BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

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.

Yep - It's the switch.
 
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.

nonsense. pull them apart and make them 4 conductor. I don't see hurdles, I see solutions.
 
Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

To make that guitar..."a bit more playable and user friendly", the "best way to wire a guitar with three humbuckers" is simply to disconnect the middle pup. The middle pup just muddies up everything...simplicity, wiring, tone, etc. (Sorry Bob).
 
Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

nonsense. pull them apart and make them 4 conductor. I don't see hurdles, I see solutions.

That's interesting. Have never thought about trying to do that.....Would not try doing it on another person's guitar but have several chinese ceramic HBs hanging around from past projects to play around and experiment with. Is there a thread or link to give guidelines.



GuitarDoc.... I have to totally disagree. You don't have to use the middle pup. When the push pull is down it acts just like a 2 pup guitar so you lose absolutely nothing except having only a master tone control which I prefer anyway. It's the player's decision when to pull up the PP and be able to dial in the middle for some great additional tones. It's an excellent additional bonus and I can't see how you can disagree with that.
 
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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.
It's only a little more tedious to re wire a bucker with a five lead wire.....
 
Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

I decided to rework all my 2 pickup les Paul's to be 3 pickup guitars. No 3 way toggle nonsense, schaller 5 way e+ switch all the way. Independent volumes remain, auto coil splits in place. Stratty tones in 2 and 4, Lester tones on 1,3,5.
 
Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS


So, seeing how this is wired it might just change my feelings about three-humbucker-pup guitars. It actually looks pretty cool! I might even try it in one of my guitars, or build one with a 5-way superswitch to get auto splits and do away with at least one of the p/p switches.

But I think I see a couple problems with this diagram. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

On the p/p that splits the neck and bridge pups, the neck pup's red and white wires don't get grounded so it doesn't get split. The top right lug needs to have a wire going to ground or shunted to the top left lug.

Also, in the diagram you have the middle pup oriented as a neck pup...in which case, when it splits it will split to the coil which is closest to either the neck or bridge pup, ie: it is wired so that the slug coil (black "hot" wire) goes to the bridge pup's vol. And the screw coil (red "hot" wire) goes to the neck pup's vol. It seems that if you want it to split as you say, "when engaged it routs the signal to the volume pot of the pickup furthest away from that coil.", you would need to rotate the middle pup 180 degrees or use a bridge pup as the middle pup.
 
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Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

Middle+bridge is a great rhythm sound, IMO....
 
Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

So, seeing how this is wired it might just change my feelings about three-humbucker-pup guitars. It actually looks pretty cool! I might even try it in one of my guitars, or build one with a 5-way superswitch to get auto splits and do away with at least one of the p/p switches.

yeah I dont like PP's at all, but if I have to use them, I use MEC's because the shaft only goes out a few millimeters instead of almost a centimeter, so the pot still feels firm.


But I think I see a couple problems with this diagram. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

at first I was like... huh? Nothing's wrong, but you are absolutely correct. I made a few mistakes!!

On the p/p that splits the neck and bridge pups, the neck pup's red and white wires don't get grounded so it doesn't get split. The top right lug needs to have a wire going to ground or shunted to the top left lug.

you are absolutely right here. I missed that extra loop to ground the red/white of the neck pickup. My bad.

Also, in the diagram you have the middle pup oriented as a neck pup...in which case, when it splits it will split to the coil which is closest to either the neck or bridge pup, ie: it is wired so that the slug coil (black "hot" wire) goes to the bridge pup's vol. And the screw coil (red "hot" wire) goes to the neck pup's vol. It seems that if you want it to split as you say, "when engaged it routs the signal to the volume pot of the pickup furthest away from that coil.", you would need to rotate the middle pup 180 degrees or use a bridge pup as the middle pup.

I prefer to use neck pickups in the middle position because of their lower output, to add chime and quack. and you are right again. The red wire should have gone to the bridge, black to neck.

I simply made a few errors in the drawings. Oops... sorry :D

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Re: BEST WAY TO WIRE A GUITAR WITH THREE HUMBUCKERS

yeah I dont like PP's at all, but if I have to use them, I use MEC's because the shaft only goes out a few millimeters instead of almost a centimeter, so the pot still feels firm.




at first I was like... huh? Nothing's wrong, but you are absolutely correct. I made a few mistakes!!



you are absolutely right here. I missed that extra loop to ground the red/white of the neck pickup. My bad.



I prefer to use neck pickups in the middle position because of their lower output, to add chime and quack. and you are right again. The red wire should have gone to the bridge, black to neck.

I simply made a few errors in the drawings. Oops... sorry :D

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In any three-pickup guitars that I have owned, I also prefer the neck model in the middle. I'm really tempted to try that wiring scheme (with a superswitch) in my next build.
 
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