5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: 5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

In that case, I think you will be quite ok with the 2 Volume Ctl design I came up with. Here again, Neck HB is in Position 1 instead of Bridge HB at Position 1, so that we can have Neck Single Alone at Position 5. The other slight compromise is that when the Neck pickup is in Splitcoil mode, its volume control will have no effect. that just means it will be at 100% of its volume output. Which shouldn't be a problem because humbucker pickups drop in volume when they are split to just 1 coil. This still gives you Neck volume ctl in the other positions (and Bridge pickup volume ctl in ALL positions that Bridge pickup is active. so you can still reap the advantage of two volume ctls in Positions 2 and 4 - although in Position 4 it is only the Bridge pickup that you can adjust out of the two pickups. I went through literally hours of iterations, and i really like this diagram because you get all the valuable combinations as well as valuable individual pickup options, without really actually *needing* to touch either of the volume knobs.

Let me know what you think.

View attachment 103664

One other benefit of having two independent volumes that I forget to mention. you can accomplish a stutter/killswitch effect by, for example, setting the neck pickup volume to zero, bridge pickup at 100%, and then flip the pickup selector switch back and forth between Positions 2 and 3.

 

[BigFeet25]

Re: 5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

Kingswebe this is fantastic and I am truly grateful for the hours of your time spent on this. I will go with this 2V approach and see how I get on. I will get my pickguard wired up and as soon as the body has been finished I will give it a go. I'll provide some feedback when I've done this. Many thanks!

 

[Artie]

Re: 5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

One other benefit of having two independent volumes that I forget to mention. you can accomplish a stutter/killswitch effect by, for example, setting the neck pickup volume to zero, bridge pickup at 100%, and then flip the pickup selector switch back and forth between Positions 2 and 3.

Hey kings, are you sure about that? I'm thinking that would only occur if the "wiper" is the output. By using the wiper as the input, the output is never shorted to ground. I think.

Btw, what software is that, that does those twisted wires? That's kinda cool.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: 5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

Hey kings, are you sure about that? I'm thinking that would only occur if the "wiper" is the output. By using the wiper as the input, the output is never shorted to ground. I think.

Btw, what software is that, that does those twisted wires? That's kinda cool.

Artie,

Good point - yes, i am not sure.

The reason I am using the wiper lug as the input from the pickup, is to support either pickup being turned down to zero, without the whole guitar going silent - which is the typical undesirable consequence that occurs when the wiper lug is wired as the output. For Big Feet's benefit who might not be familiar with these two wiring options, following is a pic from the Stewmac site that does a nice job explaining what each option does:



It seems in theory wiring this way should support the stutter effect contingent upon the user choosing the correct two pickup switch positions to toggle btw. In the example i mentioned of switching between Position 2 (both pickups are selected but only Bridge has volume control up - so only Bridge emits sound) and Position 3 (only Neck is connected but its volume is turned to zero - so there is no sound) - i believe it should work.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: 5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

Hey kings, are you sure about that? I'm thinking that would only occur if the "wiper" is the output. By using the wiper as the input, the output is never shorted to ground. I think.

Btw, what software is that, that does those twisted wires? That's kinda cool.

Artie,

The software is DIY Layout Creator. It is free. It is Java based and open source. You don't even have to install it - you download a zip of its contents, extract the contents to a folder of your choosing in your computer, and then just run the executable. No impact to your computer's registry.
One of my friends from another guitar wiring group recommended it.

http://diy-fever.com/software/diylc/

Artie, what are you using for diagram software?

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: 5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

Kingswebe this is fantastic and I am truly grateful for the hours of your time spent on this. I will go with this 2V approach and see how I get on. I will get my pickguard wired up and as soon as the body has been finished I will give it a go. I'll provide some feedback when I've done this. Many thanks!

I was happy to do it - your request happened to coincide with my recent explorations into what was possibile for coilsplits with an inherently limiting 2 pole 5 way switch. It is a credit to Seymour Duncan that the configuration they came up with in that diagram you found seems to offer the most flexiblity, as a baseline for tweaking a bit further.

For the future, a superswitch with 4 poles is really the way to go. You can get more options, place them where you want. And have 2 volume controls without restrictions. Here is an example frlm the Deaf Eddie website's Wiring Diagram page:

http://www.deaf-eddie.net/drawings/drawings.html




Back to the Two Volume diagram I came up with, if the lack of volume control on the Neck Singlecoil ends up bugging you over time, you can add a volume control for it by wiring it between the Neck pickup's Finish wire pair and where that pair connects to the pickup selector switch. That add-on volume pot can be a 4th standalone pot, *or* you can replace your current Neck volume pot with a Dual Concentric pot. A dual concentric pot has two independently functioning pots in one physical footprint. Head's up, its height is a little taller because of this. See pic below.



Also be aware that a "Dual Gang" pot is a different animal and not what you want for this scenario. A dual gang pot has 2 pots but only 1 common shaft, which allows you to control two pots simultaneously with the same knob.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: 5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

Kingswebe this is fantastic and I am truly grateful for the hours of your time spent on this. I will go with this 2V approach and see how I get on. I will get my pickguard wired up and as soon as the body has been finished I will give it a go. I'll provide some feedback when I've done this. Many thanks!

One last question for you -since starting this thread, i have gotten adept at using that wiring digram creator software, so if you want/need, i could create a version of the latest Two Volumes diagram that is specific to your 8 lugs-in-a-row switch. Just let me know.

 

[BigFeet25]

Re: 5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

Hi Kingswebe - if you could do a final diagram with your clever software that would be brilliant. Thanks again for your support. I note what you wrote about the volume pot options too!

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: 5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

Hi Kingswebe - if you could do a final diagram with your clever software that would be brilliant. Thanks again for your support. I note what you wrote about the volume pot options too!

Ok, will do an updated drawing later today.

I had an idea for a 3rd option for an "add-on" volume control for the Neck Singlecoil. At first I thought a traditional 2 pole push-pull might suffice to give you the ability to choose on-the-fly whether to control the Neck humbucker volume level or the Neck singlecoil volume level, but after doing some sketching, it lacks enough poles. However, Fender makes a 4 pole S1 push-push switch/pot that would support this. So ths would replace the current Neck volume pot. ** However, everything we have done up to now was on the basis of not using any kind of additional switches. But once we introduce a switch, there would actually be more benefit to using that switch to control the coilsplit on-off functionality vs continuing with the limited 2 pole 5 way switch to do that for us..

Like this as just one example:

Switch "Off":

Position 1: Bridge HB
Position 2: Bridge HB + Neck HB in parallel
Position 3: Neck HB

Switch "On":

Position 1: Bridge singlecoil (SC)
Position 2: Bridge SC + Neck SC in parallel
Position 3: Neck SC

Note that the above simple scenario *could* alternatively be supported by a traditional 2 pole push-pull pot /toggle switch.

Depending on personal preferenxes, there could be one slight downside to using the switch for the coilsplit functionality, in that you inherently have to use the switch more frequently to get what you want as you switch between the different pickup selector switch positions vs the 2 pole 5 way and the switch there being used only as-needed/desired to control the Neck singlecoil volume level control. Interesting stuff, huh? Haha

 

[BigFeet25]

Re: 5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

Hi Kingswebe - thanks for the detail re push-pulls and Fender S1 which I may look at further down the line. At this point I'd like to use the hardware I have to hand so these options will be in a possible future. Thanks again!

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: 5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

Hi Kingswebe - thanks for the detail re push-pulls and Fender S1 which I may look at further down the line. At this point I'd like to use the hardware I have to hand so these options will be in a possible future. Thanks again!

ok, here ya go!

 

[BigFeet25]

Re: 5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

Excellent! Thanks very much for this and all your other help,and support!
I'll come back to you with my results soon.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Re: 5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

Excellent! Thanks very much for this and all your other help,and support!
I'll come back to you with my results soon.

Great, I would appreciate hearing back.

 

[Artie]

Re: 5-way Import Switch HH Wiring / Switching Options

Artie,

The software is DIY Layout Creator. It is free. It is Java based and open source. You don't even have to install it - you download a zip of its contents, extract the contents to a folder of your choosing in your computer, and then just run the executable. No impact to your computer's registry.
One of my friends from another guitar wiring group recommended it.

http://diy-fever.com/software/diylc/

Artie, what are you using for diagram software?

Cool. I'll check that out. I use NeoPaint, from www.neosoftware.com. It's a smaller, lessor known company, but they were one of the first companies to make their program for DOS. I've been using them for that long. (Early 1990's.) One of the cool things about NeoPaint is the ability to do "stamps." In other words, once you draw a pickup, or pot, or switch, you can just stamp it anywhere in a drawing, without having to redraw it every time. But it isn't free. Not real expensive at $34. Btw, I see they've renamed it to Pixel NEO.