Wiring help?

[Musician78]

have a guitar with a hum and two singles. The pups are wired to toggles. Up is on, Down is off. Bridge pup, volume and tone work the way they should.

However, I need to have both switches up for the singles to work. I want to be able to use one, or both. Not just both. Also, the tone does nothing for the singles when they are on. Can you tell from the pic what I did wrong?

Volume is the left pot. Tone that works is the right pot. Middle is the issue.

Initially I had the middle and left switch going to the middle terminal of the middle pot. It worked as a volume. I switched them to the outer and it doesn’t really do much.

Also, I’m not a soldering wizard, so yes... it looks sloppy.

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: Wiring help?

Im not sure why you are using all 3 terminals of the toggle switch. It should just be the pickup hot wire on the middle terminal and the red wire going to the volume control. I can't see what the middle pot is supposed to function as.

 

[Musician78]

Re: Wiring help?

The wiring diagram I had shows all three tabs being used like that. The middle pot is supposed to be a tone control for the two single coils.

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: Wiring help?

The toggle switch scheme wont allow you to share the tone in the the same way as a normal strat. I suggest rewire the bridge toggle switch so the middle lug is connected via the red wire to the volume control. Wire the bridge hot wire and bridge tone control wire to where the red wire previously was. Then wire the neck/middle tone control to the bridge toggle switch, on to opposite side of where the bridge hot wire is connected. This means the neck/middle tone control will be used when the bridge pickup is NOT selected. Also the neck/middle tone needs to be wired to the tone cap instead of ground like you appear to show in the picture.

 

[Musician78]

Re: Wiring help?

I appreciate the feedback. You don’t have a diagram for what you are talking about; do you? I’m kind of a knucklehead when it comes to this stuff and usually follow diagrams. And thankfully, usually they work.

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: Wiring help?

Maybe tomorrow i can post something more detailed. Im also thinking it would be better to ground the body of the switch to reduce to possibility of buzzes and other unwanted noise.

 

[Musician78]

Re: Wiring help?

I did have a bunch of noise until I grounded the pot on the right to the metal tab screwed into the body. Absolutely no noise right now. I would SERIOUSLY appreciate if you did post something to help this issue. It’s driving me nuts. I’ve wired about 25 guitars following diagrams and this is the only one that has ever given my a problem.

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Wiring help?

Where you located?

Is that a vol and two tones and three switches?

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: Wiring help?

There may be more than one way to do this. Here is my suggestion.

I wrote about grounding of the toggle switch bodies on the diagram - I think it is a good idea. In your case there is probably some conductive paint inside the control cavity that should be sufficient.

 

[Musician78]

Re: Wiring help?

There may be more than one way to do this. Here is my suggestion.

I wrote about grounding of the toggle switch bodies on the diagram - I think it is a good idea. In your case there is probably some conductive paint inside the control cavity that should be sufficient.

Awesome!!! A few questions.

Do you know this will work or do you think it will work?

As long as all pots are grounded together, it doesn’t matter which pot I ground what to; correct?

The switches... you have the hot wires from pickups going to an outer lug and the red power in middle. I have the red on the outside and the hots from the pups in the middle. This won’t make a difference; will it?

I’m asking because I want to move as few things as possible.

Thank you VERY much for your help here! You are the MAN!

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: Wiring help?

Awesome!!! A few questions.

Do you know this will work or do you think it will work?

Yes I am 99.9% certain it will fine. That's as close to a guarantee as I will offer you!

As long as all pots are grounded together, it doesn’t matter which pot I ground what to; correct?

Well your grounding looks complete, but you should remove all the green and black wires on the toggle switches. None of the switch terminals are grounded in my diagram.

The switches... you have the hot wires from pickups going to an outer lug and the red power in middle. I have the red on the outside and the hots from the pups in the middle. This won’t make a difference; will it?

Generally right, except for the bridge switch. The Red wire must be moved the centre terminal on the toggle switch for the bridge.

 

[Musician78]

Re: Wiring help?

Yes I am 99.9% certain it will fine. That's as close to a guarantee as I will offer you!



Well your grounding looks complete, but you should remove all the green and black wires on the toggle switches. None of the switch terminals are grounded in my diagram.



Generally right, except for the bridge switch. The Red wire must be moved the centre terminal on the toggle switch for the bridge.

Sweet. Last question. On your diagram, there are wires going from the switches to the back of the volume pot... are these just touching the metal part of the switch running to ground?

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: Wiring help?

Sweet. Last question. On your diagram, there are wires going from the switches to the back of the volume pot... are these just touching the metal part of the switch running to ground?

The green wires in my diagram only connect to the case of the toggle switch. The switching will fuction without them. They are only there to avoid any possible issues with noise and electrostatic discharge.

The diagram assumes single coil pickups from Seymour Duncan. If you use single coil pickups from other makers such as Fender, you may need to swap the connections to get them to operate in phase with the humbucker.

 

[Musician78]

Re: Wiring help?

The green wires in my diagram only connect to the case of the toggle switch. The switching will fuction without them. They are only there to avoid any possible issues with noise and electrostatic discharge.

The diagram assumes single coil pickups from Seymour Duncan. If you use single coil pickups from other makers such as Fender, you may need to swap the connections to get them to operate in phase with the humbucker.

Are there any other kinds of pickups?

Thanks again! I’ll let you know how it works out!

 

[Musician78]

Re: Wiring help?

Are there any other kinds of pickups?

Thanks again! I’ll let you know how it works out!

You are the MAN! I added another cap to the
Middle pot as I couldn’t make both work with one. I followed your diagram with the exception of adding the wire from the third lug of the switch to the middle terminal of the middle pot and it works!!! Thanks again! \m/

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: Wiring help?

You are the MAN! I added another cap to the
Middle pot as I couldn’t make both work with one. I followed your diagram with the exception of adding the wire from the third lug of the switch to the middle terminal of the middle pot and it works!!! Thanks again! \m/

I'm glad you got it sorted. So where is your middle pot tone wired to? Did you settle on having just neck and bridge tone controls? Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Musician78]

Re: Wiring help?

I'm glad you got it sorted. So where is your middle pot tone wired to? Did you settle on having just neck and bridge tone controls? Nothing wrong with that.

I still have the two into one wires from the middle and neck switches going to (now) the middle terminal on the middle pot. I didn’t change that except for moving it from terminal 1 to terminal 2.