2 Humbuckers, 1 vol, 3-way mini, 2-way mini

[fretburner]

Hi!

I just scored a Kramer Nightswan but the previous owner installed a 2-way mini-toggle that does not seem to work. I'm planning on using this idle, "extra" mini-toggle (on/on) to go from series to parallel (or coil split, if it's easier).

Can someone help?

Below is the original wiring diagram. Just add a on/on mini-toggle to it.



This is how it looks like with the "extra" on/on mini-toggle:



Thanks!

[fretburner]

Re: 2 Humbuckers, 1 vol, 3-way mini, 2-way mini

can anyone help?

[fretburner]

Re: 2 Humbuckers, 1 vol, 3-way mini, 2-way mini

Cool stuff! Thanks!

A couple of questions though:

Is it possible that instead of having both pickups split like in the splitter diagram, that I would have them in parallel instead? I would like to retain the pickup selector to br, br+n, n on my 3-way toggle.

Also, what would be a good value for the treble bleed cap? A friend of mine told me I can do without it, but recommends doing it to "preserve" highs when I roll back on my volume knob.

By the way, my mini-toggles are on/on/on and on/on, both with 6 terminals (3 on each side).

Thanks again!

P.S. I will try the splitter mode tonight and will report back.

[fretburner]

Re: 2 Humbuckers, 1 vol, 3-way mini, 2-way mini

Well, you have both in parallel when the 3-way is in the middle position. If the splitter is down, both are working in parallel, in full humbucker mode. If the splitter is up, both are working in parallel BUT splitted.
The diagram includes your 3-way toggle switch.

is it possible - with my current setup - to do run both pickups in series with the on/on toggle down, and both pickups in parallel with the on/on toggle up? i.e. if the on/on toggle is up, my pickup switching will be bridge (in parallel), bridge+neck (in parallel) and neck (in parallel)? or do i need another mini-toggle for that?

[fretburner]

Re: 2 Humbuckers, 1 vol, 3-way mini, 2-way mini

^ Sorry for the mix up. I was referring to each pickup's coils when I was talking series/parallel.

And I was afraid you're going to say I will need another mini-toggle to be able to do bridge (coils in parallel), bridge+neck (each pups' coils in parallel), neck (coils in parallel).

I'm going to try the coil splitter first (diagram 1), then try to do the serializer (diagram 2) but with the toggle positions reversed, i.e. on/on toggle down = coils in parallel = "standard" humbucker in series operation

I will report back to you! Thanks!

[fretburner]

Re: 2 Humbuckers, 1 vol, 3-way mini, 2-way mini

The bridge pup is a Duncan Full Shred and the mid pup is a Duncan JB, which is why I'd rather go for coils in series rather than split the coils (so I'm always hum free).

While I use the bridge pup chiefly for distorted rhythm sounds, I like to switch to the neck pup for cleans if the pup has good cleans, e.g. Alnico 2 Pro on my LP. In this case, I know the JB nor the Full Shred will probably not give me that APH1 cleans, so maybe running the JB's coils in parallel might give me better cleans. Although splitting the coils seems like the easiest mod, I'd like to be hum free as much as I can.

Artie's coils swap is very interesting, but with that mod, I will be using both JB and Full Shred at all times - although different coils. I don't know what to expect if I do this (I guess I will just have to try it) - but when using my strat, I almost never use the 4th and 2nd positions, which is essentially what Artie's coil swap mod is doing.


By the way, I tried the coil splitter mod last night and I'm getting serious noise. I think it's a grounding problem. A friend of mine suggested that I ground those "free" terminals on the on/on switch?

Thanks again!

[fretburner]

Re: 2 Humbuckers, 1 vol, 3-way mini, 2-way mini

^ I grounded the pair of terminals and just taped the bottom pair on the on/on switch and the noise disappeared.

Right now, when the on/on toggle is down, I'm in full humbucker (coils in series) all the time. When the toggle is up, it splits the coils just as you describe above, i.e. when the neck pickup is selected, only the outside coil is engaged (coil nearest the neck), and when the bridge pickup is selected, the inner coil (nearer the neck) is also selected. Ideally, I would have wanted the outside coil (nearest the bridge) of the bridge humbucker engaged instead, but for now, I'm staying with this combination.

On a very minor note, the JB middle pup is oriented like it's in a bridge position, i.e. coil nearest the neck = slugs, coil nearer the bridge = screws. I don't know if it's a good idea to flip this pickup over, but at least I got the coil nearest the neck engaged when I have the coils split, which is what I wanted.

Also, I did the treble bleed mode with a .002mf ceramic cap + 100k ohm resistor... and it does work like it should, i.e. highs are still there when I roll back the volume

Kickass!

Thanks Man! You Rock!!!