I have essentially duplicated what this article https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/latest-updates/my-versatile-hss-wiring-scheme talked about in using a schaller megaswitch e and wiring my MIM HSS guitar. Basically all made sense except the part about having a single Master Tone pot control both the Neck and Middle pickups. The second tone control (500K) goes to the bridge pickup (59' Custom Hybrid) only and is what I wanted. My question is how to wire the Neck (Classic Stack Plus, RWRP) and the Middle (SD Five-Two, Standard) for a Master Tone control (250K) with this particular setup. The author of the article did not go into specifics on how he accomplished this. In this particular arrangement with the megaswitch e the middle pickup is only used in conjunction with the Neck or Bridge PU and never by itself. In essence all five positions are more or less noiseless etc. Currently just have the 250K tone pot connected to the Neck pickup.
HSS wiring with schaller megaswitch E and the Tone pots?
- Thread starter nsurround
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Welcome to the forum!
I wrote the original article, so I have to go back and look. So the quick answer is...I don't remember! The guitar is at the rehearsal space so I can't look at it until later. I may have just settled for one pickup per tone control, or I may have figured out a way to do it.
Looking at the diagram for the model E MegaSwitch, it only shows a tone control each for the neck and middle, so I obviously varied that, but I will have to see how/if I got the first tone control to work for the neck and middle pickups together.
MegaSwitches are weird beasts that are pretty amazing if you have them do what they are supposed to do, but unless one is in my hand (and I haven't had that since the Strat project) I forget what is possible.
I will say that this is my favorite Strat. It is a remarkable guitar, and I still love the wiring done to it.
I wrote the original article, so I have to go back and look. So the quick answer is...I don't remember! The guitar is at the rehearsal space so I can't look at it until later. I may have just settled for one pickup per tone control, or I may have figured out a way to do it.
Looking at the diagram for the model E MegaSwitch, it only shows a tone control each for the neck and middle, so I obviously varied that, but I will have to see how/if I got the first tone control to work for the neck and middle pickups together.
MegaSwitches are weird beasts that are pretty amazing if you have them do what they are supposed to do, but unless one is in my hand (and I haven't had that since the Strat project) I forget what is possible.
I will say that this is my favorite Strat. It is a remarkable guitar, and I still love the wiring done to it.
Thanks for your reply. At the moment I just have the 250K tone pot connected to the Neck pickup and no tone control directly for the Middle pu. For a 'master control pot' you normally would connect the tone pot to the volume pot (single tone control). But in your scheme the bridge has the separate 500K tone pot so connecting the other tone pot to the volume control would not be advantageous as it would effect all three pickups. I think you actually would need an additional switch to select which pu the 250K tone pot would effect. Could not see how this could be done with just the megaswitch E. If you have more info let me know as I am drawing up a schematic diagram for this kind of setup. I tried using an SD Five-Two pickup for both the Neck (RWRP) and Middle (Std) but found that the B and E strings seemed weak possibly because of the staggered poles and the HSS neck radius being 9.5". I replaced the Neck with the Classic Stack Plus, RWRP (flat poles) and hopefully this will correct that issue. Any info you can reply back with would be helpful and after corrections will submit the diagram/schematic to this forum etc.
The flat poles in the neck should cure that- I have no issues with mine, and that has a compound radius 10-16. You r balance should be fine. I will check tonight at rehearsal to see if I ever got the middle pickup on the tone control- being quite a few years ago, I am not quite sure.
Did a quick audio test with the setup as is and the balance with the Classic Stack Plus in the Neck is better and love the bridge position with its own 500K one pot. I currently have a 0.047u cap on that pot and may change to a lower value. Really all 5 switch positions have some nice tones that I think are more versatile than the standard HSS setup. I may decide to change the tone pots to no load/blender types to get the most out of the 1 and 5 (bridge and neck respectively) pu being that the tone pots would be completely bypassed. Another possibility is to use a push pull pot on the 250K tone control to select either the neck or middle pickup for tone control etc. In any case really liking the possibilities and sounds with this setup. Let me know what you find out from your rehearsal about the tone pots on your guitar. Again once I finalize my setup and configuration will provide the diagram/schematics and maybe some audio samples if that is possible on this forum.
Thanks for checking. Since the middle pickup in your wiring scheme is never used by itself and is always used in conjunction with another pickup I am not sure that the first tone pot is connected directly in some manner to that pickup. If both the neck and middle pickups outputs are connected to the same tone pot, their outputs will always be tied together at least based on the megaswitch e connections you listed in your article. In any case, I think I will stick with the one tone pot connected to the bridge and the other one connected to the neck pickup using the megaswitch e wiring scheme. Will try and put out a diagram on this in the future. If have any more info on this let me know on this thread.
Ok I have done the first version schematic/diagram of wiring an HSS style guitar very similar to what Mincer had done in his original article regarding a versatile HSS wiring scheme. My schematic is a slight modification to the one that Schaller (manufacturer of the megaswitch E) produced (HSS4, HSS5). All pickups and the megaswitch E are the same as in Mincer's article. As in that article all 5 strat positions are hum cancelling and the tone pots control the bridge and neck pickups.The middle pickup has no tone control per se but since it is never used alone by itself and is always in combination with either the Neck or Bridge pickup (hum cancelling) the combined sound will have a tone control. To my ears there is a big improvement of sound and variation that I did not have before coming from my MIM HSS guitar. The original pickups were ceramic type. The tone capacitor values used in my modification are just suggested values. There are simple options one can do with this setup, like use no-load type tone pots and or provide some sort of switching capability to switch the Tone control from the Neck or Bridge pickup to the Middle pickup. There is a higher output from the bridge humbucker in position 1 than the other positions but for me is not an issue.
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