2 Way Button/Switch for H/H setup

C

CovertSovietBear

New member
Wondering if any of you know of any good switches or buttons that would fit where either the volume knob or switch on my Schecter KM7 MKI without modification. I'm planning on running two humbuckers and I want a 2 way switch/button to select either my bridge or neck pickup while bypassing the volume knob.

I've run a 3 way switch, no volume/tone and 2 humbuckers previously, of which I pulled the wiring diagram from this forum.
As for wiring, would this setup be similar to the 3 way switch method I outlined above?

For buttons mainly looking for something clickable, as in if I push it down it stays in the state until I push back up. I've seen killswitches before but the clickable state of the buttons seems to be transient.

Thanks in advance for recommendations.

Mods I'm not too active on this forum and lurk a lot but I've had this account for a while now
 
Don't know the guitar. Please describe the current knobs and switches and also what you want to achieve.

Do you want just neck or just bridge or do you want just neck, neck plus bridge or just bridge?

Do you want coil splits or just full humbuckers?

Do you want to retain volume and / or tone control(s) with the option to bypass one or both entirely or do you want to just wire the pickups directly from the switch to the output jack?

Are you open to adding an extra mini switch or two?
 
ThreeChordWonder said:
Don't know the guitar. Please describe the current knobs and switches and also what you want to achieve.

Do you want just neck or just bridge or do you want just neck, neck plus bridge or just bridge?

Do you want coil splits or just full humbuckers?

Do you want to retain volume and / or tone control(s) with the option to bypass one or both entirely or do you want to just wire the pickups directly from the switch to the output jack?

Are you open to adding an extra mini switch or two?
Click to expand...

Current configuration is 1 volume, 3 way switch, 2 humbuckers.

I don't want to retain any function other than a) select bridge pickup, or select neck pickup. Full humbuckers, no coil split function, no volume/tone. Straight bridge humbucker or straight neck humbucker. My reasoning was to have a 2 way switch to accomplish this, or a button

Desired result: 2 way switch that selects the neck or the bridge humbucker, no volume/tone knob
 
ThreeChordWonder said:
In that case just get a regular SPDT switch like the one below. One contact goes to the bridge humbucker hot, one to the neck hot and the common direct to the output jack tip. Both humbucker grounds go to the output jack sleeve and the "middle" wires on the humbuckers get soldered to each other with the bare ends insulated.

https://www.stewmac.com/electronics...h4wymBmO0FBFKOGlSzTnHXb-0dLAviHBoCOQoQAvD_BwE
Click to expand...

Thanks, exactly what I was looking for! I'll make a diagram of the wiring you described to see if I understand it correctly.
 
ThreeChordWonder said:
In that case just get a regular SPDT switch like the one below. One contact goes to the bridge humbucker hot, one to the neck hot and the common direct to the output jack tip. Both humbucker grounds go to the output jack sleeve and the "middle" wires on the humbuckers get soldered to each other with the bare ends insulated.

https://www.stewmac.com/electronics...h4wymBmO0FBFKOGlSzTnHXb-0dLAviHBoCOQoQAvD_BwE
Click to expand...

▲ ▲ ▲ This.

OP, are you absolutely sure you don't want a volume control?
In that case the center lug of the SPDT would connect to the volume pot.
Then to the output jack.

If you really don't want a volume control, IMO perhaps it should at least have an on-off switch?
Just in case...
 
eclecticsynergy said:
▲ ▲ ▲ This.

OP, are you absolutely sure you don't want a volume control?
In that case the center lug of the SPDT would connect to the volume pot.
Then to the output jack.

If you really don't want a volume control, IMO perhaps it should at least have an on-off switch?
Just in case...
Click to expand...

Thanks.
I've had my Jackson 8 string setup this way since 2015 with a single 3 way switch and a Nazgul/Sentient setup, no on/off switch or volume/tone knob. Although the ON-OFF would be cool I don't want to buy another switch if I don't have too. Would the wiring for this be anymore than complicated than say a switch/volume knob? Right now I'm inclined to just use one 2 way switch. I don't really have a function for an on/off switch currently.
 
CovertSovietBear said:
Thanks.
I've had my Jackson 8 string setup this way since 2015 with a single 3 way switch and a Nazgul/Sentient setup, no on/off switch or volume/tone knob. Although the ON-OFF would be cool I don't want to buy another switch if I don't have too. Would the wiring for this be anymore than complicated than say a switch/volume knob? Right now I'm inclined to just use one 2 way switch. I don't really have a function for an on/off switch currently.
Click to expand...

It'd be very simple - center lug of your pickup selector switch to the on-off, then from there to the output jack.
But if you don't have any use for it, you don't need one.
 
CovertSovietBear said:
Currently not planning on retaining the volume knob, I have a few plastic buttons I want to throw in there as far as the unused volume knob slot is concerned.
Click to expand...

Appreciate that. I was responding to the post about retaining a volume control, but if you don't want one, don't fit one, or just don't use the pot part of the push-pull.
 
eclecticsynergy said:
▲ ▲ ▲ This.

OP, are you absolutely sure you don't want a volume control?
In that case the center lug of the SPDT would connect to the volume pot.
Then to the output jack.

If you really don't want a volume control, IMO perhaps it should at least have an on-off switch?
Just in case...
Click to expand...
Thanks for the on-off switch suggestion, I sat on that yesterday and it actually sounds like a good idea. Would it be wired as the volume knob as you suggested above? I don't know much about electronics but would the switch be placed between the hot outputs?
That way I believe I can buy two 2-way switches, one to select a pickup and the other to serve as an on-off
 
That mini switch won't work, it will be way too small for the hole in your guitar left by removing the 3-way sw. or the vol pot.

Why not just retain the current 3-way sw, and remove everything else? Just don't use the center position (both pups). So easy to switch between up and down, bypassing the center position. You'd wire the leads of each pup to their respective lugs on the 3-way, and then directly to the output jack.
 
CovertSovietBear said:
I don't know much about electronics but would the switch be placed between the hot outputs?
That way I believe I can buy two 2-way switches, one to select a pickup and the other to serve as an on-off
Click to expand...

The two outer lugs would each get the hot lead from one pickup, and the center lug (common) will carry whichever one you select.
Signal will run from that center lug to the on/off switch*, then to the tip connection on your jack.
*In this situation, the on/off switch is taking the place of a volume pot.

If you get an SPST switch for the on/off there are only two lugs and it doesn't matter which one you use for which wire.
If you're using an SPDT just like your pickup selector, you would use the center lug and one of the two outer lugs.

For switch types, SP stands for single pole and DT means double throw.
Here's a schematic; on the SPDT you can see the center common and the two outer lugs represented:
simbol--spst-spdt.png


There are actually three different kinds of SPDT. You want a two-position SPDT (no center setting, just selects one or the other).

Three-position SPDTs come in two varieties: "center-on" (both outer terminals are connected when in center position - this is normally used for pickup selectors because middle position gives you both pickups), and "center-off" (both outer terminals are disconnected when in center position).

~

The most popular switch for guitar wiring is DPDT, which acts as two separate SPDTs controlled by a single lever (or button, slider, etc).
This has many uses and is handy to have on hand since it also can serve in place of either SPST or SPDT.
A DPST switch acts as two SPSTs side by side, controlled by a single lever or button.
Here's a schematic for all four:
%EC%8A%A4%EC%9C%84%EC%B9%98_SPST.jpg
 
Very good post. That should make it clear to everyone. The "dots" on the left of the switch are the "poles". The "dots" on the right are the "throws".

Poles are where the signal is coming from. Throws are the potential connections where the signal can go to. Think of a train track...you "throw" the switch to direct a train down one track or another. It's the same with electronic switches (certainly it can get much more complicated than that but the basic theory is the same).

A DPDT switch (like a p/p pot) is just two separate SPDT switches together in the same housing. Two poles, each switching to two throws.
 
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