Single P-rail wiring question

[bgreen19996]

So I plan on having a single p-rail running to a Gibson style 3 way switch leading to 1 volume and 1 tone pot. It seems fairly strait forward to me how to wire it to get with single coil/ p90/ hum bucker( parallel) using just the 3 way toggle. The issue is I want the middle position to be hum bucker( series) and I’m not sure how to achieve this. This is going into a Gibson sg and I would rather not have a blade switch. I’m not very knowledgeable with electronics but I can solder just fine. Thanks so much in advance.

 

[Blille]

I’m afraid you can’t do that with a traditional three way toggle switch but you can with one of the fancier ones that are DPDT

That said, as a PRails lover, I find the parallel mode more usable that the series but of course YMMV. I could see the series being used as a beefy boosted sound for solos.

Edit: replace the colors above for the Duncan colors obviously

 

[Artie]

The switch you need is surprisingly difficult to find. Guitar-centric stores typically don't have it. The "trick", is you need the small body, and the large handle, in order to maintain the traditional SG, (or LP), styling. Do a Google search for either of these two part numbers:

M2024B2B1W01 (on-on-on) https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/NKK-Switches/M2024B2B1W01?qs=t8w9rvwJwK814vTSW7RJ6g==&mgh=1
M2023B2B1W01 (on-off-on)

The on-off-on is a bit easier to wire because you don't need to pay quite as close attention to which terminals you use.

 

[Artie]

I can't edit the above. In both switches, the red & white are both connected to both middle terminals. On the switch on the right, black is connected to both top terminals and green to both lower.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Why not use a Triple Shot mounting ring? Then you can get series, parallel, split to P-90, split to Rail.

 

[Artie]

^^^^ Yup. An even better idea. :beerchug:

 

[Mincer]

If your guitar uses pickup rings, the Triple Shot is really the most elegant solution.

 

[MikeS]

I rather like the idea of a 3-way toggle if you know you don't want all 4 sounds in the P-Rails. I think that's the more elegant solution - any switching set up to get all 4 sounds is cumbersome, and I never could remember which combination of the two switches resulted in which sound.

I recommend the center-off style for this. Only one of the two poles needs to be soldered. There are a couple different types of center-on switches, and if you get the wrong one you can end up wiring the switch backwards. Center-off is a bit more foolproof.