help wiring my strat, scruffie/wiz/spunkz/??? get in here

[htsamurai]

so........
my new strat is fat, has a not-so-bad humbucker in bridge.
i have an SH-2 and 4 lying around.
iWanna wire it so that it's the 3 humbuckers w/ coil tap and phase switches + a master kill switch, 1 volume, 3 tone controls
halp?

[McSpunckle]

Oh, man. I told you I'd make you out a diagram. Mah bad!

I guess you want 6 switches, right?

The whole thing is actually pretty easy. Just a repetitive circuit for each pickup.

[Scruffie]

Or a rotary switch...?

Can you work from a schematic diagram HT or do you need it drawn up with pretty images?

Here's a good link for you anyway with all the wiring schematics you could want http://www.geocities.jp/dgb_studio/Tone_e.htm
And a link with other mods to try (including what you asked for) some with images of the process and diagrams http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/menu.php I also thoroughly suggest shielding the guitar as shown there, for your own safety (you can read about the cap protection on that site) and for the noise reduction.

As for the kill switch, you want a normally open push button switch, so that when you press it, it completes the circuit and you want to wire this inbetween your ground and live wire going to the jack (basically between the 2 wires to the jack, don't worry which is ground or live) I can draw you a diagram if you want.

[McSpunckle]

Rotaries are cumbersome and hard to wire, honestly. I dig 'em for really complex stuff, though. Like having 6 modes for each pickup. I found some tiny rotary switches that I really want to try. The shit the guitar places sell are just too big.

I just realized that 3 tones will be basically impossible, because once you add in another pickup, they all become master tones.

Like on a Les Paul... once you put the pickup switch in the middle, it makes the tone the master. Unless I'm forgetting a way to separate them, that is.

[Scruffie]

I don't find rotaries too hard to wire, but yeah they are good for more complex stuff, i'm intrigued by the digital switching systems you can get now, I assume they're just electronic switching with a display.

Yeah I think smallbear do the little style rotaries, wouldn't mind some myself.

They are seperable I seem to remember... but I don't think it'd be worth it.

[McSpunckle]

I don't find rotaries too hard to wire, but yeah they are good for more complex stuff, i'm intrigued by the digital switching systems you can get now, I assume they're just electronic switching with a display.

Yeah I think smallbear do the little style rotaries, wouldn't mind some myself.

They are seperable I seem to remember... but I don't think it'd be worth it.

I found them at Mouser. Ok, Allied. I only noticed them because of the coloured pictures. >.<

I seem to remember a way to separate the tone controls, but damnit... I can't seem to come up with one. Everything I think of puts the tone control right on the other pickups.

[Scruffie]

Well it's just a filter in its simplest form, i'l have a think when it's not 3 in the morning for a way to do it simply... what could be cool is a passive tone stack of treble mids and bass controlling all the pickups a bit like the G&L Legacy http://www.glguitars.com/schematics/Leg ... iagram.pdf .. then again that's not what HT wants.

[McSpunckle]

Well it's just a filter in its simplest form, i'l have a think when it's not 3 in the morning for a way to do it simply... what could be cool is a passive tone stack of treble mids and bass controlling all the pickups a bit like the G&L Legacy http://www.glguitars.com/schematics/Leg ... iagram.pdf .. then again that's not what HT wants.

Passive tone stacks are cool, but they can hurt your volume. I'd guess you'd only turn one part down at a time, though.

The problem with the tone control is that when you have another pickup on, it connects to that pickup, then you have 2 tone controls in parallel-- which cuts the resistance and adds to capacitance. Thus, treble loss. Do that 3 times and .

You can't totally separate volume controls either, but you can make them not really function to the other pickup(s). The load form the resistance will still affect your sound.

Everything in the circuit kinda interacts in a passive system. Even 2 pickups have an effect on each other. The inductance acts as a bass cut (or in series, a treble cut).

[metalmariachi]

Putting the tone control before the volume helps some.
Give a bit of isolation when one of the volumes is rolled back.
Wouldn’t say it completely eliminates the interaction just makes it a bit less annoying.

MM

[McSpunckle]

Tone controls aside, here's the coil tap/phase circuit. Repeat for each pickup:

[Scruffie]

Well it's just a filter in its simplest form, i'l have a think when it's not 3 in the morning for a way to do it simply... what could be cool is a passive tone stack of treble mids and bass controlling all the pickups a bit like the G&L Legacy http://www.glguitars.com/schematics/Leg ... iagram.pdf .. then again that's not what HT wants.

Passive tone stacks are cool, but they can hurt your volume. I'd guess you'd only turn one part down at a time, though.

Yeah I know, as I said it would be cool, but it's not without its flaws, I'd have an active one... but I hate having active circuits in my guitars except in specialist occasions.

As for the rest... well you've done a diagram and i've explained a kill switch, anything else you need HT?

May I suggest a switch to completely disconnect the tone stack though? Pickups going straight to the out through the volume pot can be great.

[htsamurai]

Well it's just a filter in its simplest form, i'l have a think when it's not 3 in the morning for a way to do it simply... what could be cool is a passive tone stack of treble mids and bass controlling all the pickups a bit like the G&L Legacy http://www.glguitars.com/schematics/Leg ... iagram.pdf .. then again that's not what HT wants.

Passive tone stacks are cool, but they can hurt your volume. I'd guess you'd only turn one part down at a time, though.

Yeah I know, as I said it would be cool, but it's not without its flaws, I'd have an active one... but I hate having active circuits in my guitars except in specialist occasions.

As for the rest... well you've done a diagram and i've explained a kill switch, anything else you need HT?

May I suggest a switch to completely disconnect the tone stack though? Pickups going straight to the out through the volume pot can be great.

yeah i suggested that to spunkz yesterday in a text.
so ok, for sure the HB->coil->phase->volume set up is gold
so what if each pickup was going
HB->coil->phase->volume->tone bypass->tone->kill->master kill->jack
then each pickup would have it's individual switches/controls and not touch the others,save for the master kill........right?

[McSpunckle]

I plan to finish yer diagram, Sammy. That was just the only part I was sure of.

If you just need individual tone controls, I'd suggest going with no-load pots. Basically, when the tone pot is max'd out, it's actually bypassed. If you turn it down a little, it's back in. Drawback: Ya gots ta make 'em. Or buy the Fender one, but I always liked to use 300 or 500K tone pots just for the bit of extra range. I really don't think you'll find the individual tone controls that useful once you start using them, though.

And, how do you want to do your pickup switches? My favourite way for 3-pickup guitars is to use two 3-way switches. Once you get used to it, it's a bit faster than having 3 on/off switches.

[metalmariachi]

And, how do you want to do your pickup switches? My favourite way for 3-pickup guitars is to use two 3-way switches. Once you get used to it, it's a bit faster than having 3 on/off switches.

I prefer the 5 way wired normal and a single mini toggle to put the bridge on when in the 1st 2 positions .

Just a mater of preference.

MM