Re: 5 way superswitch H-S-H advice
Thanks Briguy1968 on many levels, you are indeed a monster. If you don't mind, is there a program available to make the diagram like this?
It's no problem... I enjoy doing these. It's kind of like a brainteaser to solve!
I use a freeware program called ExpresSCH, which is included when you install another program called ExpressPCB. It works pretty easily, but you have to design all your own components first, which takes some serious setup time. It only does black and white, so I then use Microsoft's Paint to add color. If you want to try it, you can download it
here. If you do that, PM me your email address and I can send you the actual file for your project.
If I was running a traditional neck pickup like the Evo neck, or PAF Pro, or 59 etc, I would pretty much just want to run everything as shown in the diagram. But with the EVO2 bridge in the neck, I was going to physically reverse it (because Vai does the same with his EVO guitar and I'd like to try it). Which compared to this diagram would be reversing the position of the neck coil that is split. I don't know if I am being clear or this makes 100% sense, but what I am trying to say is that I like the layout you have on the "settings options page" but due to the neck pickup I was going to run, wouldn't the neck pickup need to be wired the other way around? The EVO pickups have different coils so physically turning them around the other way gives a different sound, so I'd basically want to run the neck the other way, but using the same coils as you've shown in the settings options page.
I'm not really sure exactly what you're asking for here, but I think it might be because we may be using similar terms to describe different things, so let's see if I can give you a wishy-washy response that hopefully answers your question along the way!
First of all, I'm not sure how DiMarzio pickups are oriented in terms of whether the North coil is on top or not and whether they keep the same orientation for their bridge and neck pickups, or if they have any real rule of thumb at all. I just don't have any experience with them, so I need to throw out a couple of options.
First of all a review (just for clarification). Most Seymour Duncan pickups have the North on top in the bridge and on the bottom in the neck, so the pickups look like this when mounted in the guitar with the logos right-side-up:
(South)
(North)
(North)
(South)
Also for review, in order to cancel hum, you need to have a North coil paired up with a South coil, so I designed your diagram to give you hum canceling when running both humbuckers together in split mode, resulting in this:
(South)
(North)
(North)
(South)
Now we start to get into the realm of
"I wish I knew how a DiMarzio EVO2 Bridge is oriented:"
- If it's got the North coil on top and you mount it that way, you'll end up with inner coils when split instead of "top" coils.
- If it's got the North coil on top and you mount it "backwards," you'll have "top" coils when split just like in the diagram
- If it's got the South coil on top and you mount it that way, you'll have "top" coils when split just like in the diagram
- If it's got the South coil on top and you mount it "backwards," you'll end up with inner coils when split instead of "top" coils.
I guess I'm gonna suggest that you look at it that way. I honestly doubt that you'll hear much difference (if any) between inner coils and top coils because of the distance the neck pickup is from the guitar's bridge. If we were talking about the bridge pickup, it might be a different story because you CAN many times hear the difference in coils for that one, but I wouldn't worry about needing to re-wire anything because of this situation... just flip the neck pickup to whichever sound you like better. If we were to change the way that pickup splits, you would lose the hum canceling ability when running them together split unless we change the split on the bridge pup as well, which would result in changing the layout of the coils.
:smack:
EDIT: After saying all the stuff I said above, I realized that you intend to use two
identical pickups for this project... which doesn't change my end answer, but it DOES change my reasoning. :doh::27:
- If the North coil is on top and you keep them the same as each other, you'll have inner coils
- If the North coil is on top and you reverse the neck, you'll have top coils
- If the South coil is on top and you keep them the same as each other, you'll have outer coils
- If the South coil is on top and you reverse the neck, you'll have bottom coils
I suspect that the North coil is probably on top, so I'd still suggest just wiring it up according to the diagram. If it turns out that the South is actually on top and you find the bridge pickup to be too thin when split, we can re-visit this to reverse the splits.
To further complicate things, I was going to add PRS style coil split resistors of 1.1k or 2.2k to beef it up the split sound a little, and reduce a bit of the noise and bring a little of the other coil back into the sound. If I wanted to add those, I'd add them in between the switch lugs and ground, for the split wires?
Yes, that is correct except for one thing. That mod will only work on a humbucker split to the North coil (where the split wires are connected to ground), so it will only work for your bridge pickup. The neck pickup in this case is split to the South coil (where the split wires are connected hot instead), so there's just no place to put the resistor. If you want to add it to both pickups, you'll have to change the way the neck pickup splits (easy enough) but you will sacrifice the hum canceling and then reverse everything I said above about orientation.
The more I think about it, the more I like the options you've layed out on that settings options page, it's just a matter of sorting out the differences between Dimarzio vs SD colour scheme, and the neck pickup, and the PRS resistors. It seems a never ending list of complications and a bit of a headache, but I also know that once it's wired in and working I won't have to think about it anymore. I really appreciate you taking the time to draw that up, it's a really clear diagram and is very helpful. You opened my mind to this possibility of having two PP's and it creates a lot of useful options. The way I intend to use the guitar, I don't believe the disadvantage you mentioned would be a problem. If you were able to include these things, I think my search would be over in terms of the diagram but if you are busy, I might have a crack of editing it or drawing it up.
At this point, I'm not so sure you NEED a revised diagram, although I'd be willing to re-do it with DiMarzio's colors if you want. If that were the case though, after digesting this information, let's see what else (if anything) you would want to change.
