Custom Stack Plus STK-S6 wiring issues

[mariosyjp]

Hi

I just got the STK-S6 and I am not sure if I am wiring it correctly.
It's at the bridge of a mexican player strat.
The other 2 pickups are stock single coils.

The instructions clearly state black and bare to ground so I did that.

White is hot I suppose so I soldered that where the original pickup was soldered on the 5 way selector.

I am really confused about the red wire...
There is a coil splitting diagram that shows the red on a push pull switch.
Anyway the way I did it when red goes to ground there is hum BUT it isn't much brighter or much less powerful than the other position.

There is also another diagram showing all red wires taped (soldered nowhere).
I don't get it.
Never had a stacked single before, but all my humbucker wires need to be soldered SOMEWHERE to function properly.

Another point is I can't get it to be hum free in the notch position between bridge and middle.
I even tried swapping the middle pickup wires.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[jeremy]

in order to have humcancelling you need to split the stack. the active coil of the stack needs to be rw/rp from the middle pup to cancel hum and be in phase.

with modern stack designs, there isnt a ton of difference in tone when you short the bottom coil. on old school stacks, it was different since both coils were about the same size

 

[mariosyjp]

I'm kinda disappointed about the tone difference when shorting the bottom coil...I was hoping to get sort of a vintage strat sound.

So it is necessary to split in order to have hum cancelling in the notch position?
Is there a way to wire the red on the 5-way to split "automatically" on position 2 ?

Thanks so much!

 

[Artie]

I'm surprised. My STK's, (STK-4n, STK-4m, STK-6b), all sound pretty authentic Strat, and noiseless, just by taping off the red wire. Then again, I haven't tried them split.

P.S. A standard 5-way won't autosplit in position two, without splitting in another position. Probably two others. You'd need a Superswitch for that.

Edit: Hold that thought. Doodling something now. It might work. Gimme a sec.

 

[mariosyjp]

I didn't mean it sounded bad in humbucker mode, I meant that in split mode I was expecting more of an SSL-1 kind of tone which it isn't...

 

[Artie]

Now you've piqued my curiosity. I might rewire mine to try the split mode.

And a standard 5-way could auto-split one pup, but it won't do two. Which is what you probably want. You'd need a Superswitch to split two.

Edit: Just reread your 1st post. You only need to split one. I'll post a diagram. I've got a Dr's appointment shortly, so may be later today.

 

[mariosyjp]

I only have one stack on this guitar, the other 2 pickups are regular fender singles.
So how would it auto split my bridge in position 2 ....?

 

[Artie]

I just realized, Duncan has that in their normal wiring diagrams:

https://www.seymourduncan.com/images/wiring-diagrams/1SCH_2S_5W_1V_2T_AS.jpg

 

[mariosyjp]

Thanks a lot this looks like what I need!
However my stack pickup has different color wires...
I got black, bare, white and red. (no green)
Black and bare are supposed to go to ground.

 

[mariosyjp]

I think this is the only diagram related to my situation.

There is a flaw on the web site, in order to find the diagram for stacked pickups you have to select stacked in the neck position.
If you select single coil in the neck, the stacked doesn't appear in the rest positions.

There seems to be no diagram showing a stacked pickup with regular singles.

 

[Mincer]

Also, is your middle pickup rw/rp? Duncans are normally out of phase with regular Fender pickups, so you generally have to swap the hot and ground when combining with normal Fender singles.

 

[jeremy]

Thanks a lot this looks like what I need!
However my stack pickup has different color wires...
I got black, bare, white and red. (no green)
Black and bare are supposed to go to ground.

right, black and bare to ground, white as hot to the switch, red to the other side of the switch so it gets grounded in the notch position. sorry, i dont have a good way to draw it for you

 

[mariosyjp]

If I solder the red to the other side of the 5 way switch (or anywhere on the switch) how would it get grounded?
As far as I know there is no ground soldered to the 5 way switch.

 

[jeremy]

right, you would have to make that connection as well. currently there may be tone control connections on that side, which would need to be moved to the pup hot wire connection side

 

[mariosyjp]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think this means
-decoupling the 2 sides of the 5 way switch
-connecting one side's output to the ground
-connecting the tone pots on the pickups outputs
-no way to use a tone pot for 2 pickups, one pickup will be left without a tone pot

 

[mariosyjp]

SOLVED !!!!

First of all thank you all for your valuable input.

Turns out my middle pickup was luckily already RWRP to the STK-S6.
The key point is that when in position 2 (bridge+middle) the red wire of the STK-S6 must be grounded (split mode),
otherwise it does not hum-cancel in parallel with the middle pickup.

In order to do that automaitcally in position 2, the 5 way selector must be re-wired:

Left side the hot outputs of the pickups (stock configuration).
Left side add the tone pots on the same lugs as the pickup outputs.
Decouple left and right side by removing the jumper cable.
Move the selector's master output that goes to the volume pot, from the top right lug to the bottom left lug.
Solder the right side's top lug to the ground.
Solder the red wire from STK-S6 to the 3rd lug of the right side.
DONE

There is one caveat to this wiring:
You can no longer use the same tone pot on two pickups, so one pickup must be left without one.
I left the middle pickup without a tone pot and it's a fun sound (I don't use that pickup much by itself anyway)
All other positions (except 3) have a tone pot.

Now I have hum cancelling on positions 1,2,4 and that's what I was trying to accomplish.

 

[jeremy]

great! glad you got it worked out.

 

[Mincer]

What a great solution! I was thinking most Fenders these days have rw/rp middle pickups.