Wiring help

[parker_knoll]

Today I turned my 330 into a 345. I'd flirted with the Ac'cent before then taken it off but now it's back on with the mounting hole drilled in the right place. And i now have three pickups: a neck humbucker, a middle toaster, a bridge higain.

Now i need to get them hooked up. What i'd like to do is have the option to get the middle and bridge together in series. I'm not bothered about playing out of phase. Can i make a series/parallel switch on a push/pull pot and which one should it go on - the bridge or the middle pu?

Sorry if that's unclear. And let me say first up I've read through all the threads i could find on three pickup wiring so i have looked for an answer, here and elsewhere. Wiring is not my strong point.

Thanks in advance,

Toby

[ken_j]

I'm sure this can be done, but if you end up out of phase it will sound hollow or nasally. I will look for some schematics tomorrow, if I have time, to see if one can be converted. You would need the old style push pull switch that RIC had in the boutique or a mini toggle. You may want to look around this website, most of what I have is from here: http://www.guitarelectronics.com/catego ... _diagrams/ Hopefully someone has already done this and will chime in.

[parker_knoll]

Thanks Ken, that's a useful site.

I've done a temporary wiring but something's not working for me.

I've got:

Neck p/u > neck vol/tone > pickup selector > output
Middle p/u > bridge vol/tone > pickup selector > output
Bridge p/u > 5th knob > output

This gives some combos, i just need to find a way to have the bridge on its own without fiddling with the volume controls of the other pickups.

BUT I HAVE ONE PROBLEM: I want the bridge to be always on, but the volume of the other pickups is affecting it. should disconnect their ground connection with the 5th knob?

[parker_knoll]

^ the answer to the above is "no" as i just discovered

[ken_j]

Wire the output of the bridge pickup directly to the fifth pot, and then the pots output to the guitar's output jack. This will bypass the selector switch. The only way to cut the bridge pickup in this configuration would be to turn the pot down. The bridge pickup will not be directly affected by the tone pots. This is wiring the bridge pickup in parallel with the rest of the guitar. Be sure to wire the pickup's hot (+) to the wiper arm (middle) terminal of the pot. ...This is early in the morning for this.

[parker_knoll]

i did that, the problem is i can't then get the bridge p/u on its own, with no sound from the other pickups.

i think my answer lies in either a blend knob or a second selector switch in place of the 5th knob, that's going to be the easiest way

[ken_j]

Please write all of your goals so that we (I) understand it completely. If so I will try and draw something up. You can have the selector switch go from 1 neck - 2 neck/middle - 3 middle pickup with the 5th knob only controling the bridge pickup independently. If you want the series parallel function for the neck middle pickups then you would need to keep them wired together as in the stock configuration of the selector switch 1 neck/middle - 2neck/middle/bridge - 3 bridge.

[parker_knoll]

I implemented my two selector switch idea and it seems to work quite well. I've put the second selector switch where the 5th knob is.

so it goes:

NECK HB1
MIDDLE TOASTER
BRIDGE HIGAIN

routing is as follows:



Hopefully that makes some sense. This setup allows me to mix any pickup with any other.

I've made a bad video to demo it below which may clarify.



At the moment i haven't made the installation permanent because it requires making the hole in the pickguard a little larger. I have a Bourns blend knob arriving
next week, so i'll try that in place of Selector 1. If it go with the switch rather than the knob I'll widen the hole in the pickguard. My pickguard is cracked anyway so it's not the end of the world.

Cheers

Toby

[parker_knoll]

i received and installed the blend pot today. It's this one: http://www.wdmusic.com/product10113.html

It works well and smooth. The centre detent isn't massive but it's detectable. The only thing is i'm detecting a difference in volume. it's a 500k pot so it obviously places some load. It's in the 5th knob position and looks good however, and it's a very small pot so no problems with fit.

At the moment the bridge Higain is not running through any pots at all, and it's way brighter than it was running through volume and tone.

The blend between HB-1 and Toaster is not particularly useful, i installed it more as a way of switching pickups without having to enlarge hole in the pickguard to accept a switch instead of a pot.

[bluegrassmoker]

Which blend did you use I have tried putting in a blend pot in another instrument i have and i wanted it to be 100% bridge pickup 50/50 bridge saddle pick 100% saddle pickup. but it seems not to do exactly that. Also whats the ohm reading on the pickups are they pretty similar?

[parker_knoll]

hey Patrick

i used a 500k Bourns mini pot. it's very good, fits in the 5th knob position exactly.

Remember that passive electronics don't always work like you think. Without active buffers etc. the pickups will place a load on each other and your 50/50 mix may not be exactly in the middle of your knob. it's not the knob's fault, it's to with the way the pickups react with each other when in circuit together, exactly like when your selector switch is in the middle position and you often have to back down the neck volume a bit.

Unless you want to build an active mixer inside your guitar (quite possible, you can buy circuits, like on electro-acoustics) you just have to use your ears to find the spots that sound nice and not expect the middle position on the knob to necessarily deliver you exactly 50% of the output of each pickup. However, definitely at the extreme ends my pot is 100% one or 100% the other.

[Wiker]

Which blend did you use I have tried putting in a blend pot in another instrument i have and i wanted it to be 100% bridge pickup 50/50 bridge saddle pick 100% saddle pickup. but it seems not to do exactly that. Also whats the ohm reading on the pickups are they pretty similar?

Are you sure it was a blend pot, not just an ordinary stacked pot?
A proper blend pot should [usually] not be 50/50 but 100/100 in the middle.
A stacked pot is two pots, both with 0% at one end and 100% at the other. A blend pot is two special pots on top of each other, where both pots are at 100% in the middle, one pot goes to 0% in one direction, the other pot to 0% in the opposite direction.
I.e. both pickups should be at full in the middle, and slowly fading out one pickup when turning while keeping the other pickup at full.

[doctorwho]

This is the first time I read this thread ... nice wiring set-up, Toby!

[bluegrassmoker]

Thanks toby

I check that out i bet its what your talking about I might think about getting the same model as yours I am looking at the website now...I am using a blend pot from Stewart MacDonald so it should be an actual blend pot not a stacked pot. I think my problem was i am using a single coil and a humbucker......different impedances...(ohm) m g.

Would it be better for the blending to blend a Single with a Hum, peizo with a hum, or peizo with single, or hum and hum.

My guess would be humbucker with humbucker....thanks for the vid very helpful

[parker_knoll]

i'll make a new better one. I've actually modified the wiring a little bit based on the sounds i was getting. just small things like putting the HB-1 on a 1k pot to try and brighten it up. I also said i'd record the Firebird pickup so i'll do that at the same time.