Old 10-23-2019, 08:16 PM   #1
Reason
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Default Requesting help with guitar wiring

Two questions I'm hoping someone can help answer - switch orientation, and wiring from the switches to the controls.

Setup:
2 (4-conductor) humbuckers
2 on/off/on DPDT miniswitches
master volume
master tone

Going off of this diagram:
https://guitarelectronics.com/humbuc...-off-parallel/

I want "down" to be series, and then I guess the middle position can only be off, and then "up" to be parallel. With regards to the jumpered terminals, which are "down" in the diagram, how should I orient the switches?

Also, how do I run the leads to the controls? Can I run the leads from each switch in parallel to the controls, like this?
https://guitarelectronics.com/2-humb...volume-1-tone/

Or will that cause some weird issue? Thanks!
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Old 10-25-2019, 11:54 AM   #2
ashcat_lt
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I want "down" to be series, and then I guess the middle position can only be off, and then "up" to be parallel. With regards to the jumpered terminals, which are "down" in the diagram, how should I orient the switches?
The way that diagram is drawn, the lower set of terminals is the series setting. Usually with that kind of switch, the lever is pushed the opposite way, so here series would have the lever flipped toward the top of the page. You should test your switch with a meter (before soldering anything) to verify which contacts are connected to the middle with which lever orientation. Then leave a little extra wire and just twist the switch til it works the way you want.

Quote:
Also, how do I run the leads to the controls? Can I run the leads from each switch in parallel to the controls...
Yeah basically. Assuming they’re both around the same place on the guitar, I’d probably run the hot output and ground from one switch right to the next and then from there to the master V/T.

I don’t love the way this thing turns the pickup “off”. It leaves the coils “hanging” - connects to the output circuit by one end. The bottom coil is “hanging from ground” which is generally not considered a big deal, but the one “hanging from hot” is going to act like an antenna - adding somewhere between a little and too much noise. There can actually be a small amount of string output that peaks through too. That part usually won’t be enough to notice when the other pickup is on, but when you turn them both off, you might hear some strings and will definitely hear some buzz. In order to get real silence out of it, you’ll have to turn the V all the way down.
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Old 10-25-2019, 06:05 PM   #3
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Cool, I appreciate the response. I'm currently trying to get the latency on my new interface sorted so I'll read for comprehension later.

one quick question - how would you do the "off" position? With an on/on/on dpdt and set one of the positions to ground?
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Old 10-25-2019, 06:28 PM   #4
ashcat_lt
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how would you do the "off" position?
I'd have to look at that more closely than I really care to right now.
Pretty sure it would need at least one more pole on the switch, but...


Edit - OK, actually I did look at it. If you intend to have the pickups in parallel with one another, you'd need a 3PDT on-off-on (if you can find it). Move the "hot output" wire to both outside lugs on the third pole (connect to one and jumper to the other) and then jumper from the upper left of what's in the diagram (where North-Start hits the switch) to the center of that third pole. This still leaves that bottom coil "hanging from ground", but like I said, that's the way most guitars turn off their pickups and not nearly as big a deal as "hanging from hot". It would have to be different again if you wanted the two pickups in series, and I think need yet another different type of switch.

Last edited by ashcat_lt; 10-25-2019 at 06:38 PM.
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Old 10-25-2019, 07:25 PM   #5
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OK, thanks. That doesn't interest me. I'll just have to do it and if it sucks, I'll have to fix it.
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