How does Series mode on a LP style guitar work?

['59]

I was playing a friends Gibson LP Recording and really liked the series mode where the middle position is insanely fat because the two pickups are wired in series. I understand enough about circuits, but I can't seem to find any diagrams that help me understand how you can put a series/parallel switch on a guitar that has a toggle switch.

I would guess that because the toggle switch middle position is just lug 1 and lug2 in parallel, if you tried to do series wiring with another switch it would make it so that all three positions were both pickups in series if you did the series/parallel wiring before the toggle. If you did the series/parallel after the toggle switch it would just cut output when the toggle wasn't in the middle position.

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[orpheo]

this is kind of how the series setting on a Jimmy Page setting works. If you use a master volume it's even easier, because when you have volume per pickup you get weird issues here and there, but that's how it is done.

 

[ICTGoober]

It's quite doable.

 

[Artie]

IIRC, the LP Recording used very low output impedance, (aka, low DCR), pickups, which would would make the series mode quite different than two "normal" humbuckers in series. With ordinary humbuckers, you'd achieve close to the same thing with my "virtual 3rd humbucker" mod. (1st done by PRS.) It's just the bridge stud coil, in series with the neck screw coil. It's like a wide humbucker. Nice harmonic complexity that's a smidgen different than just having both humbuckers on in parallel.

 

['59]

It's quite doable.

Well I know it's doable becaues I've seen it happen, it's just a little mental exercise I'm doing to try to figure out how it happens

 

[Artie]

To address that part of your question, you'd want to do a push-pull pot for series, and yes, the 3-way would need to be in a specific position. It's the reason that on the original Page wiring, there are several "dead" switch positions.

 

[magillver]

I just did one, taking the outputs from the 2 volume controls to a push/pull, with the outputs of the push/pull going to the 3-way, output of the 3-way to the jack. And, yes, the 3-way has to be in the middle position to take advantage of the series/parallel switch, because you're using both pups. IIRC, if you have the push/pull in the series position, and switch to the bridge only (at least in my wiring scheme) you lose that pickup. The series/parallel needs to be in 'standard' parallel mode for the 2 pups to function normally.