2 vol 2 tone 3 way blade wiring, what am I doing wrong?

R

ragestar

New member
Hi all,

I'm having some unexpected problems with wiring my 2 humbucker guitar. I've basically wired it like the '2 hum, 2 volume, 2 tone, 3 way blade' diagram on the SD website, at least so I thought. Something is wrong with my wiring, since in the middle position both volumes seem to be acting like master volumes, instead of being able to control the volume of each pickup seperately… The differences with the diagram on the SD website are that I used treble bleed caps on the volume pots (between the in and out, like it's supposed to), and I've used a Fender TBX tone control in the neck, which attaches the wire to the middle lug of the upper tone pot, instead of the left lug. Also, I used an import type 3 way blade switch which is also wired to ground, I used star grounding to the switch and from there to the output.
I'm quite experienced with wiring my own guitars, but I can't seem to get my head around what I've done wrong to get this result. Everything sounds fine, so that's not the problem, I would just like to be able to turn the volume of the neck pickup down in the middle position, which I can't without affecting the bridge volume too right now. Is there anyone who ran into this problem before, or any advice on how I should solve this so my two volume pickups work like on an LP?
 
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Re: 2 vol 2 tone 3 way blade wiring, what am I doing wrong?

Pics and a link to the diagram you used might be the fastest way to troubleshoot.
 
Re: 2 vol 2 tone 3 way blade wiring, what am I doing wrong?

it actually makes sense that when you dial down one of the volumes in the middle position, the entire volume drops. Both pickups are engaged to one common signal path and if you short out that signal, it will, eventually indeed short out the entire signal path. If you want indepenent volumes, you should use a different schematic than this one.

wiringModernInd.jpg


The difference?

Your wiring:

Lug 1 = ground
Lug 2 = switch
Lug 3 = pickup

Independent wiring:

Lug 1 = ground
Lug 2 = pickup
Lug 3 = switch

However, I personally do hear a difference when doing it this way compared to the first option.
 
Re: 2 vol 2 tone 3 way blade wiring, what am I doing wrong?

orpheo said:
it actually makes sense that when you dial down one of the volumes in the middle position, the entire volume drops. Both pickups are engaged to one common signal path and if you short out that signal, it will, eventually indeed short out the entire signal path. If you want indepenent volumes, you should use a different schematic than this one.

wiringModernInd.jpg


The difference?

Your wiring:

Lug 1 = ground
Lug 2 = switch
Lug 3 = pickup

Independent wiring:

Lug 1 = ground
Lug 2 = pickup
Lug 3 = switch

However, I personally do hear a difference when doing it this way compared to the first option.
Click to expand...

+1

It changes taper to steeper. Which can be offsetted to an extent with large resistor (80k - 200k) between pickup/switch lugs.
 
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