continuity where I suppose to have, all 4 positions work, had a problem with tone knob doing nothing, open it up and saw that when i pushed the capacitor metal was in contact with pin 2, so i spread it a little further. Now it works. I'm waiting for my son to test the sound, probably the pickup height is the best way i have to balance a little the sound. 2 pictures attached, one with cavity shielding, the second with the finished-unfinished horror Thank you for all the info provided, I think I learned a lot from you guys!