Custom Wiring Help: Single Humbucker Esquire with Rotary Switch

marcospadaaro

New member
Hey everyone!

I'm diving into the world of guitar wiring and I've come up with my own wiring diagram for a project I'm working on. Since I couldn't find one exactly like it online (particularly the tone control bypass and the bass cut circuit with che concentric stacked pot), I thought I'd share it here to get some feedback.

I'm not entirely sure if it's going to work as intended, so any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Maybe you've tried something similar before and can offer some advice?

I'm also trying to decide between using the Seymour Duncan Nazgul or Pegasus pickup for this project. Any thoughts on which might be a better fit?

Oh, and just to give you some context, the guitar I'll be installing this wiring in is the new Squier Esquire in Ultraviolet.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and learning from all of you.

Here's the diagram I've drawn up. Let me know what you think!
​​
 

Attachments

  • photo112339.png
    photo112339.png
    144.4 KB · Views: 0
Looks like a cool idea. The rotary throws me off, I'd have to know what model and what the lug assignments are officially, though I can kind of figure it out. The rest of it looks like it would work.

The way I check wiring is first wire it up using alligator clip wires to test it, make any corrections with the alligator wires, then update the drawing and solder.
 
Looks like a cool idea. The rotary throws me off, I'd have to know what model and what the lug assignments are officially, though I can kind of figure it out. The rest of it looks like it would work.

The way I check wiring is first wire it up using alligator clip wires to test it, make any corrections with the alligator wires, then update the drawing and solder.

thank you for the great suggestion

it's a 2 pole 3 way switch just like the one on the squier esquier deluxe H, here is how the lugs work
 

Attachments

  • photo112340.jpg
    photo112340.jpg
    48 KB · Views: 0
Bass cut doesn't work like regular tone controls which simply divert treble frequencies to ground.
The way you have it drawn, that second pot is still cutting treble, just at a higher shelf frequency.

To cut bass, the whole signal has to pass through the cap, and a pot gives you control by allowing some signal to bypass the cap.​
Wiring would need to be a bit more complex, and you'd need to use a DPDT switch to bypass both tone circuits.

Not sure if it matters whether a bass cut comes before or after the regular tone control.
One of the experts around here will have to weight in on that one.
 
Bass cut doesn't work like regular tone controls which simply divert treble frequencies to ground.
The way you have it drawn, that second pot is still cutting treble, just at a higher shelf frequency.

To cut bass, the whole signal has to pass through the cap, and a pot gives you control by allowing some signal to bypass the cap.​
Wiring would need to be a bit more complex, and you'd need to use a DPDT switch to bypass both tone circuits.

that's what I was worried about. Thanks for pointing that out to me.

Not sure if it matters whether a bass cut comes before or after the regular tone control

idk I just wanted to have the possibility of bypassing it.

Thank you for all your input. I was wondering if you could help me a bit more, perhaps with some insights from a correct diagram or by a quick sketch.
 
Since green is hardwired to ground, and black is hardwired to "out", there's no need for either to go to the switch. In pos #2 the North coil is "floating" on the hot side of the circuit. A potential noise problem. Let me redraw this, post coffee.
 
Since green is hardwired to ground, and black is hardwired to "out", there's no need for either to go to the switch. In pos #2 the North coil is "floating" on the hot side of the circuit. A potential noise problem. Let me redraw this, post coffee.

thank you so much.

Meanwhile I think i've fixed the tone circuit with a 3pdt, still not sure, I'll send it when it's done
 
maybe went a bit overboard with the 3dpt switch but I wanted to make sure it made sense, what do you guys think?

(I removed the treble bleed and separated the two tone pots for simplicity just for this sketch)


edit: maybe I should ground to the 2 free pins on the 3dpt switch, idk
 

Attachments

  • photo112343.jpg
    photo112343.jpg
    60.3 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
Your tone control should be wired like this. This is a schematic for a TBX which works slightly different internally, but a concentric pot will work as expected with this wiring. Obviously "to volume" will go to your tone bypass switch. The 0.047 is the same cap as your 0.015 handling the treble, and the 0.0022 is the same as your 0.0033, handling the bass. Don't worry about the pot values, those are in reference to a TBX.

fetch?id=5800886&d=1667771453.jpg

Also for what it's worth, I do not see too much benefit to a toggleable treble bleed outside of testing whether or not you like it enough to hardwire it in.
 
Your tone control should be wired like this. This is a schematic for a TBX which works slightly different internally, but a concentric pot will work as expected with this wiring. Obviously "to volume" will go to your tone bypass switch. The 0.047 is the same cap as your 0.015 handling the treble, and the 0.0022 is the same as your 0.0033, handling the bass. Don't worry about the pot values, those are in reference to a TBX.

That's great thank you I really struggled to get a good diagram of the PTB, this is by far the best image i've looked at. thank you so much for your time :bowdown:


Also for what it's worth, I do not see too much benefit to a toggleable treble bleed outside of testing whether or not you like it enough to hardwire it in.

the reason for the toggleable treble bleed is simply because I have a push-pull pot hanging around and i've never tried it. I've seen a lot of demos and loved both the more rolled off the highs sound and the clarity from the treble bleed, so why not

sorry for the bad english it's not my first language :/
 
Back
Top