Need help with custom wiring

[nihil67]

Long time lurker, I just got a RG120 that was in need of some serious help. I have replaced pickups before, but never really gone much into the modding arena. I'm trying to wire up a Jazz Neck and a Dimebucker Bridge in the following way:

Neck Pickup goes to On/On/On switch to be either Series/Coil Cut (South or Screws)/Parallel. Output from that switch goes to 500k pot for Neck tone. Output from that goes to a 4 way switch.

Bridge pickup goes to On/On/On switch to be either Series/Coil Cut (North or bar farthest from the trem)/Parallel. Output from that switch goes to a 500k pot for Bridge tone. Output from that goes to a 4 way switch.

The 4 way switch should be giving me Bridge/Both Parallel/Neck/Both Series and then sending output to the master volume pot and then to the jack.

The purpose is to be able to do all of the standard humbucker mods, but be able to have that virtual middle humbucker setup too (both series with both humbuckers in coil cut mode).

Do I have this right? Can someone help me move the 4 way switch wiring so that it would go Bridge/Both Parallel/Both Series/Neck?

http://www.geocities.com/hutta/wiring4way.jpg

I'm sorry for the crappy schematic... MSPaint isn't much to work with and I'm not able to take my time, being at work and all .

[ArtieToo]

Re: Need help with custom wiring

Looks good to me, but I'd recommend two simple changes:

1. Normally, its ok to connect green and bare together. Since you're doing some wiring with the green, I'd take the bares straight to the back of pots, and then leave your greens where they are. Make them separate, in other words.

2. Add the little purple jumper I show here. Thats something that the Duncan diagram omits also. Since you're switching the "ground" on the neck, instead of the "hot", it means that in the bridge position, you leave the entire neck humbucker hanging out on the hot line as a giant noise antenna. Might not be a huge problem, but why take the chance? That little jumper shorts out the neck humbucker when the bridge is selected.

Let us know how it turns out.

[nihil67]

Re: Need help with custom wiring

Looks good to me, but I'd recommend two simple changes:

1. Normally, its ok to connect green and bare together. Since you're doing some wiring with the green, I'd take the bares straight to the back of pots, and then leave your greens where they are. Make them separate, in other words.

That was one of the things I was curious about. Thanks for confirming.

2. Add the little purple jumper I show here. Thats something that the Duncan diagram omits also. Since you're switching the "ground" on the neck, instead of the "hot", it means that in the bridge position, you leave the entire neck humbucker hanging out on the hot line as a giant noise antenna. Might not be a huge problem, but why take the chance? That little jumper shorts out the neck humbucker when the bridge is selected.

Let us know how it turns out.

Thanks. Any ideas on how to wire the 4-way so that it goes Bridge/Both Parallel/Both Series/Neck? I'll freely admit that what I've put together so far is only through deduction from other schematics and no real knowledge of how the switch works (well... for the 4-way at least).

[ArtieToo]

Re: Need help with custom wiring

Simple change:

[nihil67]

Re: Need help with custom wiring

Pulling this thread up from a long time ago to maybe get a new set of eyes on my schematic. I finished this project and walked away from it for a long time, but I picked this guitar back up and noticed something isn't right. The neck pickup seems to be involved in all 4 switch positions. I say this because the neck tone knob changes sound in all 4 positions. The bridge pickup is involved, as it should be, in positions 1-3 and goes completely out in position 4 where it's just the neck pickup. Based on the help I got before, I should be going Bridge/Both Parallel/Both Series/Neck. Something seems to be wrong in position 1 and I think it's because the hot from the neck tone pot is always being sent to the jack? It's also possible that in position 1 I'm not actually getting sound from the neck pickup, but that tone pot still is involved. Any help is appreciated.

This is the 4-way switch I have: http://www.guitarelectronics.com/pro...k-Grigsby.html

Schematic I wired to:

[hermetico]

Re: Need help with custom wiring

I guess what you wanted is:

series/parallel for each pickup
4-way tele mod (1 position with both pickups in series).
dedicated bridge tone
dedicated neck tone
master volume

Well... if this is the case...
For this mod, the Neck pickup positive wire is always in the hot path and, therefore, the neck tone. So, the neck tone isn't just working as a dedicated neck tone but as a master tone.
If you follow the black wire from neck pickup, you will see that it goes to the tone pot, then to the switch then to the input lug of the master volume then to the jack (across the output lug of master volume).

The only way this can work is with the help of a 5-way superswitch, IMO.

[nihil67]

Re: Need help with custom wiring

I guess what you wanted is:

series/parallel for each pickup
4-way tele mod (1 position with both pickups in series).
dedicated bridge tone
dedicated neck tone
master volume

Well... if this is the case...
For this mod, the Neck pickup positive wire is always in the hot path and, therefore, the neck tone. So, the neck tone isn't just working as a dedicated neck tone but as a master tone.
If you follow the black wire from neck pickup, you will see that it goes to the tone pot, then to the switch then to the input lug of the master volume then to the jack (across the output lug of master volume).

The only way this can work is with the help of a 5-way superswitch, IMO.

I guess my other option is to take the tone out of the path completely and just have a single tone hang off volume like normal?

[hermetico]

Re: Need help with custom wiring

I guess my other option is to take the tone out of the path completely and just have a single tone hang off volume like normal?

Well, it's up to you.
If you know how it works and you still want it, preserve it as it is. I mean, you roll off the overall trebles with the neck tone and, you still roll off more for the bridge pickup.
If you find this a mess and don't want to go for a super-switch, remove one tone pot or convert it into a dedicated volume for bridge pickup.