Why isnt this HSS wiring working?

A

andersreve

New member
Here is what I am trying to do:

1SCH_2S_5W_1V_1T_AS.jpg


And here is what I have done (FYI I have reversed the Bare Knuckle neck pickup, and I also have a killswitch on the hot output to the jack):


image0.jpg


And the error is that position 2, 3 and 4 are completely silent.

Please help me understand what I have done wrong / why it isnt working?
 
I can't tell what's going on with the switch. Looks like

1 Bridge
2 Middle
3 Neck
4 Volume pot
5 (empty?)
6 Bridge red+white
7 (can't see)

What brand/model of switch is that?

My suspicion is if you are trying to split the bridge in 2-3-4 by grounding out the red+white, somehow it's actually grounding out the whole guitar. But I can't see what's going on to tell for sure.
 
So its:

1 Bridge
2 Middle
3 Neck
4 Volume + tone pot
5 Empty
6 Bridge red+white
7 Ground
8 Empty

I have no idea what brand it is - it is stock in this Stagg SES-60 cheap ass guitar (which now has awesome pickups) :)

Maybe this picture has better contrast:

image0.jpg
 
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Theoretically it should work. Why did you have to reverse the BK pickup? It is out of phase with Duncans? (I haven't heard that before, just checking.)
 
beaubrummels said:
Theoretically it should work. Why did you have to reverse the BK pickup? It is out of phase with Duncans? (I haven't heard that before, just checking.)
Click to expand...

Yes, it was out of phase in pos 4. And I had a push pull volume to split the JB, but I dont like the push pull and wanted outo split and only 1 tone. I did this re-wire and I cant understand why it doesnt work. I feel certain I have wired it exactly like the Seymour Duncan schematic says...
 
That's why we need to know what that switch is, or at least confirm that it's a standard switch and which lugs are Common. Certain import switches have special combinations built into the internal PC board, and if you don't know what each position is actually doing, it can do unpredictable things, like cut all the sound.
 
typically it would be 1 2 3 C C 1 2 3 but hard to know without testing it

if its as i describe, then id think your wiring would work, but obviously something is off.
 
andersreve said:
It's a bit hard to get good pics of it, but let's try this. There are 8 terminals btw
Click to expand...

Ok. That should work. There's a couple things I can think of: Perhaps that's an unconventional switch internally. (Unlikely.) Or, (given your soldering), a solder ball has dripped inside and is shorting something out. I don't mean that to sound like I'm criticizing your soldering. But it's a possibility.

At this point, I'd either meter everything out, or start over with a new switch.
 
ArtieToo said:
Ok. That should work. There's a couple things I can think of: Perhaps that's an unconventional switch internally. (Unlikely.) Or, (given your soldering), a solder ball has dripped inside and is shorting something out. I don't mean that to sound like I'm criticizing your soldering. But it's a possibility.

At this point, I'd either meter everything out, or start over with a new switch.
Click to expand...

Yes, probably the. next step. My soldering is not that good I totally agree! I need to buy a wick to get fully clean.

But, I have a question about this schematic: I dont understand the ground wire on terminal 7. What does that do? Because if the switch is conventional, that will ground position 2,3 and 4 (which are the dead positions...)
 
I removed the ground connection on B2 (terminal 7) and it seems to be working fine now. Is there something wrong with the schematic from SD?
 
andersreve said:
Yes, probably the. next step. My soldering is not that good I totally agree! I need to buy a wick to get fully clean.

But, I have a question about this schematic: I dont understand the ground wire on terminal 7. What does that do? Because if the switch is conventional, that will ground position 2,3 and 4 (which are the dead positions...)
Click to expand...

Only the red+white series link from the bridge is on lug 1 on that side of the switch. So when the switch is in positions 2-3, it's supposed to be splitting the humbucker. I think it won't split in position 4, because lug 1 would be disengaged at that point.

You wouldn't want it to split on position 4 because then you'd have all three pickups on at the same time.
 
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I only want it to split on 2, so I am fine with it not splitting in pos 4.

I want:

Pos 1: Humbucker
Pos 2: Split humbucker + mid
Pos 3: Mid
Pos 4: Mid + Neck
Pos 5: Neck

To me, after removing that ground on t7 it seems like the humbucker is always split (not humbucking) even in position 1.

I am very confused :)
 
Well, if you removed the ground, then it shouldn't split, so you could pull the red+white off the switch and tape it off, just to see if you get full humbucking on the bridge.
 
When I had the ground there were no sound at all...

These guys suggest that if it's not hum cancelling, to connect t7 to the hot output, what do you think?

wdu_hss5l11_01__27502.jpg
 
That will only change which coil the humbucker splits to. But you have worse problems where 3 switch positions were shutting off all sound and you weren't getting a full humbucker sound at all, if I follow your descriptions.
 
What if I want:

Auto split in pos 2.
Tone active in 2,3,4 and 5
Neck pickup reverse wiring
Master volum
Master killswitch

Does this then make sense?

Skjermbilde 2023-04-14 kl. 22.25.06.png
 
I don't think you can tap the tone off the series link of the bridge pickup. That means the tone is acting on one coil of the humbucker and the humbucker is never split because the series link is going to the tone and not to ground or hot. I actually don't know what it will do if you connect the tone from there.
 
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