Completely new on this forum and to guitar wiring.
I refurbished my old guitar and want to change the wiring too.
I came up with this idea (it's not new, i'm sure)
3 humbuckers
3 DPDT switches for split/serial/parallel
3 concentric pots for volume/tone with a bleed circuit in
3 way switch for neck/all/bridge
Could someone please check this diagram and comment please?
The part which I'm not very certain if is the 'ALL' position of the 3way switch.
I'd like to have it 'ALL' to be able to mix different sounds together there (adapting volume, DPDT, tone of the individual PU's)
The switch shown in that diagram won't do what you want it to. It's a standard 3-way switch, which is two normally closed SPST switches combined into one unit, which basically gives you two input terminals and one output terminal. You'll need something with three input terminals and the ability to do what you want in the way of output selection Not sure where you'll get one like that, though Switchcraft do some strange combinations for their toggle switches, but then you'll have to find one.
You've only got one output shown for each of the DPDT selector switches. so that won't work as you'll need two. The green wire isn't automatically connected to ground.
You'll also need to confirm what sort version of on/on/on switch you are getting, as in the mid position, there's a choice of two connection options depending on the switch - 1) L centre to L upper and R centre to R lower or 2) L centre to L lower and R centre to R upper.
You're missing a signal connection shown to the tone part of the pot and if that's drawn shown looking from the rear of the guitar (so you are seeing the back of the pot as if installed in the control cavity) then the two volume pot end tab connections are all swapped over (unless you are a lefty and using reverse log pots).
If you want to be able to turn one of the pickups off in the 'all on' position (assuming we can find a suitable switch), then you'll need to ditch the treble bleeds, as the treble on the pot that's turned off be will be fully in circuit and most of the treble and mids will pass through it to ground, leaving you with just the bass part of the signal. I assume this is your intent (allowing a mid+neck and neck+bridge combo) as you've shown the volume pots with the input and output lugs swapped over from the normal way of doing things I'd take the tone pot input from the pot output. Hopefully Weirdy will be along fairly shortly and he'll at least be able to give you a wiring diagram for the pot, switch and pickups.
The Switchcraft site seems to be down at the moment, so I'll have a look tomorrow and see if I can find an appropriate switch. I think it's the one Gibson use for their 3-pickup SGs, but they do several along those lines.
Last edited by Simon Barden; 09-11-2020 at 03:11 PM.
Two sets of SPST switches per side. The top set you wire as normal with the neck and bridge pickups. With the bottom pair, you wire the middle pickup to one side, then feed the output from that side into the input of the other side and the output to the common output of the top pair. If the switch is in either the up or down position, one of the second set of contacts will be broken so no signal gets through. Only in the middle position will both sets of contacts be made so the signal gets through and is connected to the output of both the neck and bridge pickups.
So you need to find a Switchcraft 12015x to do what you want to do. It's wider, but no deeper, than a standard Switchcraft selector switch.
Thank you so much for your input. I understand what I did wrong and wil try to 'rewire my drawing'.
Of course if Weirdy would come up with a finished drawing, that would help even a lot more.
The switch you propose is available over here (Belgium) so this shouldn't be an issue.
I'll get back to you with a new drawing, unless Weirdy beats me on that :-)
Sorry, suffering local network outage the last couple of days and still intermittent at the moment. Good advice and analysis from Simon, as always. I can draw something up but it may take a few days.
What type of guitar are you refurbishing? If possible, I’d suggest using two 3-way toggles for the three pickups. The single toggle suggested above will give bridge/all/neck as you wanted, but two 3-way toggles allows all options:
switch 1 = bridge/bridge+neck/neck.
switch 2 = middle/middle+switch 1/switch 1 only.
The main difference being you’re switching pickup combinations rather than adjusting volumes to mix pups, plus you can include treble bleeds with a two 3-way layout. Just a suggestion if you can make it fit. I’ll do some drawing when I get a chance.
Hi there,
Thanks so much for taking the time to help me out.
I'm afraid there is no way to fit another switch in, but i'll take a look. (I had a pickguard custom made, so wonder if I can drill a hole in it :-)
Is there no way to go for the first option and keep the treble bleeds?
Also, if I keep the original (simple) 3-way toggle, would this work?
up: Neck only with mid vol down
down: bridge only with mid vol down
mid: everything
If you could come up with a drawing, that would be so much easier for me, as I only understand half of what i'm doing exactely.
Connecting the tone pot to the volume pot output, rather than input to it ('vintage' wiring), stops treble loss when turning the volume down. It does make the tone and volume controls slightly interactive, but it's how I wire my humbucker guitars these days and it's not a big issue. You don't then need any treble bleeds.
If you really want treble bleeds and 'modern' wiring, you could try wiring the cap and resistor in series (AKA Kinman -style). The cap then won't be directly connected between the signal and ground when one volume pot is turned right down, but have the 100k resistor in series; limiting the amount of treble that's lost to almost nothing. And it does work well as a treble bleed. It's how I wire treble bleeds on my Strats and Teles.
Would this type of switch also work? I think I could fit 2 of these in easier than the 'normal' ones.
Also ... can't seem to find 'm in all black. But that's a minor problem.
Tbh, one of the **** things about living in Belgium is that there are so little (to none) specialized guitar part stores. It all comes with a lot of shipping cost. But this on a sidenote :-)
You could use two of them, so neck and bridge feed into switch 1 and you then feed switch 1 output and the middle pickup into switch two. That gives you all the individual pickup selections and all the pickup combinations.
Or you could use one 3-way switch and a mini 2-way toggle switch that allows you to bring in the middle pickup with whatever pickup(s) you've selected. That gives you all the combinations except a simple selection of the middle pickup on its own - but you could turn the volumes of the neck and bridge down to get that. It would also look neater on the guitar than two large switches.
I'm not a fan of that particular style of 3-way switch. They seem far more prone to mechanical damage than the Switchcraft style and an inwards knock on the end of the switch tip can see the switch stop working completely. I'd prefer a Korean-made one (as shown) to a Chinese-made one (which I've seen stop working without any mechanical damage to them), but they are still less reliable than the Switchcraft type.
I'm still a bit confused. Would it be an option to keep the 1 toggle configuration like it is now (but wired properly of course :-)
If I wire the mid PU together with the neck PU to the toggle, Can I turn down the volume of one of the PU's to have the other on?
toggle up: neck + mid (so with either volume down: mid solo or neck solo)
toggle mid: neck + mid + bridge (with volume altering: all combinations possible)
toggle down: brigde only
I'm sorry I don't understand more of it. I hope to be soldering pretty soon, but might need a guiding hand until then.
Thanks so much
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