I don't have much experience with electronics but I've been looking at various wiring diagram and have came up with my own diagram which I hope will achieve what I want. Could someone with more experience check this and let me know if it will work as I hope?
The left side is a Fender Super Switch and on the right is a DPDT toggle switch.
I want the following when the toggle switch is down:
Position 1 - full bridge humbucker, affected only by volume pot 2
Position 2 - middle and split bridge coil, affected only by volume pot 1
Position 3 - middle, affected only by volume pot 1
Position 4 - middle and neck, affected only by volume pot 1
Position 5 - neck, affected only by volume pot 1
And when the toggle switch is up:
Position 1 - split bridge coil, affected only by volume pot 1
Position 2 - middle and split bridge coil, affected only by volume pot 1
Position 3 - middle and split bridge coil, affected only by volume pot 1
Position 4 - split bridge coil, middle and neck, affected only by volume pot 1
Position 5 - neck and split bridge coil, affected only by volume pot 1
Is this wiring correct?
An additional question is that I often see it mentioned that on an HSS strat, you have to either choose a low-output humbucker that will match in output to the single coils but position 2 will be weak or to have a hot humbucker with around double the output of the middle pickup so that position 2 is strong but then position 1 will be a lot higher output. Wouldn't this wiring - with volume 2 turned down - allow for both position 1 and 2 to be of similar output? And, if so, is there any reason I've never seen this wiring anywhere before?
Appreciate any help.
Comments
Whether it possesses the ease of use of a regular Stratocaster is another matter.
I assume that V1 is A250k and V2 is A500k. ICBM could probably suggest a neater solution to your needs involving a stacked 250/500k pot.
On this particular guitar I used a multi-turn preset and just tweaked it until I got the best bridge/middle sound. This happily matches very well with the other single coil sounds.
You need to arrange it so outputs of the volumes are switched as well as the inputs - there may be enough contacts available on the superswitch to do this, although it will need working out...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson
@ICBM - I thought there might be some electronics law that would throw a spanner in the works. I've came up with an alternative diagram based on your advice, hopefully this one will work.
I think there will be a difference where the split bridge in position 1 would now be controlled by the 500k volume 2 which could cause it to be even brighter than normal - I'd be okay with that, it's not a position I use much anyway.
Thanks again for all the advice, hopefully you can let me know if this one will work.
This is not an easy thing to work out...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson
If I just got rid of the bridge-on part and made the switch just a coil split in position 1, would that solve all the problems?
If so, I might just have to sacrifice the neck + bridge sound in order to make it work if I can't figure out any other way.
Whether there are any alternatives which get you closer to what you've listed, I'm not sure. It will take a lot of bits of paper and pencil work . Sometimes there are clever shortcuts which can get you around pole limitations, but they usually only appear obvious with hindsight .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson
I recent months, somebody (very probably ICBM) has posted about how to modify a regular Stratocaster control harness so that single coils "see" a 250k volume pot and humbuckers "see" a 500k.
With dual volume pots in circuit after the selector switch, there is always likely to be a path to the common ground that will allow both pots to influence the overall output level.
In addition to the 250/500k thing, I do also want the separate volume controls so I could turn down just the bridge and be able to switch quickly between the neck and bridge without too much of a change in volume. Is that perhaps what you meant by practical uses? If so, being able to do that is a lot more important to me than being able to quickly switch between the autosplit position 2 and the full humbucker bridge so the latest diagram I posted wouldn't be much of an issue for me.
You can't do the auto-split as you've drawn it because it will mean the neck pickup is always on at the same time as the bridge when the manual coil split is on, because the yellow and red wires are connected to the same terminal. Moving the yellow wire to the other (empty) 5 terminal should fix that.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand." - Homer Simpson