Mini Humbuckers + P90 wiring setup

[croge32]

Hello,
I just bought a JB Jr, Little 59, and a Phat Cat that I'm swapping into my MIM HSS Strat, and I've had a lot of difficulty finding a wiring diagram that totally describes putting 2 mini humbuckers + 1 P90 single coil together, so I was wondering if anyone had advice for how to best combine these pickups?

I am putting the mini humbuckers in the neck/middle and the phat cat in the bridge.

I figured I'll probably want two 250k push/pull pots for the tones so that I can split the humbuckers, and then I know I'll need at least one (or two? Unsure) .047 uF caps, as well as a 5 way superswitch. I was deciding between doing a concentric 250k/500k volume pot VS just compromising and using something like a 300k pot, probably leaning towards the 300 for simplicity.

My question is mostly if this sounds sensible or if I'm leaving anything out? Also, would following any HSH diagram give me a decent guide to start with? I'm very new to wiring pickups and this will be my first time hooking up all new pickups and pots from scratch! Thanks for any help!

[Mincer]

Welcome to the forum!
What an interesting setup. What made you decide on the JB Jr in the neck? You may have to be careful, as it can easily get louder than the Little 59 or Phat Cat.

[jeremy]

assuming you got the neck versions of the two single coil size buckers, you should be able to dial things in ok. i think a 300k volume is a better choice than a concentric pot in this case. id also suggest using the push/pull pots to put the lil 59 and jb jr in parallel rather than splitting, the tone is similar but i prefer the tone of parallel and its still humcancelling. although i suppose it depends on what you intend to do with the super switch. i prefer a .02 cap (you only need one, though they are cheap) but thats a matter of taste

[croge32]

assuming you got the neck versions of the two single coil size buckers, you should be able to dial things in ok. i think a 300k volume is a better choice than a concentric pot in this case. id also suggest using the push/pull pots to put the lil 59 and jb jr in parallel rather than splitting, the tone is similar but i prefer the tone of parallel and its still humcancelling. although i suppose it depends on what you intend to do with the super switch. i prefer a .02 cap (you only need one, though they are cheap) but thats a matter of taste

Yup they're both neck/middle mini hums. I just intended to use the super switch for a typical neck, neck/middle, middle, middle/bridge, bridge sort of setup, although with this setup I think there may be issues with the middle/bridge position. I suppose I'd want to split the middle humbucker to pair with the bridge P90 in that scenario?

Definitely sounds like I'm gonna go with the 300k volume pot though!

[croge32]

Welcome to the forum!
What an interesting setup. What made you decide on the JB Jr in the neck? You may have to be careful, as it can easily get louder than the Little 59 or Phat Cat.

Thank you!
Honestly I'm not sure haha, I just wanted some interesting and different sounds compared to what I'm used to in this guitar. I felt like the Little 59 and JB Jr would be able to handle fuzz well and I also was interested in a p90 sound so I just figured I'd go for it and see what happens! Based on this, would you say the Little 59 is a better fit for the neck than the JB Jr?

[GuitarDoc]

First of all, I think you meant "single coil sized humbuckers" rather than "mini humbuckers" (a TOTALLY different pickup in every respect).

2nd, IMO the single sized buckers tend to sound much warmer than their big brothers and going with 250k pots, especially with .047 caps is a big mistake. I agree with Jeremy that 300k (or even 500k pots, my personal preference) and .02 caps is a better choice. I also agree that the parallel sound is a bit better than the split sound, and you'll still get hum cancelling.

What "issues" are you expecting with the middle/bridge position?

[Mincer]

Thank you!
Honestly I'm not sure haha, I just wanted some interesting and different sounds compared to what I'm used to in this guitar. I felt like the Little 59 and JB Jr would be able to handle fuzz well and I also was interested in a p90 sound so I just figured I'd go for it and see what happens! Based on this, would you say the Little 59 is a better fit for the neck than the JB Jr?

Well, the neck JB Jr is a possibility, but it is still a really hot neck pickup that might overpower the other pickups. In the end, it really depends on what you want out of a neck pickup. The Little 59 has a lot more mids than a JB Jr. Both of them handle fuzz well, though! It depends on the EQ you want.

[zionstrat]

Well, the neck JB Jr is a possibility, but it is still a really hot neck pickup that might overpower the other pickups. In the end, it really depends on what you want out of a neck pickup. The Little 59 has a lot more mids than a JB Jr. Both of them handle fuzz well, though! It depends on the EQ you want.

I'm 100% behind experimenting because that's the best way to learn... however you are describing a relatively common configuration if you solo off the neck.

The JB Jr in the neck is going to be loud and will have plenty of umph if you like thick fat solos.

And agreed with the other posters.. if you go with parallel, you could make the neck default to parallel. That will make it closer to the other pups in series but when when you switch it into series it will go ballistic.

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