Please help me with my Suhr modern mods (Smart people needed :)

[LostBetweenWires]

Hi everybody, I'll keep this as short yet precise as I can..

I want to make some modifications to my Suhr Modern (H-H) wiring.
I've been trying to understand guitar wiring diagrams for weeks now and while I have made some progress through the headaches, my brain just isn't made for this.
So.. I'm 100% paying somebody to do the installation for me, but I need to supply him with a drawing of what I want (to avoid confusion / extra hours I guess)

Here is what i have & what i want to get done:

I have:
-Suhr Modern, H-H w/ standard factory 5 way configuration.
It has a superswitch!
It has 1 volume control & 1 tone control
Factory Settings on the 5 way:
1) Neck
2) Neck Coil 1 (north / screws)
3) Bridge & Neck
4) Bridge Coil 1 / Neck Coil 2 (Inner 2 coils)*Bridge has the screws on the south/Coil2
5) Bridge Full (series)

I want to have done (2 modifications):
A- '' Redneck'' mod which is the Bridge wired parallel instead of series. I want to acces this configuration by adding a push/pull at the TONE knob.
(DOWN/in will obviously be the standard setting, UP/out engages the mod)

B- ''Split Bridge'' Mod**, where I have acces to (just) bridge coil 1 by adding a push/pull at the VOLUME knob.
(DOWN/in will obviously be the standard setting, UP/out engages the mod)

Suhr provided me with diagrams for both mods which is awesome, but now I have to combine them for a final schematic !!!
(also.. both Suhr modification diagrams have 1 push/pull at the tone-knob)
HERE is where I get lost again! :flush:


Who can help me draw this up?
I would be eternally grateful! :bowdown:


If anything is unclear, please let me know and I'll try my best to assist!
Kind Regards and thanks in advance,
T.j.

** Somehow in 'Split bridge mod' the #3) position changes to: Neck Full/ Bridge Coil1 instead of both Humbuckers full in the Suhr diagram.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Please help me with my Suhr modern mods (Smart people needed

Welcome to the forum.

Your question is almost impossible to answer without either a Suhr circuit diagram or photographs of the actual wiring. There is more than one type of Superswitch. There is more than one possible tone control configuration.

The "redneck" series/parallel mod for the Bridge PU will act on selector switch positions 1, 2 and 3.

Selector switch position #3 + Bridge PU with coil split mode engaged can only ever result in Neck Full / Bridge Coil 1. The circuit is only doing what was asked of it.

 

[LostBetweenWires]

Re: Please help me with my Suhr modern mods (Smart people needed

Hi FunkyFingers, thanks so much for answering.

I was dreading to hear those words to be honest (well, some of them).

Here is the dillema.. Suhr asked me kindly not to share their drawings (so i can't / won't), but I need them to show you guys what's inside my guitar.
Taking a picture won't help unless i pull out al the pots and the switch, even then it's a hot mess.

I did not realise there is more than one type of superswitch, different brands sure but i figured they'd all work the same way (double row of 2x5 lugs, common on the outsides).
As for the control configuration remark i'm confused slightly, especially because i forgot to mention this crucial detail in the OP (there is 1 volume, 1 tone).
Do you mean that even with 1vol, 1tone not every guitar is wired the same way to the toneknob?
Shouldn't that be fairly standard as it function is to role of tone for both pickups?
Or am i misunderstanding it completely?

Anyway, thanks again.
I will scour the web for a similar thread where at least the standard factory config has already been shared, they must be out there.
But even in the internet age, intellectual property is worth something and i respect Suhr's wishes so i can't post the diagrams here
even though that would make life(s) so much easier!!!

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Please help me with my Suhr modern mods (Smart people needed

The basic five coil permutations from your selector switch are identical to those of the Fender Big Apple / Double Fat / HH Stratocaster. Apart from the tone control connections and the so-called Blower Switch, the circuits will be identical. A photograph of your control cavity (undisturbed) would confirm my supposition.

The Fender schematic is freely available on their website support pages. Just ignore the pole that governs the two tone controls.

It would not surprise me to discover that the same circuit is available via DiMarzio, just under a different name than the Fender ones.

 

[LostBetweenWires]

Re: Please help me with my Suhr modern mods (Smart people needed

Here it is from 3 different angles:





They are probably out there, although if i remember correctly dimarzio uses different colouring than Suhr & Seymour Duncan (?).
That would just confuse me even more..

Thanks FunkyFingers, hope this helps.
if you need more pictures let me know!

P.s. By blower switch do you mean the button that bypasses the controls (as in Guthries suhr?)
There isn't one in mine!

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Please help me with my Suhr modern mods (Smart people needed

The conductor colour codes appear identical to Duncan.

What you have there is pretty much the Fender circuit to which I alluded earlier except with a treble bleed network on the volume pot and single tone control.

The one aspect which seems unusual is that, in the Fender application, the neck position humbucker has its magnet inverted and the four output conductors are reversed per coil. (Black and green become the series link. I cannot immediately recall whether the hot is red or white. I am too lazy to check over at the Fender Support web pages.) Presumably, Suhr constructs its neck position pickup with these alterations already made, thereby preserving their standard colour code convention.

The soldering work in the Suhr is exemplary. IMO, it would be a shame to disrupt it.

 

[LostBetweenWires]

Re: Please help me with my Suhr modern mods (Smart people needed

Hi, your opinion is certainly welcomed.
It does look neat! (Last time i saw it was also the first time I opened the cavity and had a near heart attack).

However, if it can be done neatly once.. it should be possible to replicate right?
Or is it a slippery slope once you start messing with the solder joints at the pots for example?

Oooor... do you think the 2 slight tonal variation are not worth all the trouble (including messing with the aesthetics and possibly reliability of the controls)?
I'm partially leaning that way myself, add the fact i'm not the biggest fan of push/pulls..
(i have one on a bass that's a flimsy piece of s***, but they're probably not all created equal)

Thanks for your help!

I can't help decipher which wire is the hot either, it's beyond my comprehension of diagrams and Suhr doesn't specify.
Sorry!

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Please help me with my Suhr modern mods (Smart people needed

Black is hot. Red/white are the series/split link. Green is ground, as is the bare screening wire.

Your two proposed modifications require the disconnection of all four bridge HB insulated conductors from their present locations.