Wiring Tripleshots/P-Rails with a blade switch

[Zanthir]

Hey, I'm wiring a set of P-rails onto an old Strat, and wanted to keep a blade switch instead of a 3 way Toggle. I followed this wiring diagram:
https://www.seymourduncan.com/images/wiring-diagrams/2H_2TS_3G_1V_1T.jpg

And instead of the 3 way toggle, I wired the Blade switch like a standard Tele like this one, taking black and ground wires from the P-Rails to the ground section on the Volume Pot.
https://www.seymourduncan.com/images/wiring-diagrams/Tele_Standard.jpg

I'm getting good sound, so I would imagine all is well, but wanted to check with folks smarter than me to see if this is how I should have done it or not. Any insight is appreciated, total newbie here.

 

[Zanthir]

[No message]

 

[jeremy]

guitar looks cool! if its working as expected, id assume you did it right.

 

[Zanthir]

Thanks. I'm definitely getting sound out of it, and the sound quality is pretty good. However, the volume output on it is much lower than my other electrics, and it's very treble heavy. I have to roll down the tone knob much further than I do on my other guitars, and have to compensate for the volume difference at the amp. I'd say with the same signal chain and just swapping guitars, this is about 70% the volume of my other guitars.

It might just be down to the difference in pickups, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't a wiring issue.

 

[Mincer]

Do you have a digital multi meter? This will help diagnose what's going on here.

 

[Zanthir]

I do, but a total newbie on this stuff. I'll try to find time today to pull the pickguard back off and take some pictures. I didn't realize at first the Triple Shot diagrams call for a 3 way toggle as opposed to a 3 way blade, so I improvised, which may not have been the best decision for my first build!

 

[Zanthir]

Also, the Triple Shot diagram has the bridge ground wire and output jack sleeve both going to ground on the volume pot, where the telecaster diagram with the blade switch has the output sleeve going to the ground on the tone pot. I'm unsure if that makes any difference. I have both going ground on the volume pot if I remember correctly.

 

[Zanthir]

In case this helps, I pulled it back apart, happy to pull out the DMM, but honestly don't know what to look for on it.


(1) White is Hot, Black is ground from Bridge and Output jack.
(2) thick black on right is the ground from bridge + output jack going to ground (also pin 3, Black & ground from both triple shots) on volume pot. The white coming from right is hot output jack going to pin 2 of volume. Capacitor on tone has foil side to ground (Orange Drop Capacitors .047uf). Left pin of tone joins to left pin on volume (I know they're rotated, but matching the SD wiring diagram orientation). Volume left pin is joined to the jumped A1+2 and B3+4 pins on the 3-way blade switch.
(3) 3 way blade switch, Jumped A1+2, B3+4, & joined to left pin of volume. B1 uses the white wire from neck triple shot, A4 uses the white wire from bridge pickup.
(4) Neck pickup -> P-rails to Triple Shot connection.
(5) Overall view of the full job.

 

[jeremy]

as long as its grounded, its fine, and you should be able to use a blade switch without issue. when in series, the prails should have plenty of output and should not be overly bright.

you dont need to open it up to check resistance. make sure the volume and tone controls are full up, plug a cable into the output jack, and put the meter on the top and sleeve. the reading wont be 100% accurate but close enough we can tell whats going on. you should be able to flip through the different pup selections and triple shot settings and get different readings for each one.

 

[Zanthir]

This might sound crazy, but I think it was my bridge saddles more than the pickups/wiring. When I put the guitar back together, I put my original block saddles back on, and it's significantly better.

I had Graphtech black block saddles, but had swapped them out for some AllParts Chrome ones to better match the aesthetic, but I noticed the sustain was very short lived as well, even playing unplugged. When I swapped back to the GraphTech ones, the sustain is back and the overall output is significantly better.

I do feel like the tone is still brighter than my other guitars, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, just brighter than expected. My other reference guitars are a Schecter MV-6 and C-1 Exotic. They also have different body wood and Fretboard material (Ebony vs Roasted Maple), so not a very apples to apples comparison.

 

[jeremy]

i do like graphtech saddles, i typically use the vintage ones with just a little bit of the black, but ive used the black before and been happy with them. i also like good steel saddles, my favorite bridge is a callaham hard tail strat bridge. different guitars sound different for sure,

again, im surprised the series option sounds bright, so still curious of meter readings if you want to take the time

 

[Zanthir]

I'll pull the DMM out tomorrow and get some readings. From what I'm reading though, the standard Telecaster middle position is Parallel, so when I wired up the 3-way switch as shown here, I likely have the P-Rails/triple shots in parallel rather than series.

https://www.seymourduncan.com/images/wiring-diagrams/Tele_Standard.jpg

I might look into grabbing a 4-way blade instead of the 3 way and try out something like this to get that series capability like this one, but probably not near term.
https://www.seymourduncan.com/images/wiring-diagrams/Tele_2S_4B_1V_1T.jpg

 

[Zanthir]

Alright, there are too many configurations to hit all of em, but here's a sampling of the resistances I'm getting. DMM set to 20 Ohms per: https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/latest-updates/how-to-test-guitar-pickups-with-a-multimeter


Triple Shot
Correction: Single Rail:
Neck: 5.39
Bridge: 8.2
Mid:​ 3.27

Series Humbucker Config:
Neck: 12.25
Bridge: 18
Mid: 7.4

Correction: P90:
Neck: 7.02
Bridge: 10.2
Mid: 4.2​​

Parallel Humbucker Config:
Neck: 3.07
Bridge: 4.58
Mid: 1.84​

Configuration I've found myself most drawn to is P90 Neck + Series Humbucker Bridge. Resistance Measured: 4.18


For Control/Reference here's my MV-6 (3 Single Coils)
5 (Neck Single): 5.72
4 (all 3 parallel): 3.03
3 (N+B parallel): 3.02
2 (Bridge Single): 6.2
1 (Bridge-Series): 14.33

And C-1 (Dual Humbuckers)
Neck: 8.3
Bridge: 15.7
Mid: 5.5

 

[jeremy]

that seems about right other than you have the p90 readings and rail coil readings reversed.

 

[Zanthir]

Alright, thanks for the info! Yeah I see I got those swapped, the resistance on a P90 should be between that of a single coil and a humbucker, right?

For future reference (for myself too, as I couldn't find the info directly when searching):
Triple shot switch configuration for P-Rails if wired as labelled:
Both Left: Single Coil
Both Right: P90
Both Outside: Parallel
Both Inside: Series