HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

[Gilberto-frog]

Hi I have a Fender Deluxe 50th Anniversary strat (lefty) and have used a Phostenix wiring diagram to give me standard Strat single coil S-1 up and humbucking ala Les Paul S-1 down. There is some notable hum on high gain single coil. Would anyone advocate using parallel wiring rather than single coil. I have seen videos of parallel wiring demos and it is quite convincing as a pseudo-single coil sound.How would this be wired. Below is my current wiring from Phostenix' page.

HSH with S-1 for Strat or Fat Strat Type Switching



5-Way Switching:

S-1 Up:

1. Bridge Inside Coil
2. Middle & Bridge Inside Coil
3. Middle
4. Middle & Neck Outside Coil
5. Neck Ouside Coil

S-1 Down:

1. Bridge Humbucker
2. Bridge Humbucker & Middle
3. Neck & Bridge Humbuckers
4. Neck Humbucker & Middle
5. Neck Humbucker



I am also using a push-push tone pot as a blower switch to full bridge humbucker. This also doubles as a great momentary kill switch if you do not push the knob to fully engage. The tone is wired to only work on neck pickup, however is only really working as an on /off. It is fully warm till about 1/5 of the rotation and then fully bright from then on. I think I ordered a log taper (as recommended by Axcaster on Ebay) but as I am left handed the anti-clockwise rotation it will not work as intended. Would this work better as a linear pot as wiring to either outside lug (left or right handed) would give me even response on the sweep.
3rd tone control is now volume for Graphtech Ghost piezo pickup.

Advice would be appreciated.

Steve

[BriGuy1968]

Re: HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

Hi Steve, and welcome to the forum!

Parallel humbucker wiring should certainly get rid of the single-coil hum that you get with split coils, and you described it pretty well by calling it "pseudo single coil." Both sounds are noticeably thinner, brighter, and quieter than series humbucking, and they also seem to be (typically) similar in volume to one another. The big advantage of going parallel instead of split is that you get the hum-canceling. The downside is that, while parallel sounds single-coil-ish, you lose the "string character" that single coils do so well. Parallel still muffles some of the string definition, just like series, it's just thinner and quieter.

Personally I like the split coil sound better, but it's truly a matter of personal preference. My advice is to take a look at what's most important to you. If you're a humbucker-kinda-guy and are just looking for a brighter, lighter version to give you a different tone with no hum, then parallel is probably great for you. On the other hand, if you're a Strat purist who wants to be able to get his Strat to sound like single coils at the flick of a switch... right down to the hum... then split coils are the way to go.

They're both good answers, but if you decide you want to go parallel I'm sure I can come up with a diagram for you.

[Gilberto-frog]

Re: HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

Hi BriGuy1968,

Any chance of a wiring diagram for parallel on the S-1 switch in up position. Secondly, do you think the issue with my neck tone is due to a audio/log pot, bearing in mind I am left handed and there is the anti clockwise rotation?. Thanks

[BriGuy1968]

Re: HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

No problem on the diagram... gimme a minute to make some coffee and I'll dig in (was actually kinda looking for a Saturday morning project). [emoji6]☕️

As for the lefty pot issue I guess I never really thought much about it, but at least on the surface it makes sense. I'm pretty good with understanding what they're supposed to do and how to hook them up, but my working knowledge of how they actually work is limited. However, since the taper wouldn't be consistent along its length it seems logical that it would almost have to be weighted to one side or the other (unless the curve was a mirror image of itself at each end) making it backward for you southpaws. I'd try doing a little internet search about left-handed log pots, but if you can't find anything there then just try a standard pot and see if it works better for you.


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[BriGuy1968]

Re: HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

One question... I'm assuming you have the typical Strat setup of Volume, Center Tone, Neck Tone... is that correct?

EDIT: Never mind, just re-read the part about how you have them set up!

[BriGuy1968]

Re: HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

All righty, Steve, I have something that should work for you.

This has been an interesting challenge, if for no other reason than because I don't do that many that incorporate the S-1 switch... kinda fun!

Anyway, here it is:



Let me know if you have any questions or if you see something that I misunderstood... and be sure to let us know how your project comes out!


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[Mincer]

Re: HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

Wow, that looks great!

[Gilberto-frog]

Re: HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

Hey BriGuy1968
Thanks so much only just had time to glance so far. Just to mention I have the original Fender SCN pickup in the middle position. It has 3 conductor wires. Yellow is hot and there are 2 blacks. I remember reading that you reverse the phase of Seymour Duncan pups when combining with Fender. So black to Earth and green hot?

[BriGuy1968]

Re: HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

Hey BriGuy1968
Thanks so much only just had time to glance so far. Just to mention I have the original Fender SCN pickup in the middle position. It has 3 conductor wires. Yellow is hot and there are 2 blacks. I remember reading that you reverse the phase of Seymour Duncan pups when combining with Fender. So black to Earth and green hot?

Because of the parallel setup, we'd have to re-do the whole thing in order to reverse the phase of the S-D pups. It'd be easier to just reverse the Fender pickup instead. One of those black wires is ground (earth) and the other is the "finish" end of the coil. You may be able to see which one is grounded to the baseplate... the other is the finish. Reverse the yellow and finish black so that the yellow is earth and the black is hot, and that should do the trick.


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[Gilberto-frog]

Re: HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

Hi BriGuy1968,

Sorry I was beeing a little foolish describing the SCN wires. The SCN has yellow, green and black wires. Doing a Google search, it looks like the green is earth and the yellow and black are the hot. I will reverse the yellow and black.
On the same subject of the middle pickup polarity, I think this may be the cause of some extra hum/noise problems. Using the original wiring diagram by Phostenix, this is a measure of noise/hum that I am getting with fairly high gain near to amplifier:

S-1 up

Position 1 Hum ++ (as expected single coil)
Position 2 hum + (shouldn't this be quieter)
Position 3 silent (due to SCN pickup)
Position 4 hum + (shouldn't this be quieter)
Position 5 hum ++

S-1 down
Position 1 hum+ (not expected with humbucker)
Position 2 (less hum than position 1 not expected)
Position 3 hum++ (not expected with 2 humbuckers together)
Position 4 hum + (? expected)
Position 5 hum ++ (not expected with humbucker)

Also when moving the pickup selector with the blower switch engaged I am getting the following:


Blower switch S-1 up (single coil)

Position 1 hum ++ (as expected)
Position 2 hum ++ (?no signal expected)
Position 3 no signal (as expected)
Position 4 no signal (as expected)
Position 5 no signal (as expected)

Blower Switch S-1 down

Position 1 no signal (as expected)
Position 2 no signal (as expected)
Position 3 no signal (as expected)
Position 4 no signal (as expected
Position 5 no signal (as expected)

I hope you have some explanation to this. I don't understand why some of the humbucking positions are so noisy?
I will reverse the middle pup polarity to see if this helps.

[BriGuy1968]

Re: HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

Hi BriGuy1968,

Sorry I was beeing a little foolish describing the SCN wires. The SCN has yellow, green and black wires. Doing a Google search, it looks like the green is earth and the yellow and black are the hot. I will reverse the yellow and black.
On the same subject of the middle pickup polarity, I think this may be the cause of some extra hum/noise problems. Using the original wiring diagram by Phostenix, this is a measure of noise/hum that I am getting with fairly high gain near to amplifier:

S-1 up

Position 1 Hum ++ (as expected single coil)
Position 2 hum + (shouldn't this be quieter)
Position 3 silent (due to SCN pickup)
Position 4 hum + (shouldn't this be quieter)
Position 5 hum ++

S-1 down
Position 1 hum+ (not expected with humbucker)
Position 2 (less hum than position 1 not expected)
Position 3 hum++ (not expected with 2 humbuckers together)
Position 4 hum + (? expected)
Position 5 hum ++ (not expected with humbucker)

Also when moving the pickup selector with the blower switch engaged I am getting the following:


Blower switch S-1 up (single coil)

Position 1 hum ++ (as expected)
Position 2 hum ++ (?no signal expected)
Position 3 no signal (as expected)
Position 4 no signal (as expected)
Position 5 no signal (as expected)

Blower Switch S-1 down

Position 1 no signal (as expected)
Position 2 no signal (as expected)
Position 3 no signal (as expected)
Position 4 no signal (as expected
Position 5 no signal (as expected)

I hope you have some explanation to this. I don't understand why some of the humbucking positions are so noisy?
I will reverse the middle pup polarity to see if this helps.

Hmmmm... just to make sure we're on the same page, are you having these issues with the diagram I made or were these the issues you were describing in your original post with the other diagram?

• If I assume you're having these problems with the diagram I just made, I'll go back and examine it more closely for errors because you shouldn't be having any of these problems. Especially the blower since I set it up to completely bypass all the other electronics and give you full bridge humbucker directly to the jack, regardless of switch position, S-1 position, or even volume setting.

• If I assume these are your original problems, then I can't say I'm surprised that you have some noise with high gain near your amp in single coil mode. The hum associated with single coils will go in and out in volume as you approach and move away from various electrical items. I can barely stand to approach my computer desk when I'm using one of my single coil guitars because of the incessant hum! The parallel wiring should help immensely with that particular problem.

As for the issue with your blower, could you provide me with a diagram or description of how it's presently wired?

As for the humbuckers still being noisy, that has me a little baffled. Perhaps there's a ground loop or something causing the feedback. I'll take a look at your original diagram as well to see if I can see something amiss.


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[Gilberto-frog]

Re: HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

Hi BriGuy1968,

Thank you so much for your input with my problem. The reason why I considered parallel wiring for the humbuckers is due to the amount of hum. However, I do prefer the timbre of the split coil being more faithful to the single coil sound.I am well aware of the single coil hum but the extra hum from other positions is confusing, as indicated in my last post. In answer to your queery, I did indicate that I was referring to the original wiring diagram. I am attaching the wiring diagram of the blower switch.



As the black "hot" wire goes to the blower, am I right in thinking that the S-1 switch will still split the coils rather than taking the full series humbucker straight to the output jack. Also, I didn't mention that the neck tone is only working in humbucking mode (S-1 down). This is probably because I think I soldered the neck red "hot" to the tone, rather than the black and green.
The whole wiring job took me many hours. Whilst I am OK with soldering skills. It was a very fiddly job and I need to get it right if I am going to change the wiring again.

Thanks again.

[BriGuy1968]

Re: HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

Okay Steve, this is important!

DON'T WIRE UP THAT GUITAR YET!

1) I can't see anything in your diagram that would cause the unexpected hum, so I'm thinking that it could be a couple things...
• Insufficient shielding
• A wiring mistake

2) The diagram you have for the blower would be okay for a 2-wire-plus-ground humbucker, but it's set up in such a way that coil splits could cause it to stay single coil or not work at all (depending on the direction of the split). If you want it to go full humbucker no matter what other settings you're using then use my version.

3) DON'T reverse the wires on the center pickup. The diagram you started with shows using yellow for hot and it's with Seymour Duncan pickups. I'd try it that way first.

4) MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL. As I was looking over the other diagram I realized that it was saying that with the S1 switch down it was supposed to be both humbuckers, which I somehow missed the first time... so I had to completely re-do your diagram.

Welcome to version 1.1:



This should get you where you want to go!


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[Gilberto-frog]

Re: HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

Hi BriGuy1968,

Thank you again for your hard work. I notice that the S-1 switch on your diagram is 250K and the tone is 500k. My S-1 is 250K because of original single coils.I notice on the original diagram I used, that Phostenix had a 500K resistor attached to the S-1. I'm not sure how this worked. Is it used to make the volume pot 500K for humbuckers and then earthing the resistor when in single coil modes back to 250K? If so would this work on your diagram. Thanks for your help again.
Steve

[BriGuy1968]

Re: HSH S-1 and super switch parallel switching

I noticed that as well, but I honestly am not really sure what the point was of that resistor. I've never really delved into their uses much, but I'm sure I could figure it out. It may very possibly be exactly as you describe. I used a 250k S-1 because that's what your diagram showed and I assumed it was what you already had to work with. I used the 500k tone just because it's typical for humbucker guitars.

Now you've made me curious... I'll probably look into it later after I get home.


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