wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

[focusbob]

Hello forum,

I just ordered a bunch of pots from stewmac and I'm about to embark on a wiring adventure. The guitar was built from a tele kit and outfitted with a duncan invader in the bridge and a single-coil-sized humbucker (made by gfs) in the neck. 3-way switch, 1 volume, 1 tone. I've been drowning in options on the interwebs, I ordered some 1 meg pots as well as some 500k push/pull pots and I'm not really sure what I want to do. But one thing I'm considering doing i'm having a hard time finding a wiring diagram for (perhaps bc it is not possible).

How would I go about wiring 1 vol and 1 tone, where one of these pots is a push/pull which switches between series/parallel in the bridge pickup (invader)? Preferably, if the push/pull were on the tone pot, that would be ideal, but if not possible, the volume pot would be fine too. Actually, diagrams for each of these possibilities (assuming they are possible) would be most helpful. I'm hoping I can attach the parallel/series switch to a master tone or volume, bc if I can, I can use the 1 meg pot for whichever pot doesn't have the push/pull; I really just want the option to be able to do so bc I've heard 1 meg pots can be good for invaders. I can only find diagrams for series/parallel where the push/pull is attached to a single pickup volume pot (as opposed to a master volume pot). Is what I'm suggesting possible?

Thanks!

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

I'm not really sure what I want to do.

^
This.

Without wishing to appear "insensitive, bullying or rude", you need narrow down the possibilities to the ones that you truly need from this guitar. Only then can you set about devising the most practical control circuit.

Fundamentally, your circuit will follow the regular Telecaster pattern - three-way selector switch, volume, tone - with a couple of mode switches added. Hence, you can arrive at your personal wiring schematic diagram by combining elements already available in the Support section of this website.

Is your Invader going to be mounted via a plastic surround or a metal Tele bridge with a rectangular pickup cut-out? In the former case, consider using a Triple Shot mounting surround. This will handle the coil combination duties AND leaves any push-pull pots free for other applications.

There is no hard and fast rule about where the push-pull pot(s) should go. In the case of your project guitar, the logical positioning would be volume pot switch acts on neck PU, tone pot switch acts on bridge PU.

The cable run from each pickup will be 4-con + shield to its respective mode switch, switch output to selector switch, selector switch to volume pot.

 

[darthphineas]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

Hence, you can arrive at your personal wiring schematic diagram by combining elements already available in the Support section of this website.

that's what I'm talking about. I typically have to take a little bit from a few schematics. that also helps to develop a better understanding of each part and how it works and interacts with other parts... which can lead to not needing to rely on schematics as much as simply knowing what to do. it takes time. work at it at your own pace.

 

[hermetico]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

I would start with just the 4-way tele mod, that includes both pickups in series as an add-on to the classical 3 positions.
Then, I think it would be a good idea to use that coils parallel/series switch if you are planning to use an Invader (in a Teleeee?)

 

[focusbob]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

Ok, I tend to blather, so let me restate the specific scenario I was hoping for help with:

3 way switch, 1 master volume, 1 master tone

I would like one of the pots to switch the bridge pickup between series and parallel. I would most like the switch to be on the master tone, although I would appreciate also knowing how to have the switch be on the volume pot. All I can find online with 1 vol and 1 tone and one switch is coil splitting and I'm not interested in that.

If you could refer me to a wiring diagram that would be most helpful. I am a beginne, I've wired one guitar in a very standard configuration.

Thanks.

 

[Artie]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

Here are some tips that might help:

The switch thats on a push-pull pot is simply a DPDT switch like any other. It's electrically isolated from the pot portion, so you can wire it up independently of the pot. In other words, you can use any wiring diagram that uses a DPDT switch, and just adapt its terminals to the push-pull switch.
Do keep in mind, however, that on a stand alone toggle switch, the contacts connect opposite of the handle position, while they follow the handle position on a push-pull.

Next, no matter what switching you do to an individual pickup, you always end up with two wires: hot and ground. So always design the individual pickup switching first. Then worry about adding it to the main switching circuit. For example, here I switch a pickup using series/split/parallel, and then phase. I ultimately end up with just hot and ground to go to the rest of the guitar wiring:

An Invader, in parallel, is one of my favorite pickup sounds. I think it will be killer in a Tele. Here's how to wire it to the push-pull:

For me personally, I'd do parallel when the push-pull is "down". That will give you close to normal Tele tone. Then pull the knob up to go to "turbo" mode, so to speak. But the choice is yours.

Let us know what you come up with. Enjoy.

Artie

 

[focusbob]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

Artie, it will take me a while to digest this bc I'm a novice, but it looks most helpful. Thanks so much for taking the time!

 

[Artie]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

No prob man. I'll try to work you up a complete diagram in the next day or two. I've just got a million irons in the fire right now. Rest assured, if I don't get it, Hermy will.

 

[focusbob]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

A complete diagram would be AWESOME! A diagram with the switch on the tone and another diagram with the switch on the volume would be AMAZING! But as always, any help is very much appreciated.

 

[focusbob]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...



So, here's a modified diagram from guitarelectronics.com (I'm going to go ahead and consider this fair use : ) ). All I've really done is whited-out the switch connections from the volume pot such that the neck pickup is wired in a standard manner and the bridge pickup is wired to the push/pull tone pot for series/parallel. I've also added treble bleed and some notes on the color coding of my pickups.

1) Can you please check this diagram to make sure it is correct?

2) I'm confused how to modify the diagram such that "down" on the switch is parallel (currently it is series). Artie provided this mod, but the switch wiring seems different between the picture from guitarelectronics and Artie's picture. And I'm too newbie to figure out why they are different.

EDIT: would it be that, in my diagram, I would leave the middle two positions as is, and switch the ground/hot pair of connections from bottom [closest to pot] to top [furthest from pot], and switch the pair of connections that are soldered together from top to bottom?

3) Anyone using GFS pickups can confirm that ground and hot are opposite between GFS and Seymour Duncan pickups (as I've notated)?

4) Any suggestions for capacitor/resistor values? For the tone, I was thinking .010 mf. For the treble bleed, I'm not sure since I have a 1Mohm volume pot and a 500k tone pot... I just bought a variety of capacitors and resistors for it, but suggestions would help...

5) Any other comments are welcome, like "hey, don't use a 1MOhm volume pot" or "hey, it would be better to have 500k volume and 1Mohm tone pots"...

Thanks!

 

[AlexR]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

Ok - 1 Mohm will make for a brighter guitar tone when used for the volume pot than a 500k. I'd suggest using the 500 for the volume.

I'm pretty sure that the push-pull wiring you've got there won't give you parallel. Look at the pattern of the wires that Artie gave you.....

actually look at the diagram I've linked......but replace the push pull specific wiring with what Artie has drawn

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=tele_1hum_1sing_pushpull

 

[Artie]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

That push-pull and mine are electrically identical. Its just two different ways to accomplish the same thing.

 

[focusbob]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

That push-pull and mine are electrically identical. Its just two different ways to accomplish the same thing.

Artie, how would you modify the switch wiring in the diagram I posted so that parallel would be down instead of up? Would you just swap the bottom and top pairs of lugs?

 

[hermetico]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

Artie, how would you modify the switch wiring in the diagram I posted so that parallel would be down instead of up? Would you just swap the bottom and top pairs of lugs?

Yes, just swap the upper with the lower row of pins and you are done.

 

[Myaccount876]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

Also, the SD and GFS color-code is exactly the same.

 

[focusbob]

Re: wiring help! parallel/series, push/pull and so on...

Also, the SD and GFS color-code is exactly the same.

I'm pretty sure that's not true. That is, green is hot for gfs and black is ground, duncans are the opposite. My source is a dozen or so threads on this and other (mainly tdpri) forums, which included pasted emails from gfs and multimeter verifications. Ill verify myself when I crack her open.