Parallel or series wiring 3 pups

D

daniels dad

New member
Hi all. It has been a while since I visited the forum.
Brian May's Red Special had 3 pups and is said to have been wired in series.
Would this have the effect of one big honkin' pickup with resistance 3x a single one?
What would be the benefit of this? I think that the increased resistance would result in a decrease in power/volume.
I have an old Burns London model and am planning to wire it with a 5way switch (Fender Strat style).
Does anyone have any ideas how to wire it up so I could have the series configuration?
I think that I may have to go to a 6 position rotary switch.
Anyone got any suggestions?

Tks for listening
Daniels Dad
 
Re: Parallel or series wiring 3 pups

View attachment 44345

Here is the standard Brian May series wiring. It has the output of one pickup go into the other(s), building the DC resistance as more pickups are turned on, each essentially making a hotter and more powerful pickup with each addition.

View attachment 44346

This wiring has the addition of a master series/parallel switch. In parallel, the pickups do not lead into another, but simply work along side (hence the term parallel) each other.

AD standard strat 5-way cannot have all series pickup combinations. I recommend mini-switches in the pickguard following a diagram provided above. What you want may be possible with a super 5-way switch though.

EDIT: Or this if you have 3 on/off/on switches.

View attachment 44350
 
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Re: Parallel or series wiring 3 pups

Tks for the info.
I'll have to rethink which mod I want to go with.
My original plan was to go like the strat and incorporate the Clapton mid boost that I got from Fender.
Or, I could put the mid boost into my Mansefield Tele copy with Ibanez Super 70 HBs.
i also have a Gibson 64 Melody Maker with Demarzio Fat Strat pups and soon to have Bigsby vibrato.
As you can see, I have a few things cooking here.
Tks again
 
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