HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

[Guest]

Hi, been busy and took a break from the forum but I got some free time and need some assistance.



I'm not really playing electric much these days, just the acoustic, and might as well give it a makeover.



For those who don't remember: I have the original version, meaning it has a Fender Atomic bucker in the bridge and a Tex Mex single in the neck, no middle pup. These are controlled by a three way switch and a master volume and tone.


Ordinarily when I put the switch in the middle I get the full bucker and single coil together (I believe in series) and it's not a bad sound but one that I'd rather replace as it's not very different from the bridge alone.


The idea is as follows:



3-way switch: Neck single in parallel/Neck and slug coil in parallel/Full bucker in series.


Volume knob: 1) Treble bleed mod. I read about it being less muddy at a lower volume and that is something I'd like.
2) I'd also like to use 500k pots but have them work as 500k when with the full humbucker but only as a 250 when using the single coil and the sc with the split bucker. Yeah, I'm trying to get as close as possible to having both Fender and Gibson-ish sounds.


Tone knob: not really interested in messing around much with it, might try to turn it into a no-load pot by scrapping the track. I would like to use it as a phase switch for the bridge pickup when used with the neck in series but since the pups are so different I doubt it would make any difference. Maybe splitting the bucker when on it's own if phase-switching is pointless (in this case) would be a better option.


Some questions:
1) I'm trying to have the neck and slug coil in the middle position to simulate a tele/strat sound. I chose the slug coil because it's the opposite polarity from the neck pup but I don't know about the windings. Will I need to reverse the magnet on the bucker or can this be resolved electronically?


2)Having never done any of this I have to ask: Is there any electrical danger to me, the guitar (aside from burning something with the soldering iron) or the amp?


TLDR Could anybody get me a schematic for all of the above in such a way that a total noob could follow? This will be my first mod, including soldering but I'll be working with someone who will be teaching that part.


TIA

 

[astrozombie]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

No. The only damage you can do is to yourself and the things youre attaching the irons tip to. just make sure you handle it carefully, never drop it or lean the tip against anything, and never keep the tip on any component or wire or frankly anything for too long.

 

[Guest]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

No. The only damage you can do is to yourself and the things youre attaching the irons tip to. just make sure you handle it carefully, never drop it or lean the tip against anything, and never keep the tip on any component or wire or frankly anything for too long.

Ah, excellent.

So, any closer to getting your mustang?

 

[astrozombie]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

Ah, excellent.

So, any closer to getting your mustang?

theres a NGD somewhere, check the second page.:biglaugh:

 

[Guest]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

theres a NGD somewhere, check the second page.:biglaugh:

Ha, nice, the red Bullet/Bronco bass? I dig it.

So, you got any idea on the schematics? Is Artie still around? I know better than to pm him, he always had his box full

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

maybe this

 

[ParameterMan]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

Your Cyclone uses a Gibson-style toggle, right? I can't make it work, even with the DPDT version. Closest I can get with that switch is single/humbucker/split.

 

[Guest]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

maybe this

Thanks but there might be a problem since I use a Gibbo switch.

Your Cyclone uses a Gibson-style toggle, right? I can't make it work, even with the DPDT version. Closest I can get with that switch is single/humbucker/split.

Yeah.

Well, that would be better than the current arrangement but would replacing the pots with push/pulls help towards the original goal?

The treble bleed mod would still work, tough, wouldn't it?

TIA

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

The idea is as follows:



3-way switch: Neck single in parallel/Neck and slug coil in parallel/Full bucker in series.

First of all....the neck single is niether parallel nor series, it's only one coil (I'm sure you know this).

What do you think about using a Triple Shot for the bridge hummer? That way you could have series/parallel/split to slug coil/split to screw coil and it would work perfectly with your selector switch to get all of the combinations that you want, and then some.

 

[ParameterMan]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

Ok, here's the current state of affairs.

I looked it up and the pickups aren't in series, it just sounds that way because the humbucker is hotter. It also already has 500k pots and already pairs a resistor to ground with the neck pickup, simulating a 250k volume pot in the neck and middle positions.

You can get the switching you want with the Dimarzio 4PDT. Other options: If you opted for the DPDT Switchcraft toggle(for the lever feel), you could switch in a low-cut cap on the bridge pickup in the middle position to whack some of the bass and make it combine better. You can use a push/pull pot to split the bridge pickup manually.

You can have a treble "bleed" on the volume pot no matter what switching you go with.

Oh, yeah, pick the coil on the bridge pickup that's opposite magnetic polarity from the neck. Either coil will be in phase, but only that one will be noise-cancelling when combined. Sounds like that's the slug coil.

Also, screw, slug, and parallel aren't enough different from each other on a regular humbucker to justify the fiddliness of triple shots. Especially since you'd have to stack a pickup ring on top of the pickguard and still fit it under the strings.

And, what else? Oh, yeah, phase switching will only be useful with the pickups in series with each other, but switching between series and parallel AND having a functional three-way switch is simply not workable. I personally would go for a manual split so that you can have single-coil bridge tones.

I hope this is a more useful post than my last.

 

[Guest]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

First of all....the neck single is niether parallel nor series, it's only one coil (I'm sure you know this).

What do you think about using a Triple Shot for the bridge hummer? That way you could have series/parallel/split to slug coil/split to screw coil and it would work perfectly with your selector switch to get all of the combinations that you want, and then some.

Yeah, regarding the pup, I just said parallel because it's a fender pup and the whole 2/4 position thing. Didn't really need to call it anything tough lol.

I thought about the triple shot but that's not something I can justify buying, mess up and then figure something else up. Not to mention I'm not sure it would even mount on top of my pickguard without hacking part of it off.

Ok, here's the current state of affairs.

I looked it up and the pickups aren't in series, it just sounds that way because the humbucker is hotter. It also already has 500k pots and already pairs a resistor to ground with the neck pickup, simulating a 250k volume pot in the neck and middle positions.

You can get the switching you want with the Dimarzio 4PDT. Other options: If you opted for the DPDT Switchcraft toggle(for the lever feel), you could switch in a low-cut cap on the bridge pickup in the middle position to whack some of the bass and make it combine better. You can use a push/pull pot to split the bridge pickup manually.

I'd rather not go with lever switches so I'll be ordering one of those Dimarzios. Out of stock on their site but amazon still has them.

You can have a treble "bleed" on the volume pot no matter what switching you go with.

Oh, yeah, pick the coil on the bridge pickup that's opposite magnetic polarity from the neck. Either coil will be in phase, but only that one will be noise-cancelling when combined. Sounds like that's the slug coil.

Ok, cool.

Also, screw, slug, and parallel aren't enough different from each other on a regular humbucker to justify the fiddliness of triple shots. Especially since you'd have to stack a pickup ring on top of the pickguard and still fit it under the strings.

Yeah, I figure it might be cool for some projects but not for my guitar and not for my first time with a soldering iron.

And, what else? Oh, yeah, phase switching will only be useful with the pickups in series with each other, but switching between series and parallel AND having a functional three-way switch is simply not workable. I personally would go for a manual split so that you can have single-coil bridge tones.

I see but in the end It's just better if I simplify.

In the end it might just be better if I could get the whole neck/neck+slug in parallel/series bucker with a treble bleed mod.

Any chance of doing this: the middle position always being the neck and bucker in parallel and have a push-pull volume pot cut out the screw coil permanently so that it could be used in the middle and bridge positions on it's own.

Would all of this still need a special toggle or would that work out with any old switch?

I hope this is a more useful post than my last.

No worries, man, I appreciate your attention.

 

[ParameterMan]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

Yes, if you add a push/pull to split the humbucker you can use your current switch, and pretty much all of the guitar's current wiring. I do rather like the idea of auto-splitting though as I'm thinking the current middle position is not very useful. You could still add a splitter, though, to select whether the bridge pickup is still split when used by itself.

 

[Guest]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

Yes, if you add a push/pull to split the humbucker you can use your current switch, and pretty much all of the guitar's current wiring. I do rather like the idea of auto-splitting though as I'm thinking the current middle position is not very useful. You could still add a splitter, though, to select whether the bridge pickup is still split when used by itself.

Yeah, I'd prefer auto-switching too but the problem is I'm kind of worried about using a special switch. If I mess up or if it breaks down the line and there isn't a substitute I'll just have to find another solution so I might as well find it right now. Dimarzio says they are out, Amazon says there's only a dozen available... outlook does not look good IMHO.

So, what you're saying is that I would have to use two switches. One to split the bucker when in the middle position, the other to have it still in split, or not, in the bridge position. This might work out better than expected if I could have the volume push-pull in the down position to have it split in the middle and having to raise the push/pull in the tone to keep it split in the bridge.

So, can anyone draw this up for me? I've tried putting some stuff together based on the SD schematics but I don't have any idea about what I'm really doing.

 

[Guest]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

Posts that go bump in the night...

 

[ParameterMan]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

Wow, this got pushed off the front page in a hurry. So did Dimarzio say they've quit carrying the switch? They don't actually make it and I know there's other similar switches out there. I guess it's your call - I might still be tempted to do it and figure I'll rewire if the switch breaks and they're not available anymore.

I'm saying you'd use one push/pull, to split the humbucker. It would then be split wherever it's used. There's no way to split/not-split it for the different positions without using a fancier three-way switch.

If the three-way was fancy and auto-splitting, the push/pull would be redundant in the middle position - both switches would be splitting the pickup. Then the push/pull would only really apply to the bridge-only position.

I'm not sure I'm making much sense today.

 

[Guest]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

Wow, this got pushed off the front page in a hurry. So did Dimarzio say they've quit carrying the switch? They don't actually make it and I know there's other similar switches out there. I guess it's your call - I might still be tempted to do it and figure I'll rewire if the switch breaks and they're not available anymore.

I'm saying you'd use one push/pull, to split the humbucker. It would then be split wherever it's used. There's no way to split/not-split it for the different positions without using a fancier three-way switch.

If the three-way was fancy and auto-splitting, the push/pull would be redundant in the middle position - both switches would be splitting the pickup. Then the push/pull would only really apply to the bridge-only position.

I'm not sure I'm making much sense today.

Nah, you made total sense. I was wondering about that but figured there might be some way as that was what I got from the previous post.

So, in short, what I can have is:

Tex Mex
Neck and bridge in parallel
JB in series

Volume pot can :
have the treble bleed mod,
be seen as 250/500k by the neck/bridge pups
have a switch (push/pull) to split the bucker so that I only get the JB's slug coil and this will work in any position as long as the bucker is on.

Is this right?

Now I only need to have it drawn and pray I don't burn down my house lol

 

[ParameterMan]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

All you'll need is a 500k push/pull pot, a ~.002 cap, and a ~100k resistor. Much of the existing wiring can be left.

The official Fender Cyclone spec sheet.

 

[Guest]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

All you'll need is a 500k push/pull pot, a ~.002 cap, and a ~100k resistor. Much of the existing wiring can be left.

The official Fender Cyclone spec sheet.

Thanks!

I'll report in when the cover I ordered comes in and I put everything together.

 

[Guest]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

Ok, had someone wire it up for me as the pot got her, I was getting antsy about it and I'm swamped in work so I couldn't do it even if I understood what I was supposed to do.

Amazing!

Ok, the split JB doesn't really sound like the neck single but it's a similar sound and a quite usable at that. The JB as a full bucker sounds a lot better in this guitar than the stock pup and I could even live with it as a single coil.

The treble bleed is a lot more subtle. Doesn't get muffled like it used too, it's just cleaner to my ears.

Decided to mod the tone pot. That one I did myself by disassembling the pot and scratching and using some nail varnish on the conductive track. Honestly? I can't hear any difference except a small point where you have some scratchiness where I assume the track still has some material. After that it's pretty clean and before it loses some of the highs. Maybe I removed too much so the effect is too jarring for me to notice a before and after difference, if you know what I mean. Sad thing is I did it twice and removed a second section... should have just removed the first bit.

All and all, I'm happy. Been playing it more this past week than in the few years I've had the guitar so that has got to mean something. Too bad I picked up 9's by mistake (was in a hurry) and, while I love the bends, it just flubs and buzzes around too much. Easy to fix tough

Thanks for the help

 

[ParameterMan]

Re: HI! Need some help rewiring my guitar, can anybody help me out?

I'm glad to hear it worked out.