How to do 3 pickups on a flying V?

blakejcan · Jan 6, 2020

So that's basically it........what are my options here given that I have the following to work with:

2 volumes

1 master tone

Gibson style 3 way toggle

Neck PU-SNS
Middle-Phat Cat
Bridge-SNS

I found this super old thread but I'm not exactly following the wiring suggested? Don't get it? Derp? Please help.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?57768-Schematic-help-3-humbucker-Flying-V

shadowfire90 · Jan 6, 2020

Re: How to do 3 pickups on a flying V?

with three pickups traditionally you blend the middle pickup in. If not add a push pull to fully add it in. It acts like an on/off switch for the middle pickup. However it seems kind of redundant as it would be weird to play a flying V or explorer without 2 volumes.

the most popular is
The first volume is your bridge / neck
your second knob is called a blend and as you turn it up you add the middle pickup in until it's all the way in
standard 3 way toggle
master tone control
standard input jack

mods wise with push pulls and so forth the sky is the limit

However it's what works best for you at the end of the day. I used to do les pauls with the bridge volume closest to my hand to Keith Merrow and Jeff Loomis having their tone where their volume pot is on certain models it's entirely up to you.

I drew this out pretty quickly as a suggestion but it seems to make sense. For the technical side of things. Regardless i'm doing an album of all sorts of guitar wirings so this was something on my to do list. My approach was

the first two pickups hot are being controlled by the master volume than to the toggle, ok easy
the middle pickup has a "Decoupled volume" so you can actually turn it fully off which is why it looks a little funny. You see this on Gretsch guitars and similar
standard tone - any capacitor you feel like go with. No need for paper in snake oil or tropcal phish to anything beyond the 2$ mark

this is the diagram I came up with. I do suggest a treble bleed mod for the decoupled volume as the treble will drop significantly on the middle pickup but it doesn't seem like a deal breaker. A good treble bleed I suggest is below that.

View attachment 102715
View attachment 102716

for what a treble bleed does this is it, it's a slightly different circuit and boy is it overpriced but it'll give you an idea. You can get a lifetime supply of them from thailand for their asking price.

Aceman · Jan 6, 2020

Re: How to do 3 pickups on a flying V?

The real question here is how do you want to USE the middle pickup?

For example, I personally like the "Traditional" (IMO...) wiring with a the middle + Bridge in the middle switch position. Goes from my usual brutal Ceramic bridge tone to a thicker , meter, fatter rhythm tone at the flick of the switch. I still have my choice of whatever neck pup suites me.

Or - do you dig a "middle" only bucker or a single coil tone in the middle?

What are you trying to do sonically/musically???? And are we talking Gibson, and with or without pick guard?

Newcenstein · Jan 7, 2020

Re: How to do 3 pickups on a flying V?

You don't have 2 volume and a master tone, you have 3 pots to configure however you want.

You have to look at it in a practical sense, and ignore "traditional" configurations (otherwise you wouldn't be adding a middle pickup to a V).

3 Dual-concentric pots/knobs will give you Vol/Tone on all 3 pickups.

A single dual-concentric 250K/250K pot can be wired as Tones for 2 pickups.
The middle pickup doesn't have to share pots.

Replacing the toggle with a 6-way rotary can give you more blending options than you'll know what to do with, if the pickups are 4-conductor. Combine half the middle with either the full bridge or neck, or half the middle with half of the bridge or neck.

But like Aceman said, you have to have some idea of what you want the middle pickup for, from a tonal perspective. Are you going with a H-H-H or H-S-H configuration? You can wire the middle pickup to be put of phase with the bridge and neck, to get those quacky tones.

beaubrummels · Jan 7, 2020

Re: How to do 3 pickups on a flying V?

If using a standard 1PDT on-on-on gibson 3-way, you’ll have to use one pot as a blend for the middle if you want to control it. Otherwise, you have to get the special DP3T (?) 3-pickup switch Gibson used on LPs, SGs and Firebirds that has extra lugs to switch the middle on/off like the others.

ItsaBass · Jan 7, 2020

Re: How to do 3 pickups on a flying V?

If you don't want to slot for a Fender style blade switch, then I'd ditch the Gibson style toggle and get a high quality toggle switch that gives you the same functions as a 3-way blade switch: neck, middle, or bridge. Then I'd use a tone knob for each pickup (no volume knob). I would use three push-push pots as well: 1) neck on, 2) bridge on, and 3) master on/off. That gives you an easy to use and straightforward switch, but also allows you to have all seven pickup combinations if you want them. Plus it gives you separate tone controls for each pickup, which is a huge plus IMO.

Jacew · Jan 7, 2020

Re: How to do 3 pickups on a flying V?

One of those Freeway switches would give pretty wide tonal palette to work with. I think you could wire it with "strat-like" positions with volume for all pickups + split etc...

blakejcan · Jan 7, 2020

Re: How to do 3 pickups on a flying V?

Gibson with pickguard.

Uh, my musical tastes are like a 14 year old boy in 1975. Zeppelin, Bowie, some Hendrix. All the basic classic rock type sounds in there.

If I can get the following options without adding a pot i think I'd be good. Also prefer not to have a tele-strat style blade in there.

Neck
Middle & Bridge
Bridge

In a perfect world I could blend in the middle & have it stand alone as well but that might be a bit more difficult to pull off.

I'd prefer not to use a push-pull pot just cause it's a super shallow guitar and I don't think it would fit. Lots to think about here. Thanks all!

beaubrummels · Jan 7, 2020