Nighthawk-style wiring (SuperSwitch content)

[thqm3]

Greetings all!

I found the following diagram online updating the Nighthawk wiring for a modern SuperSwitch:



From what I gather, for Duncan pickups the wire colours would be black instead of green (hot out), read and white instead of green and black (doesn't appear to matter which is which) and green instead of white (to ground). What I can't work out is if/how the splits will work. Does wiring the start and finish of two separate coils to the output split the humbucker to one coil, and if so, which one? I've never seen it done that way.

For anyone who is unfamiliar with the Nighthawk wiring scheme, with the push-pull pot out it's supposed to work as a Strat-type setup, and with it in it's bridge hum/bridge hum + neck hum/neck hum/bridge hum + mid single/bridge single + neck single. I intend to put this circuit or something like it into am HSH Superstrat with only a push-pull volume and 5-way. Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[Artie]

Re: Nighthawk-style wiring (SuperSwitch content)

Whew! That wiring makes my head spin.

Basically, what you're saying in the first paragraph is correct. Your color translation is good-to-go. On a Duncan humbucker, if you connect red/white to ground, you'll get the stud coil. Red/white to "hot", or output, will give you the screw coil. I'm not sure which would be which with the pickups in that diagram.

However, they are doing something that is less than ideal in that wiring scheme. (If NightHawk owners aren't experiencing excessive hum and noise in the single mode, then you can ignore this.)

In the above wiring, when a pickup is split, it leaves the unterminated coil hanging out on the "hot" side of the circuit. Like a "noise" antenna. Look at the following diagram:



In the top two figures, you de-select a coil by shorting it out. In the third, you leave one coil hanging, but it's hanging on the ground side of the circuit. Not ideal, but probably not a problem. (Still could be if you use a very long guitar cable.) In the last one, the unused coil is hanging on the "hot" side of the circuit. As is done in your NightHawk wiring.

Let me study your diagram some more and see if I can come up with a better way to do it that preserves the full functionality, but helps in the "noise" dept. (Using Duncan colors, of course.)

Artie

 

[thqm3]

Re: Nighthawk-style wiring (SuperSwitch content)

Wow - great answer! I think I see what's going on a little better - and why I haven't come across splits done that way before. I had a go at drawing a more conventional split system a year or so ago, but ran out of switch contacts. It sounds like you have much more experience with this than I do though...

 

[Kwrig31]

Have you found another wiring design yet? I'm having a ton of trouble with my nighthawk wiring right now and would love to see your input.

 

[Mincer]

Have you found another wiring design yet? I'm having a ton of trouble with my nighthawk wiring right now and would love to see your input.

This is a really old thread, so I'd start a new one with detailed pics and a description of what you are trying to do. We have people here that can easily sort it out.

 

[Kwrig31]

Thanks so much!