Pegasus & Sentient + Schaller Megaswitch M (HH6)

[cubiclegnome]

Last night, I replaced a 3 way with standard wiring, with a Megaswitch M, wired to a new Pegasus/Sentient set. The sound seems quieter and maybe thinner than it was. I attached the Schaller diagram but with the colors that I used. It's not clear to me what the negative and positive lines are on the screenshots, and they use "hot" and "cold" and "inner" and "outer" coils in the wiring description, which I've posted below. I've read that the slug coil is always north with SD, but I've also read that it's reversed for neck pickups, so I don't know what to believe at this point. I suspect I might have either the neck or bridge wiring backwards, but I'm really not sure.


Schaller Info:

Positions
1 bridge humbucker
2 bridge outer coil
3 outer coils parallel
4 neck outer coil
5 neck humbucker

Connections
M neck hot wire inner coil
N to O, neck cold wire inner coil and hot wire outer coil
O to N, neck cold wire inner coil and hot wire outer coil
P -
Q -
R to X, output
S -
T -
U to V, bridge hot wire outer coil and cold wire inner coil
V to U, bridge hot wire outer coil and cold wire inner coil
W bridge hot wire inner coil
X to R, output
ground: neck and bridge cold wire outer coils

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Duncan wire codes are consistent - never reversed unless by accident or deliberate deviation from the standard.
I think what's confusing you is that for that switch, to retain hum cancellation one of the magnets needs to be flipped.
But the wiring stays the same.
As for "hot" vs "cold," read start for cold and finish for hot. That should set you up.

 

[cubiclegnome]

Thanks, eclecticsynergy. The magnet being flipped was the thing that made it click. I didn't realize that was the difference between neck and bridge humbuckers (other than the slugs/adjustable poles sometimes being flipped).

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Thanks, eclecticsynergy. The magnet being flipped was the thing that made it click. I didn't realize that was the difference between neck and bridge humbuckers (other than the slugs/adjustable poles sometimes being flipped).

Just to be clear, they're not flipped in their stock form (except in rare cases like the Pearly Gates Plus which was designed that way).
It's normally done by the users themselves if their wiring pairs inside or outside coils, like the middle position on your Megaswitch M.
Having opposite polarity will preserve hum rejection when using coils from two separate humbuckers.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Thanks, eclecticsynergy. The magnet being flipped was the thing that made it click. I didn't realize that was the difference between neck and bridge humbuckers (other than the slugs/adjustable poles sometimes being flipped).

Generally the only difference between neck and bridge models is that a neck will be wound lighter.
No polarity difference, just a bit more power at the bridge to make up for narrower string vibration giving lower output and brighter sound.
Some players like using a neck model at the bridge for more clarity and less horsepower.

There are some sets which pair fundamentally different pickups, of course, like the JB bridge/Jazz neck.
But in a set like the 59N/59B it's just that the bridge has more turns on the coils.

 

[cubiclegnome]

Thanks for the clarification. The confusing bit is the codes are consistent but the adjustable poles are not (closer to the neck on the neck pickup, and closer to the bridge on the bridge pickup), along with the "north" and "south" terminology. I'm pretty sure I have it wired correctly now, and get the expected split on pos. 2 and 4, and hum cancellation on the middle position. Really pleased with the middle position tone with these two pups.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

The relative positions of the poles, screw and slug, as in which way round they go, is purely aesthetic. Some might say having the screws nearest the bridge and neck matters, but really it doesn't. It's their position relative to the bar magnet poles that does. Which, unlike the bar magnets you probably played with in school, are down the long sides, not at the short ends. Regular SD pickups are made with the screw poles near the south pole of the magnets, by the way. Others may be different.

If you flip the magnet you get a reverse polarity pickup, to bring it back into phase, giving you a reverse wired, reverse polarity (RWRP) pickup, swap the green and black wire soldering points over.. That's a lot easier and safer than trying to swap the wires over at the pickup ends.

OTOH if you buy a ready-made RWRP pickup from SD or Fender or whoever, they've usually already done the work for you by flipping the connections at the pickup ends and or swapping the insulation colors on the wires back over.