Parallel wiring help needed

T

The Usual

New member
So I have finally decided to make a run at wiring a neck pickup in my SG parallel with a push pull volume pot. Currently the guitar is wired normal, with the bridge mag flipped to get out of phase in the middle. I have been able to find some crazy diagrams out there for all kinds of split/ parallel options, but I could use some advice on a simple parallel wiring for just the neck pickup.

I assume that it's done the same way as speakers, in that the two start wires are soldered together to the lug, and the two end wires are soldered to ground? My pickup is 2 wire, so I have already run 2 additional wires up to the coils.

My biggest issue is with the push pull pots. I am not sure how these work. They look like a regular pot with 6 extra lugs. What's the deal with these?
 
Re: Parallel wiring help needed

One more quick question. The pickup I am wiring is an old Gibson. What are the colours on the Duncan wiring?

Black - Start coil 1
White -Start coil 2
Red - End coil 1
Green - End coil 2

These are all guesses, except for black!
 
Re: Parallel wiring help needed

Nope. I don't got it, but this guitar is halfway out the window!!!

This is a nightmare. I have my guitar wired to what I think is 50s wiring, where the switch goes to the middle, the hot goes to outside, and the other outside goes to ground. I can't find another diagram that shows this for series/parallel.

BTW, what the hell does that diagram mean with the Push/Pull switch? Which way is up? My switch does not look like that in my hand!
 
Re: Parallel wiring help needed

As I continue this conversation into the vacuum of my sole, hoping to find a passer by who will take pity on me...

I am using a PP pot on the volume, not tone, and I am not finding diagrams like that. Is it wrong to do this? Because I don't want to change the value of my tone pot. So I am hoping it doesn't matter where the PP pot goes.

My biggest problem is that I don't understand how a PP pot actually works. How does that switch work? If I knew that, I could likely work through this.

Getting tired now. Need to conserve stregth. I think it is night time. Should rest...
 
Re: Parallel wiring help needed

So, I finally got it. Couple of issues. First being the SD diagram of the pot is upside down, at least to my eyes. I used this

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=539511&highlight=coil+taps+need+help

And imagined the pot sitting on top of it. It would be nice to find a better diagram that includes the pot lugs, but I can see how this would be a challenge. I also had my white and red mixed up.

It sounds pretty good, and I already have the middle out of phase, so that adds a couple of cool sounds.

Thanks again.
 
Re: Parallel wiring help needed

As I said in my initial post - the diagram shows you the orientation of the switch - the green and black wires are on the lugs closest to the pot casing (so it's a shorter trip to ground the green), thus the white wire would be further away from the pot casing.


And it doesn't matter where you put the push/pull - Volume or Tone - if all you want is the switching. You could use the p/p as a Volume pot for the bridge but series/parallel on the neck pickup whose volume is controlled by another pot entirely. The switch is merely attached to the pot casing, not connected to the pot's actual control tabs.
You have to wire that connection manually.


I've taken one of those switches apart, and the inside of it has a square block with 2 separate metal U-shaped inserts that are in constant contact with the 2 middle tabs of the switch and one pair of end tabs - Up or Down - depending on the switch position.

Therefore, whatever you connect to the middle tabs will always be active unless you also short one of the ends to ground.

In the case of Parallel wiring, the White wire makes 2 contacts - one on either side of the switch - since Green and White are both on the same side of the switch, and when the switch is in the Up position, White is grounded along with Green. When the switch is Down, White is not grounded, but rather joined to Red as if you had both Red and White soldered together and taped off.
 
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