Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

[oshiwei]

Hey Everyone. I'm trying to wire an Invader humbucker at the bridge, SSL-5 rwrp in the middle, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b at the neck. I want to have 3 tones, 1 vol, and a 5 way switch. But I can't seem to find any diagrams that help me to better understand how to do this. Any help is appreciated.

[shadowfire90]

Re: Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

here you go, I've actually never used an SSL-5 but I'm 99% sure it's a 2 wire single coil. I'm half asleep.

This uses Seymour Duncan color code
I've included the autosplit mod you usually find on Ibanez guitars to provide hum cancellation in positions 2 and 4. It converts the bridge and neck pickups into single coils so similar to a strat 2nd and 4th position. Without it the guitar would hum in everything but position 1 and 5.

I'd go for a 500k tone pot for the invader to bring up the volume and brightness of it as without it you'll get the wrong potential tone out of the invader.

Capacitor values up to you. I like 0.022uf to 0.033uf as the invader is quite a dark pickup so lower valued capacitors are a good thing especially since polyester capacitors from Thailand are pretty much a dime a dozen.

If you've got an import switch how the order of the wires is 13500135 , so take the contacts on the right and just put them below. The first wiring diagram I found on my computer closest to it is below.
anyways good luck on this project any way I can make this better let me know I spend more time writing the replies than drawing out the diagrams

[oshiwei]

Re: Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

here you go, I've actually never used an SSL-5 but I'm 99% sure it's a 2 wire single coil. I'm half asleep.

This uses Seymour Duncan color code
I've included the autosplit mod you usually find on Ibanez guitars to provide hum cancellation in positions 2 and 4. It converts the bridge and neck pickups into single coils so similar to a strat 2nd and 4th position. Without it the guitar would hum in everything but position 1 and 5.

I'd go for a 500k tone pot for the invader to bring up the volume and brightness of it as without it you'll get the wrong potential tone out of the invader.

Capacitor values up to you. I like 0.022uf to 0.033uf as the invader is quite a dark pickup so lower valued capacitors are a good thing especially since polyester capacitors from Thailand are pretty much a dime a dozen.

If you've got an import switch how the order of the wires is 13500135 , so take the contacts on the right and just put them below. The first wiring diagram I found on my computer closest to it is below.
anyways good luck on this project any way I can make this better let me know I spend more time writing the replies than drawing out the diagrams
[ATTACH=CONFIG]101482[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]101484[/ATTACH]

Thank you. This is amazing! I have been searching the Internet for over 2 weeks and this is the first 3 tone diagram I have seen. If I could ask one more question, I was thinking of using all 500k pots and a 0.022uf orange drop on the bridge humbucker and the neck hot stack plus and a 0.047uf orange drop on the SSL-5. Do you have any thoughts or recommendations on this? My goal is to have a sort of David Gilmouresque tone that I can combine with either of the other two pick-ups if I want to, but also be able to use each pick-up separately, while allowing for independent tone adjustment. Do I absolutely need a 250k pot for the SSL-5? Will a 500k make it too high pitched/not warm enough?

[shadowfire90]

Re: Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

What is great is I draw these diagrams out myself. It took a while but what I ended up doing is drawing over a bunch of diagrams and use the old stock images lets call them like templates.

I'll put stuff in bold to make it easier to skim through as I like to be as descriptive as possible.

to use the outer 2 pickups or all 3 you want to include the 7 way mod. David has had it on his black strat since roughly 1972. They document his guitar really well on a website called gilmourish. I'm a big pink floyd fan myself. To do this use either a mini toggle or push pull potentiometer. If your tone control is say B250k, make sure your push pull pot is B250k and the guitar will react the same. Pickguards use 15mm potentiometers. On a classic vibe an import push pull will do the trick as it will not require any widening of the holes on the pickguard. The ones I used to get from IKNMusic (ebay) just remember to cut off the tab with some cheap wire cutters that keeps the pot on the pickguard I'll have to take a photo of what I mean. You would be able to still have control over the seperate tone controls. To my understanding. Correct me if I'm wrong of course turning the middle tone in position 4 would warm up the entire guitar signal of both pickups.

there are other tone control alternatives such as the spin a split mod and so forth I'll get to at another reply. if warmth is an issue I've got you covered near the end

You can use 500k pots for the SSL-5
you could even use 1m (1000k). It affects the volume and brightness of the guitar. To see and experience this the easiest way if you've got a cheap guitar wire it up with just the volume and watch how the guitar reacts when turning the volume down. With just a 500k volume you'll notice the guitar is much brighter and as you turn the volume down to say half way is what 250k would sound like in a guitar. Not the best test and a waste of perfectly good solder but to prove a point.

I say try out what is in the guitar. If not a 500k pot for the single coil could work as I usually trust what the pickup makers were going for as I'm sure the SSL-5 was intended for 250k pots. However. Just like the infamous Seymour Duncan JB there is a ton of guys who go with different pot values to better suit their taste. At the end of the day it's how we play right or what we like.

David has had his black strat copper shielded. However if your guitar has the flat black paint and a ground loop drilled into it don't worry about it. The metal loop drilled in you'll see in FMIC (Fender) guitars such as Squiers and import Jackson guitars from India and Japan. If you don't use copper tape. Cover the entire guitar control cavity in it. If it's one of those guitars without a pickguard and individual routings similar to my washburn link them together with some wire and solder. Copper shielding and the conductive paint both provide more clairty. It won't eliminate 60 cycle hum but if people want to see a guitar without it one of those DHGate or similar "gibson" guitars are hornets nests without it even after a pickup swap to something people want from a local shop.

to get the most brightness out of the guitar for great clean tones the blower switch the internet calls it will help. This sends the guitar signal directly to the amp. It's not like going from another brick in the wall to marooned in terms of brightness but I found use out of it. Especially with the invader unless someone adjusted the pole pieces on the invader with an allen key the same one on floyd roses to lock the nuts or strings. I found the invader to be quite dark. Same principal applies to invaders. This is how to brighten one up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXIggQxlAhc

This is how capacitors and potentiometers work in your guitar I have had this conversation probably 5-10 times a month at one time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCzZfKY2QM0&t=1s

Personally I'd grab a bunch of polyester capacitors from Tayda2009 (ebay) in a few different values. High end capacitors I wanted to believe in but assuming you get the same exact value when you measure them they do nothing with the lack of heat changes or anything even a cheap capacitor will do the same job a bumblebee or black beauty would. A lot of youtubers get one of each say a tropical fish, a ceramic disc (worst for guitars) , something from USSR and so forth all the same values and the difference you hear is the actual measurement of the capacitor as just because the capacitor says 0.022uf (22nf) the tolerance (accuracy) matters way more. If I got a bag of 0.047uf capacitors and measured them or put them on a varitone I'm sure people would hear a difference.

It's cheaper and easier to go above or below a recommended value. These are what I've usually got in stock for my projects. I'll focus on nanofarads as it's a bigger and easier to remember number.
0.01uf (10nf) , 0.022uf (22nf) 0.033uf (33nf) , 0.047uf (47nf) and 0.1uf (100nf)

say the pickup needs a slight bit more warmth - anything above 47nf
say a humbucker needs a slight bit more brightness - the lower than 47nf such as 22nf and 10nf - jimmy page for instance used 22nf and 15nf in some blogs I read in his les pauls
or just do this mod I mention all the time on here to get more brightness


anyways I think that is a good start for your questions. Keep them coming I actually enjoy answering questions like this. If anyone else wants to jump in go for it.

[oshiwei]

Re: Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

What is great is I draw these diagrams out myself. It took a while but what I ended up doing is drawing over a bunch of diagrams and use the old stock images lets call them like templates.

I'll put stuff in bold to make it easier to skim through as I like to be as descriptive as possible.

to use the outer 2 pickups or all 3 you want to include the 7 way mod. David has had it on his black strat since roughly 1972. They document his guitar really well on a website called gilmourish. I'm a big pink floyd fan myself. To do this use either a mini toggle or push pull potentiometer. If your tone control is say B250k, make sure your push pull pot is B250k and the guitar will react the same. Pickguards use 15mm potentiometers. On a classic vibe an import push pull will do the trick as it will not require any widening of the holes on the pickguard. The ones I used to get from IKNMusic (ebay) just remember to cut off the tab with some cheap wire cutters that keeps the pot on the pickguard I'll have to take a photo of what I mean. You would be able to still have control over the seperate tone controls. To my understanding. Correct me if I'm wrong of course turning the middle tone in position 4 would warm up the entire guitar signal of both pickups.

there are other tone control alternatives such as the spin a split mod and so forth I'll get to at another reply. if warmth is an issue I've got you covered near the end

You can use 500k pots for the SSL-5
you could even use 1m (1000k). It affects the volume and brightness of the guitar. To see and experience this the easiest way if you've got a cheap guitar wire it up with just the volume and watch how the guitar reacts when turning the volume down. With just a 500k volume you'll notice the guitar is much brighter and as you turn the volume down to say half way is what 250k would sound like in a guitar. Not the best test and a waste of perfectly good solder but to prove a point.

I say try out what is in the guitar. If not a 500k pot for the single coil could work as I usually trust what the pickup makers were going for as I'm sure the SSL-5 was intended for 250k pots. However. Just like the infamous Seymour Duncan JB there is a ton of guys who go with different pot values to better suit their taste. At the end of the day it's how we play right or what we like.

David has had his black strat copper shielded. However if your guitar has the flat black paint and a ground loop drilled into it don't worry about it. The metal loop drilled in you'll see in FMIC (Fender) guitars such as Squiers and import Jackson guitars from India and Japan. If you don't use copper tape. Cover the entire guitar control cavity in it. If it's one of those guitars without a pickguard and individual routings similar to my washburn link them together with some wire and solder. Copper shielding and the conductive paint both provide more clairty. It won't eliminate 60 cycle hum but if people want to see a guitar without it one of those DHGate or similar "gibson" guitars are hornets nests without it even after a pickup swap to something people want from a local shop.

to get the most brightness out of the guitar for great clean tones the blower switch the internet calls it will help. This sends the guitar signal directly to the amp. It's not like going from another brick in the wall to marooned in terms of brightness but I found use out of it. Especially with the invader unless someone adjusted the pole pieces on the invader with an allen key the same one on floyd roses to lock the nuts or strings. I found the invader to be quite dark. Same principal applies to invaders. This is how to brighten one up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXIggQxlAhc

This is how capacitors and potentiometers work in your guitar I have had this conversation probably 5-10 times a month at one time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCzZfKY2QM0&t=1s

Personally I'd grab a bunch of polyester capacitors from Tayda2009 (ebay) in a few different values. High end capacitors I wanted to believe in but assuming you get the same exact value when you measure them they do nothing with the lack of heat changes or anything even a cheap capacitor will do the same job a bumblebee or black beauty would. A lot of youtubers get one of each say a tropical fish, a ceramic disc (worst for guitars) , something from USSR and so forth all the same values and the difference you hear is the actual measurement of the capacitor as just because the capacitor says 0.022uf (22nf) the tolerance (accuracy) matters way more. If I got a bag of 0.047uf capacitors and measured them or put them on a varitone I'm sure people would hear a difference.

It's cheaper and easier to go above or below a recommended value. These are what I've usually got in stock for my projects. I'll focus on nanofarads as it's a bigger and easier to remember number.
0.01uf (10nf) , 0.022uf (22nf) 0.033uf (33nf) , 0.047uf (47nf) and 0.1uf (100nf)

say the pickup needs a slight bit more warmth - anything above 47nf
say a humbucker needs a slight bit more brightness - the lower than 47nf such as 22nf and 10nf - jimmy page for instance used 22nf and 15nf in some blogs I read in his les pauls
or just do this mod I mention all the time on here to get more brightness
[ATTACH=CONFIG]101498[/ATTACH]

anyways I think that is a good start for your questions. Keep them coming I actually enjoy answering questions like this. If anyone else wants to jump in go for it.

This is great! Way more than I hoped for. But I just want to make sure I understand you diagrams correctly. In the first diagram, is it red and white and green and bare together?

[shadowfire90]

Re: Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

You're correct. Other than a few really strange or obscure diagrams what feels like 90% of the time pickups don't shy away from their usual factory suggested color codes.

black is your hot lead - to the switch
red and white - together for the coilsplit
green and bare together for the grounding

In photoshop it's difficult to do a really good white so I've been experimenting with a new technique for more solid lines but I'm thinking of going back to the usual shadow like glow I've been using in diagrams for what feels like 5 years.

here's my other wiring diagrams but as always anything you need drawn out feel free to send me a private message or post another thread on the forum as there is a lot of brilliant people that pass through here every day. This is my imgur page. It's like photobucket. Some of the more ambitious stuff I grouped together like my 12 and 24 tone wirings you've got to use needle nose pliers with in one hand so you won't burn yourself. All are seymour duncan color code so save and share them where you want.

https://imgur.com/user/anythinganyone123

[oshiwei]

Re: Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

You're correct. Other than a few really strange or obscure diagrams what feels like 90% of the time pickups don't shy away from their usual factory suggested color codes.

black is your hot lead - to the switch
red and white - together for the coilsplit
green and bare together for the grounding

In photoshop it's difficult to do a really good white so I've been experimenting with a new technique for more solid lines but I'm thinking of going back to the usual shadow like glow I've been using in diagrams for what feels like 5 years.

here's my other wiring diagrams but as always anything you need drawn out feel free to send me a private message or post another thread on the forum as there is a lot of brilliant people that pass through here every day. This is my imgur page. It's like photobucket. Some of the more ambitious stuff I grouped together like my 12 and 24 tone wirings you've got to use needle nose pliers with in one hand so you won't burn yourself. All are seymour duncan color code so save and share them where you want.
https://imgur.com/user/anythinganyone123

I just realized that the Hot Stack Plus actually only has 4 wires red, white, black, and bare. Do I just follow the same wiring and ignore the fact that there is no green wire?

Also, I should probably not be lazy and should shield my tremolo cavity, too. Right?

[shadowfire90]

Re: Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

Someone else yesterday mentioned a 3 wire seymour duncan a few posts ago so your timing couldn't be better.

To my understanding the black wire is your ground, white is your standard hot lead (to the switch) and red is your coilsplit going to the second part of the switch to do the autosplit mod. Which is the right hand side wire #2.

However correct me if I'm wrong guys

[oshiwei]

Re: Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

Someone else yesterday mentioned a 3 wire seymour duncan a few posts ago so your timing couldn't be better.

To my understanding the black wire is your ground, white is your standard hot lead (to the switch) and red is your coilsplit going to the second part of the switch to do the autosplit mod. Which is the right hand side wire #2.

However correct me if I'm wrong guys

The weird thing is that this is the wiring diagram that came with the STK-S9b. It has four wires. Not sure if you recommend split-coil or hum-cancelling on this.

[shadowfire90]

Re: Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

Try the autosplit mod first as the red wire is your coilsplit. If you want to coilsplit just the bridge or neck the cheapest alternative is the spin a split mod. This is great if you don't plan to use both tone controls. This is a good example of it.

take the capacitor out of a tone conrol and replace it with the red (or red and white on 4 wire pickups) wires of a pickup and you create this.

[oshiwei]

Re: Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

I apologize. I don't understand what you mean by "take the capacitor out of a tone conrol and replace it with the red (or red and white on 4 wire pickups)".

[shadowfire90]

Re: Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

With the wiring modification I suggested it's an optional one. You would be able to turn the invader or the neck pickup into a single coil with that "spin a split mod" which is quite a popular modification on forums I've seen. This is a cheap and easy way to see if you coilsplitting a pickup is worth it.

I like to suggest this as you don't have to buy anything different.

What I meant by "Take out the capacitor" is you notice how the tone capacitor is on the left hand side of the pots? Well to turn a tone control into what is called a "spin a split" you remove the capacitor and replace it with the red and white (invader) or red wire by itself on the 3 wire single coil. The difference of this versus a coilsplit is you can adjust the amount of coilsplit you want out of that particular pickup.

The only down side is you would have to have two tone controls wired to the same pot the fender telecaster way. The best approach to this is doing a combination of bridge/neck tone on one pot and middle on the other. What this allows you to do is get the most versatility in all positions as the bridge and neck are almost never together without the other modification to use the bridge/neck or all 3 pickups together.

[oshiwei]

Re: Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

With the wiring modification I suggested it's an optional one. You would be able to turn the invader or the neck pickup into a single coil with that "spin a split mod" which is quite a popular modification on forums I've seen. This is a cheap and easy way to see if you coilsplitting a pickup is worth it.

I like to suggest this as you don't have to buy anything different.

What I meant by "Take out the capacitor" is you notice how the tone capacitor is on the left hand side of the pots? Well to turn a tone control into what is called a "spin a split" you remove the capacitor and replace it with the red and white (invader) or red wire by itself on the 3 wire single coil. The difference of this versus a coilsplit is you can adjust the amount of coilsplit you want out of that particular pickup.

The only down side is you would have to have two tone controls wired to the same pot the fender telecaster way. The best approach to this is doing a combination of bridge/neck tone on one pot and middle on the other. What this allows you to do is get the most versatility in all positions as the bridge and neck are almost never together without the other modification to use the bridge/neck or all 3 pickups together.

So, in your diagrams I just ignore the green wire for the SSL-5, given that there isn’t one?

[oshiwei]

Re: Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

So, in your diagrams I just ignore the green wire for the SSL-5, given that there isn’t one?

Sorry, I meant for the Hot Stack Plus. There are only black, bare, red, and white wires. So I just ignore the green on your diagram?

[shadowfire90]

Re: Help wiring Invader, SSL-5 rwrp, Hot Stack Plus STK-S9b 3 tones, 1 vol, and 5 way

Do you have a multimeter by any chance? This is a great tutorial to be 100% sure

I'd like to imagine ignore the green wire - bare to ground
black - hot lead (top left of switch)
red - autosplit mod

with a multimeter
place one part of the multimeter on the bare wire , then the other to the colored wires
the higher number of resistance is the pickups highest output , the lower one is the coilsplit

this starts off with guitar cables but becomes useful near the end