Wiring Challenge!

jumble jumble

jumble jumble

New member
OK, having spent an hour on this I'm opening it up to you guys.

Can this be done using a super switch? Two humbuckers and a 5-way switch. It'll just be master volume and tone controls so ignore those. Whenever the coils are split and combined they need to be hum-cancelling. Configuration as follows:

Pos 1: Bridge humbucker
Pos 2: Neck split + Bridge split - SERIES
Pos 3: Bridge humbucker + Neck humbucker - PARALLEL
Pos 4: Neck split + Bridge split - PARALLEL
Pos 5: Neck humbucker

What do you reckon? I can't do it with less than 5 poles.
 
Re: Wiring Challenge!

seems very close to the PRS superswitch that stewmac sells
what you desire from pos 3 is different (you want full humbuckerrs, that switch does splits)

let me noodle on this a bit and see if i can get it to work with a straight 4 pole 5 way switch
 
Re: Wiring Challenge!

I've already got this in my archives. The trick is finding it. Give me a sec.

Edit: Pic changed for corrections.

Neck-white and bridge-green can be grounded anywhere thats convenient. It doesn't need to be to the switch.
 
Last edited:
Re: Wiring Challenge!

Is that hum cancelling in all positions? Is it definitely what I said? I can't check it until tomorrow.

Also how the hell do you go about working something like that out?

The best I could come up with today involving a super switch and limited physical space involved a separate compartment, a battery and three relays!
 
Re: Wiring Challenge!

jumble jumble said:
Is that hum cancelling in all positions? Is it definitely what I said?
Click to expand...

Every position is humcancelling, and its exactly what you wanted. Trust me. ;)

jumble jumble said:
Also how the hell do you go about working something like that out?
Click to expand...

Its what I do. I also experiment a lot.

jumble jumble said:
The best I could come up with today involving a super switch and limited physical space involved a separate compartment, a battery and three relays!
Click to expand...

Ouch!
 
Re: Wiring Challenge!

Ok. I know this is cheeky, but could you talk me through it a little bit? I'm still really unsure on humbucker wiring and some of this stuff doesn't make sense to me.

One specific thing is, I don't understand why the red and white from the neck are never grounded. Doesn't that mean that in the series position, it's the neck and bridge split in series, but also one of the neck coils is there in parallel?
 
Re: Wiring Challenge!

Man . . . I'm glad you asked me that question. As I started to type up the explanation, I realized I made a mistake. :banghead:

Gimme a moment, and I'll correct it. Might make it easier to understand.

Btw, what I drew will work, its just that the "series" mode wouldn't be humbucking.
 
Re: Wiring Challenge!

There's no rush whatsoever. I won't be doing this for months yet. Thanks for taking the time, I really appreciate it!
 
Re: Wiring Challenge!

Edit: Ignore this post since I corrected the diagram.

jumble jumble said:
There's no rush whatsoever. I won't be doing this for months yet. Thanks for taking the time, I really appreciate it!
Click to expand...

No problem. I'll tell you what the simple changes are, but I'll post the diagram as soon as I get home.

On the neck pickup side, the colors, top to bottom, should go:
Red
Green/black
White (to ground)

Then there's two changes on the switch.

On the left-lower quadrant, the 4th pole goes straight up to the left-upper 4th pole. Eliminate that connection and drop it straight down to ground.

On the left-upper quadrant, I left off the 3rd terminal connection to "out". In other words, terminals 2 through 5 should all be shorted together and to "out".

Like I said, I'll post the corrected diagram when I get home.
 
Last edited:
Re: Wiring Challenge!

jtougas said:
Should be pretty close to this one....

1 : bridge
2 : n & b split series
3 : n & b split parallel
4 : n & b
5 : neck
Click to expand...

If those split positions are hum-cancelling, which they should be, then that's your diagram. If you want to change the order of the switch positions that's very easy, if you want the "n & b" in the 3th position.
 
Re: Wiring Challenge!

The diagram that Zhaggy posted is correct. It just doesn't show Duncan colors or the sequence you wanted.

The diagram in post #3 is now correct for colors and sequence.

Thanks again Zhaggy for that diagram.
 
Re: Wiring Challenge!

ArtieToo said:
The diagram that Zhaggy posted is correct. It just doesn't show Duncan colors or the sequence you wanted.

The diagram in post #3 is now correct for colors and sequence.

Thanks again Zhaggy for that diagram.
Click to expand...

Actuall it wasn't me. If you read my post again you'll see that it was jtougas who posted the diagram.

But anyway there are many very good diagrams on Dimarzio site that are not on SD site.
 
Re: Wiring Challenge!

jumble jumble said:
Thanks for that. I'll trace it through and see if I can understand it!
Click to expand...

Since you said you weren't in any hurry, I'll try to make up a diagram that shows each position, so you can easily see whats happening. But that will probably be this weekend at the soonest.
 
Re: Wiring Challenge!

That would be fantastic. I'll trace it through first today, and if I fully understand it all, you needn't bother. If I don't, though, I'll be able to ask specific questions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top