Wiring help needed for two HB guitar

[ArtieToo]

You guys are way to kind. I learn more from you all, then you do from me. Guitar wiring ain't that hard.

[ArtieToo]

After additional comments die out, maybe this one belongs in the vault. Or stickied somewhere.

Maybe I should do a new thread that shows this technique in more detail. But right now, I've got two customer guitar rush jobs. Apparently, someone is still gigging.

[Jack_TriPpEr]

No, because the coil is shorted out. All of it's "coil" properties are lost when it's shorted. To be an antenna, one end must be unterminated.

Wow, Artie, did you come up with that idea yourself? i.e. have Black always routed to hot? And whenever you want to silence the pickup, you shunt White to Hot and Red to ground? Very very clever.

[ArtieToo]

I'm not sure if anyone has done it before, but I came up with that, (only when using a Superswitch), several years ago, while doodling some stuff..

[jmcorey]

So: Fig 1 is the basic schematic, so that you can see what I'm doing. In fig 2, you have the Superswitch out on your bench, where it's easy to get to. Just solder the six jumper wires on. The dark blue are just 4 vertical jumpers. The cyan is one jumper that connects 6 terminals. The purple jumper connects 6 more. Then add the black and green "flying leads", such that the black is long enough to reach to your volume pot, and the green will reach to a convenient ground.

Then, (fig 3) install the switch in the guitar and connect the pup wires, and your two flying leads. Make sense?

Artie, this is great! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Joe

[ArtieToo]

You're welcome, welcome, welcome.

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Edit: That should have been a "yes" to your first question.

No. I would never do that. (Especially since I'm the one who *****es about it the most.)

See if this diagram helps. A 4-wire humbucker has five fundamental modes of operation: Off, series, parallel, slug, and screw. This is the technique I use for doing dual humbuckers, when I have the luxury of a lever switch. Note, in this diagram that each mode is a vertical configuration, indicated by the colored blocks. And any mode can be slid left or right to get whatever sequence you desire. And any mode can be duplicated. Note that in the diagram I made for the OP, the first two positions on the neck are both "off." And, when a pup is "off", black & white are shorted together, and red & green are shorted together. But slug and screw coils aren't connected. It's the quietest humbucker wiring you can have.

In a "normal wiring scheme, when a pup is off, one side is still connected to ground, with the "hot" side unterminated. If you're someone who moves around a lot on stage, and have a really long cable, your guitar isn't actually at ground potential. You can still pick up noise. With this wiring technique, you can't. All coils that are "off", are shorted out. In any mode.

And, it makes wiring a Superswitch super easy once you get used to the technique.

Hey Artie,

I thought you might get a kick out of this.

Since i needed to rig up a rotary switch that would allow me to demo all four humbucke of a Prails pup that I will be installing in the bridge of an HSS Strat, I figured this was a good opportunity to start getting acquainted w how to implement your ideas for ensuring that there are no "potential noise making, hanging connections" per what you shared in the reply above. Even though my project doesn't really need to be noise-free because i would never leave this rotary switch permanantly installed - its just for short term demo purposes - i decided to implement it here, again just to get myself acquainted w how to actually implement your techniques.

So attached is the result. Let me know what you think.

Since the rotary is a 6 way, i had 2 other switch positions to do something with. Since i am interested in seeing how one of the Prail coils sounds in series with either the middle sc in the strat, or even the minor coil of a stack design, i decided to make positions 5 and 6 "in series" combos with any pup i choose to hook up to the rotary. Where Position 5 gives me Pup 1's slug coil/black-white wire coil plus that 2nd pup, and Position 6 gives me Pup 1's screw coil/red-green wires coil plus that 2nd pup.

I hope by end of the weekend I will have been able to wire up this rotary and have installed and demo'd it in my guitar.

Thanks again for sharing that noise-prevention idea, Artie!

[ArtieToo]

Cool. I like rotary switches. They offer a lot of options in a simple round hole.

[jmcorey]

You're welcome, welcome, welcome.

Hey, got it wired up, and it works like a charm. So thanks again.

CC Bridge, Jazz Neck

Additionally, I wasn't clear enough about position 4, where I wanted the bridge coils in series with the neck coils in parallel. But your explanations were so clear, that I was able to figure out how to do that myself. Kudos again!

[ArtieToo]

Excellent. Glad to hear you got it worked out. CC/Jazz isn't a combo we hear about a lot.

[jmcorey]

OK, now a problem.

Getting hum in position 3 (Both pickups)
Position 2 shorted out (Bridge in Parallel).

I think that my soldering job is sloppy. The wiring I have to connect things is too thick.

What gauge wire do you like to solder, and where can I get it (now that Radio Shack no longer has stores).

Thanks....

[ArtieToo]

I try to use something between 20 - 24 gauge. But, I also have boxes and boxes of wire from all my years dealing in electronics. Old computer cables, like parallel and printer cables are good. You strip the outer sheath off and use the smaller wire inside. For small quantities, GuitarElectronics has some nice wire.

I'll look over your wiring scheme again and see if I see anything wrong.

[beaubrummels]

If you did the wiring seen in the rotary switch drawing, it will always have some hum in positions 3-6 because it's either 1 coil or combining 1 coil of one pickup with the other humbucking pickup, rather than combining two humbucking pickups. As soon as you split a humbucking pickup to one coil, you lose the humbucking and introduce single coil noise. It requires an even number of coils at all times to maintain the humbucking.

[Jack_TriPpEr]

If you did the wiring seen in the rotary switch drawing, it will always have some hum in positions 3-6 because it's either 1 coil or combining 1 coil of one pickup with the other humbucking pickup, rather than combining two humbucking pickups. As soon as you split a humbucking pickup to one coil, you lose the humbucking and introduce single coil noise. It requires an even number of coils at all times to maintain the humbucking.

That is correct about 60 cycle noise being present in positions that feature just one coil or an uneven number of coils. However, that same issue also exists in the diagram Artie provided, in the "slug coil only" and "screw coil only" positions. So it is not an issue just in the rotary diagram.

So just to clarify the intent of Artie's diagram, it was NOT seeking to prevent noise from 60 cycle hum. That is unavoidable with lone coils and combinations that have an uneven number of coils, as i wrote a couple sentences back. Instead, Artie's diagram's target was to eliminate RFI noise due hanging wires acting as antennae. There are 2 different types of potential noise in a guitar circuit, and each has different causes and handlings.

[jmcorey]

If you did the wiring seen in the rotary switch drawing, it will always have some hum in positions 3-6 because it's either 1 coil or combining 1 coil of one pickup with the other humbucking pickup, rather than combining two humbucking pickups. As soon as you split a humbucking pickup to one coil, you lose the humbucking and introduce single coil noise. It requires an even number of coils at all times to maintain the humbucking.

I used a 5 way super switch, using Artie's original diagram.

I suspect sloppy soldering.