PRS: Two humbuckers, 1 vol, 1 tone push/push + 5 way superswitch wiring ideas?

P

P-Ride

New member
Hey, I've finally ordered the parts for my PRS SE Custom 24 electronics upgrade.

- PRS S2 HFS and vintage bass humbuckers (4 wire)
(I bought them because they're black, to replace the zebras in mine.)
- Oak Grigsby 5 way superswitch
- CTS 1 Meg tone pot
- All Parts Push/Push 500k for volume
- A couple of Sprague Orange drops in different values
- Black/White/Red/Green wire (easy to identify, no point in fabric?)

I'm aware I'll have to magnet flip the neck pickup (is this difficult?)

You'll note no treble bleed.. many say they prefer without?

So, I naturally assumed I could easily augment one of the five-way plans that has options for series/parallel or perhaps any other mixed-coil setups, with the push/push, to get split coil tones.

However, I'm struggling to find a single two humbucker, five way superswitch + push split diagram!

Any suggestions? I'm open to ideas!

I can only have one push push, as I want a 1 meg tone pot and haven't found any with push push.

Can I wire both humbuckers through bone push push to cool split?

Thanks
 
Re: PRS: Two humbuckers, 1 vol, 1 tone push/push + 5 way superswitch wiring ideas?

Looks like Ibanez might have guitars with 5 way and push pull?
 
PRS: Two humbuckers, 1 vol, 1 tone push/push + 5 way superswitch wiring ideas?

That makes it awkward. 2 DPDTs and a 3 way toggle gives you more options:

Neck humbucker
Neck split

Neck humbucker & bridge humbucker
Neck split & bridge humbucker
Neck humbucker & bridge split

Bridge humbucker
Bridge split

You could combine a push pull and 5 way super switch but it would not be intuitive and might be a puzzle working out the wiring.

Alternatively you could use your 5 way switch to have:
neck humbucker
Neck parallel
Neck & bridge
Bridge parallel
Bridge humbucker
And use push push to put both pickups as humbuckers or coil split - but then with both selected they are both either humbucker or split, so you lose my favourite combination bridge split & neck humbucker.

On the subject of splitting, use a really small resistor between 2k and 5k for grounding the inactive coil. I like 4.7k but my approach is low output higher resistor. use DCR of pickup as a guide but really it's your ears as it could be high DCR but not high inductance or low DCR and high inductance. But that resistor stops the coil split sounding thin and crappy - makes it sound more like a true single coil.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
PRS: Two humbuckers, 1 vol, 1 tone push/push + 5 way superswitch wiring ideas?

Regarding magnets, flipping the magnet is easy,lots of videos,but you need to determine that when coil split and both pickuos selected that you have both coils hum cancelling so one is RWRP to the other.
You may find you have to swap the magnet or if it's 4 conductor wire differently, I had to do this with one of mine. It's 12 ALNICO pole pieces do flipping magnets was not an option.

Plus you want to consider which coils are active, inner, outer,or inner in one and outer in the other while still being hum cancelling with both selected. It's easy to do that with wiring and maybe flipping a magnet or even rotating a pickup 180 degrees.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
PRS: Two humbuckers, 1 vol, 1 tone push/push + 5 way superswitch wiring ideas?

If you search , CTS do a 1 meg push pull SPDT switch which is all you need for coil splitting and i think Alpha and Bourns do them too, BTW. It will make you life much easier with 2 push pulls.
Or if you are ok with a couple of holes, use normal pots for volume and tone (or if you like use the push push you got to reverse phase on one pickup so you don't need to flip a magnet but you get out of phase at the push of a knob!) - get DP3T switch for each pickup and you can then select humbucker, parallel or single coil using the 3 way switch using this wiring:

2f1194b2f9ad33cb6cb5b8f6c301a8d2.jpg


So up is series, middle is coil split, down is parallel - on a DPDT it's just series /parallel no coil split.


BTW, ut of phase sounds cool, but use a .1uF cap instead of a wire when flipping ground to hot- stops it sounding so thin and shrill.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
Re: PRS: Two humbuckers, 1 vol, 1 tone push/push + 5 way superswitch wiring ideas?

vinnie1971 said:
That makes it awkward. 2 DPDTs and a 3 way toggle gives you more options:

Neck humbucker
Neck split

Neck humbucker & bridge humbucker
Neck split & bridge humbucker
Neck humbucker & bridge split

Bridge humbucker
Bridge split

You could combine a push pull and 5 way super switch but it would not be intuitive and might be a puzzle working out the wiring.

Alternatively you could use your 5 way switch to have:
neck humbucker
Neck parallel
Neck & bridge
Bridge parallel
Bridge humbucker
And use push push to put both pickups as humbuckers or coil split - but then with both selected they are both either humbucker or split, so you lose my favourite combination bridge split & neck humbucker.

On the subject of splitting, use a really small resistor between 2k and 5k for grounding the inactive coil. I like 4.7k but my approach is low output higher resistor. use DCR of pickup as a guide but really it's your ears as it could be high DCR but not high inductance or low DCR and high inductance. But that resistor stops the coil split sounding thin and crappy - makes it sound more like a true single coil.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm still mulling it over, but it's confusing as to whether you should decide on sounds then hardware; or hardware then sounds.

I figured a 5 way super would simply give me more options; that a push/push is easier to use; but sadly I can't get a push/push in one meg. That dictated my choices of hardware - and I was hoping a few design ideas would fall into my lap!

An an alternative, could I buy a second 500k push/push and modify it into a no-load pot? The goal is to have as open a sound on my pickup as possible.

Presumably a 5 way super and 2 push push would give me more options than a 3 way and 2 push push?

I can't see push/push with anything above 500k.

Also, I'm slightly confused on the magnet swap. These pickups have slugs and screws; the screws come through the back. Is that a problem?

Thanks for your help
 
Re: PRS: Two humbuckers, 1 vol, 1 tone push/push + 5 way superswitch wiring ideas?

Since your replacement pickups are from PRS, they will already have one magnet flipped. So you probably won't need to worry about that.

As for switching, while a five way Superswitch offers great possibilities, it also complicates the use of a DPDT push-pull for split/series operation. I think using a second push-pull to bypass your pot like a no-load does could be done pretty easily.

You might check out the Superswitch configurations mear the bottom of this Phostenix page, you'll need to scroll down (and bear in mind that the suggested wirings reflect Duncan wire colors; PRS color codes may be different). https://sites.google.com/site/phostenixwiringdiagrams/hh-guitars

Forum member Brandenburg has a very good handle on guitar wiring and has helped many of us (myself included) with some great schematics for various unusual configurations.
 
Re: PRS: Two humbuckers, 1 vol, 1 tone push/push + 5 way superswitch wiring ideas?

Ok guys, I am shifting towards two 500k push/push pots and converting one to no-load.

Any wiring suggestions for combining these with a 5-way super?

Having each push/push manually split each humbucker is appealing.

Cheers
 
Re: PRS: Two humbuckers, 1 vol, 1 tone push/push + 5 way superswitch wiring ideas?

With a Super Switch, I did a 5 way like this:
Neck
Inside Coils
Both HBs
Outside coils
Bridge

With SD pickups, one magnet had to be flipped. You could add a phase switch with the push/pull if you like that sound. BTW, all positions are hum-cancelling and in phase.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top