BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

[Gstring]

Am seeking wring ideas from wiring Gurus who have experience of or ideas for 3 Humbucker guitars.

I am helping the daughter of a friend to make her Epi Black Beauty a bit more playable and user friendly . As the young lady is a student at Uni there is no budget for upgrades but I suspect we will somehow need to find some better tuners to improve poor tuning stability.

I plan on smoothing the fret ends and giving them a good polish ,cleaning the nut by wiping 1200 grade thru around the strings, check the setup plus some new strings and improve the wiring.

Currently the hot wire of the middle Bucker seems to connect to the input on the neck vol pot via the neck tone control. . This means it's always “on” with the Neck pup so you get 1. Neck and Middle 2. All 3 Buckers 3. Bridge alone. I am sure this can be easily improved upon. The solder does not look factory so I do not know if this is standard wiring for this model.

2 options immediately come to mind.

1. Have only a single master tone and use the spare tone pot as a 3rd vol pot for the middle pup. Possibly with a push pull to disconnect the middle pups hot wire from the circuit to prevent bleed.

2. A variation of the existing wring whereby a push pull swaps the middle pup hot wire from the Neck to the Bridge...This gives the additional option of Neck pup alone and Bridge plus Middle. There are 2 further variations of this if Middle pup alone is wanted as an option. Wiring either the neck and middle to the 3 way and adding the Bridge via the push pull or wiring bridge and middle to the 3 way and adding the Neck via the push pull. .



This is the very first time I have actually held a 3 bucker guitar in my hands let alone worked on ones so would welcome input.

I would have liked to add an OOP option but am aware this is an absolute No No with 2 wire covered Buckers. Obviously had these been 4 wire buckers lots of options would have been available with coil swaps and cuts. But they aint.

 

[Ayrton]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

I would suggest looking at the nut for any tuning issues. The tuners are almost never the problem.

As far as the middle pickup, either leave it connected as is, or remove it from the circuit entirely. Unless she has some desire for the middle humbucker, just remove it from the equation and make her life easier.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

Understand what Aryton was suggesting, but I would go the other direction and would do the always on with push pull switching the middle in and out.

Most people haven't tried Lps with the mid pup with bridge or neck, but there are some wonderful tones... Not as quacky as a strat, but very useful tones.

Sent from my Moto Z3 Play using Tapatalk

 

[Aceman]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

I LOVE dropping the middle pup on with the bridge for a thick/full rhythm sound that isn't as fat/boomy as the neck. Also - I though those were almost always standard wired Bridge/Bridge+Middle/Neck???

My call:
Standard 3 way switch: Bridge/Bridge+Neck/Neck
Master tone - Volume for middle
All combinations available, continuously bendable on the fly. Bridge and you want a little middle? Blend it in.


I personally have no trouble with this, but I don't do a ton of pup changing on the fly in a song. I like to set the volume and use the switch. example:

Youth Gone Wild
Bridge vol = 10
Neck vol = ~3

When I switch to both on I get an instant reduction in gain for a clean verse, then his the switch to roar back in. I set the vol before song starts.

As I said - the real question is how are YOU going to use it?

 

[Davii]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

I've a Freeway switch for my HHH, though one I sorted for a customer kept the standard 3-way switch, 2 volume, 2 tone, with a push/pull switch to swap the bridge pickup with the middle.

 

[audiocheck]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

Am seeking wring ideas from wiring Gurus who have experience of or ideas for 3 Humbucker guitars.

I am helping the daughter of a friend to make her Epi Black Beauty a bit more playable and user friendly . As the young lady is a student at Uni there is no budget for upgrades but I suspect we will somehow need to find some better tuners to improve poor tuning stability.

I plan on smoothing the fret ends and giving them a good polish ,cleaning the nut by wiping 1200 grade thru around the strings, check the setup plus some new strings and improve the wiring.

Currently the hot wire of the middle Bucker seems to connect to the input on the neck vol pot via the neck tone control. . This means it's always “on” with the Neck pup so you get 1. Neck and Middle 2. All 3 Buckers 3. Bridge alone. I am sure this can be easily improved upon. The solder does not look factory so I do not know if this is standard wiring for this model.

2 options immediately come to mind.

1. Have only a single master tone and use the spare tone pot as a 3rd vol pot for the middle pup. Possibly with a push pull to disconnect the middle pups hot wire from the circuit to prevent bleed.

2. A variation of the existing wring whereby a push pull swaps the middle pup hot wire from the Neck to the Bridge...This gives the additional option of Neck pup alone and Bridge plus Middle. There are 2 further variations of this if Middle pup alone is wanted as an option. Wiring either the neck and middle to the 3 way and adding the Bridge via the push pull or wiring bridge and middle to the 3 way and adding the Neck via the push pull. .



This is the very first time I have actually held a 3 bucker guitar in my hands let alone worked on ones so would welcome input.

I would have liked to add an OOP option but am aware this is an absolute No No with 2 wire covered Buckers. Obviously had these been 4 wire buckers lots of options would have been available with coil swaps and cuts. But they aint.

View attachment 95568

A no upgrade solution, is one I did on an Epiphone Firebird 7.

Make the Bridge pickup Volume, the Master Volume. Leave the Bridge Tone attached the way it is (this will make it the master Tone)
Output of 3 way switch goes to the Master Volume and then to output Jack.
Output of Bridge Pickup goes right to switch
Neck Pickup: eliminate the tone circuit (pull out the Cap). The Tone pot will become the Volume Pot for the middle pickup.
Neck Pickup keeps it Volume (wire for independent volume control, hot from pickup goes to middle lug on pot) and then goes to the switch (now the outer lug).
Middle pickup goes to it's Volume (wire for independent volume control, hot from pickup goes to middle lug on pot).
Output of Middle Volume pot (now the outer lug) enter's the circuit at the Switch's output and before Mater Volume Pot.

This will allow you to dial in any blend of pickups and be able to raise and lower the blend with one knob.

So your 3 way switch acts like any other Les Paul and you can Blend the Middle into any position.

Up Position: Neck, Middle (depends witch volume you have up) or Both
Middle Position: Neck & Bridge, Middle & Bridge or all 3
Down Position: Bridge or Middle & Bridge

Not modification other than a rewire!!

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

Master volume; three tones; 3-way switch for N, N+B, B; on/off push-push pot for middle pickup.

Bill

 

[Gstring]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

Many thanks everybody for all the input. Much appreciated.

Spent yesterday and today tinkering, polishing, adjusting and oiling and am very happy with the end result. Have managed to get a nice low action. Need perhaps a tad more work on the G string slot in the nut but possibly this will play in. Went with 3 vols and master tone in the end with no push pull as this seemed most logical as well as being simple and straightforward.

Audiocheck..thanks for your input..very interesting. Have made notes for future reference.

This guitar has surprised me. It's possible to get an excellent variety of tones both clean and over driven. Would benefit in my view by being a few pounds lighter. Could be a back strainer on the strap for the unfit The pups are I understand A5 Alnico and are chinese copies of Gibson classics. A tad harsh and lacking a little something but actually not that bad. I finished up dialling in the middle and neck pups quite low.

The owner is coming home next weekend to celebrate her 20th Bday so I will leave axe for her with a coloured bow. I am sure she will be happy with the improvements even playing through her really low end amp. This guitar definitely benefits from valves or high end digital. .

Does anybody know how the original Les Paul Black beauty was wired.

A question for Aceman. Thanks for your input re standard wiring .Do you know how they wire the 3 way to get Bridge plus middle in position 2. I cannot see how this is possible.

 

[blueman335]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

1. Have only a single master tone and use the spare tone pot as a 3rd vol pot for the middle pup. Possibly with a push pull to disconnect the middle pups hot wire from the circuit to prevent bleed.

2. A variation of the existing wring whereby a push pull swaps the middle pup hot wire from the Neck to the Bridge...This gives the additional option of Neck pup alone and Bridge plus Middle. There are 2 further variations of this if Middle pup alone is wanted as an option. Wiring either the neck and middle to the 3 way and adding the Bridge via the push pull or wiring bridge and middle to the 3 way and adding the Neck via the push pull.

1) You don't need a tone control on a neck HB, it's warm enough. Just wire the tone pot to the bridge PU. That's where you'd need to dial down some treble.

2) Use push-pulls for coil cut, and wire the pickups so that you can pair a slug coil from one with a screw coil of another. That gives you 'virtual humbuckers' and makes good use of the coils. Other wirings don't take advantage of the 6 coils, and you can get more tones from a HH guitar.

 

[Gstring]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

1)

2) Use push-pulls for coil cut, and wire the pickups so that you can pair a slug coil from one with a screw coil of another. That gives you 'virtual humbuckers' and makes good use of the coils. Other wirings don't take advantage of the 6 coils, and you can get more tones from a HH guitar.

I agree but as I clearly stated these pups are 2 wire .Project now finished as stated and end result very satisfactory.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

Does anybody know how the original Les Paul Black beauty was wired.

A question for Aceman. Thanks for your input re standard wiring .Do you know how they wire the 3 way to get Bridge plus middle in position 2. I cannot see how this is possible.

I’m not Aceman but I have 3-PU Gibsons. The switch is a special one with extra blades/lugs in it. It’s an actual 3-way 3P3T switch, not a DP3T. The middle PU is typically a neck model, which blends really well with the bridge and doesn’t overpower the middle position.

 

[Gstring]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

Thanks for that info. I asked the question because I presumed Aceman was refering to the stock wiring on the Epi. It only has a stock 3 way The guitar was pre owned so I am not sure how it came out of the factory. Signs were that there had been some re soldering by a previous owner..

 

[audiocheck]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

Thanks for that info. I asked the question because I presumed Aceman was refering to the stock wiring on the Epi. It only has a stock 3 way The guitar was pre owned so I am not sure how it came out of the factory. Signs were that there had been some re soldering by a previous owner..

Yeah, Epi doesn't use the special switch, but by doing so allowed all pickup combinations on my Firebird VII. I quickly got tired of foundling knobs to get pickup blends. (I use my Volumes to raise and lower for Rhythm Playing and Lead Work). So that's why I came up with the Master Volume idea using stock parts. It's odd that the Epi's Black Beauty is'n wired like my stock Firebird was. My Firebird came out of the factory with 3 Volumes and a Master Tone. So basically you could leave the switch in the center and just raise and lower volumes for pickup selections.

 

[Gstring]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

Audiocheck; You make a good point. I have to agree that the 3 vols are good fun but can be a bit tedious..especially having to remember to completely wind down the middle pup volume to get standard settings. After giving the matter further thought I have now got out the soldering iron again and swapped the middle pup vol for a push pull.This I think is a bit improvement. When the PP is down the guitar behaves as a normal 2 vol, master tone LP type with the middle pup completely out of the circuit. When you pull up the PP the middle pup and it's vol come in. You can pre set the vol level which makes the guitar much more user friendly Tonight I will deliver guitar to owner's parent's house. Project finally finished.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

I've always just wired my triple humbucker (actually with a P90 in the middle) so that the pickup selector is wired stock, with individual volume controls and a master TBX (modded to act as a high/low pass filter). The volume for the middle pickup is independent from the switch, so that when the volume is on 0 the middle is bypassed, but I can blend it in on any position of the pickup selector.

With this wiring I make more use of the pickup selector and middle volume for precise tonal changes, and just adjust the TBX for whatever rig I'm using at the time.

 

[Gstring]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

Christopher..You will note that is exactly how I initially wired it. And that is probably the most logical wiring. However I found being able to "disconnect" the middle pup by a push pull and revert to standard wiring quickly instead of having to turn the middle pup vol fully down and add it quickly with a pre set volume level a distinct bonus and well worth having. There is also a limited use as a kill switch when using the middle pup on its own.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

That would be a good idea, having a push-push pot so that you can quickly smack the middle pickup out of the circuit.

 

[orpheo]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/t...loser-view/attachment/orpheo-wiring-809x1024/

This is what I would do. Wait.... I did!

 

[orpheo]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

To elaborate.

What it does is, it adds one coil to the mix, when engaged it routs the signal to the volume pot of the pickup furthest away from that coil.

I. E. Coil closest to the bridge goes to neck. And vice versa.

I also made it so that the middle "single" engages and connects to the pot but splits the humbucker.

 

[Gstring]

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

orpheo. Yep I was aware of this schematic and variations thereof, but as I stated in my original post. you are limited with what you can do with 2 wire buckers.