3 Humbuckers 5-way mega switch

[ratiug]

I am having trouble finding a schematic for 3 Humbuckers and a 5-way mega switch wiring.
All three pickups will be the same and have the same north and south orientation .
Pos. 1- bridge humbucker
Pos. 2- bridge N coil + middle S coil (in series)
Pos. 3- middle humbucker
Pos. 4- middle N coil + neck S coil ( in series)
Pos. 5 - neck humbucker
All positions humbucking
Thanks
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[Artie]

Did you have a specific Mega switch in mind? (There's different models.) Or are you using that term generically to mean a Superswitch?

The Superswitch would make the diagram much easier.

 

[ratiug]

Super switch is fine

 

[Artie]

Great. Also, I always have trouble thinking in terms of N & S coils. Could you specify #2 and #4 as screw and stud?

I assume you'll want the #2 and #4 positions to remain humbucking. That is, screw coil with stud coil. So, will you want neck screw with middle stud, and middle screw with bridge stud? Or vice-versa?

 

[ratiug]

Yes all positions humbucking.
and all pickups are exactly the same ( all neck humbuckers)
all screws toward bridge
Screw-slug. Screw-slug, screw slug
Pos 1 br hum
Pos 2 br slug + mid screw in series
Pos 3 mid hum
Pos 4 mid slug + neck screw in series
pos 5 neck hum
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[Artie]

Cool. Doodling it now. Doing the series thang makes it a bit more complicated.

 

[ratiug]

I believe I figured it out

 

[ratiug]

Forgive the crude drawing but I believe this is it

 

[Artie]

I finished it while you were "doodling." This should do it. A couple notes:

There are a couple connections that aren't strictly needed, but prevent a coil from "floating", disconnected in the circuit, and risking noise:

The middle white to #1 and #5.
The neck red to #1, #2, and #3.
The bridge white to #2, #3, and #5.

They're redundant, but may help prevent noise. (Diagram in next post in case I need to edit this one. Forum software still messed up.)

Edit: See. Already. If you want to rotate the bridge for the normal "stud-to-center", it doesn't sonically change anything. Everything will still work as drawn, and remain humbucking.

 

[Artie]

This:

 

[Artie]

Forgive the crude drawing but I believe this is it

That's a little hard to follow since you have the right side of the switch reversed. Also, there's no need to switch any of the grounds.

Edit: That sounded a bit more critical than I had intended. I love it when someone works to figure out their own problem.

 

[Artie]

This might help to clarify why there are no switched grounds. In the #1, #3, and #5 positions, you just have the normal humbuckers. So all grounds can be connected as normal.

In the #2 and #4 positions, I use the middle screw coil as the grounded side of the humbucker. So again, it's ground stays connected as it would when it's used by itself.

 

[ratiug]

Very interesting, I have a guitar with 3 humbuckers wired one of these ways. I am gonna have to open it up and take a look.
I think it has the movable grounds but I cant recall at the moment. I like in your drawing in position #2 and #4 the distance between coils gets greater more so in #4, I will have to see how it sounds.

 

[Artie]

Yes, but remember, you can rotate (physically) the bridge around 180 deg's to have the stud coil closest to the middle pup without affecting anything. It's purely cosmetic.

 

[ratiug]

Good to know, thanks