some wiring help please

grungebob

Hi chaps, I can use a soldering iron but I am pretty useless at wiring unless  I have a diagram to follow.

Im just about to buy a new guitar thats H/S and currently has 1 vol 1 tone to a 3 way, Im replacing the humbucker for my old trusty JB out of another guitar and will replace the 3 way to a better quality unit, my question is "is there anything cool I could do to give a few more sounds?" I was going to have it auto tap when in middle position but thought about maybe a 4 way switch or something to change phase or series /parrallel if its possible?

Jaden

get a superswitch ?
posibilites are limitless.

ChrisMusic

Hi Rob, great to have you on "board".  

Have a look here, they have lots of wiring diagrams, it may be of help to you, or to others.

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/wiring_resources_guitar_wiring_diagrams/

?  Does anyone else have some other resources on pickups and switching  ?

Some starters on "Super Switch" wiring would be good too, if anyone can help.

Parallel humbucker is a good switching option, bright but still humbucking.

Out of phase is only needed on one pickup if you only have 2, (as you wouldn't notice a PU being out of phase on it's own). (use it on number of PUs minus 1)

It isn't used much nowadays, but can give some great thin sounds, with less bass.

(note the "in between" 2 &4 strat positions are parallel, not out of phase)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

WARNING - Techy bit:

Pickup inductance is the major measure of how wide a range of string harmonics will be available from the pickup, series HB, parallel HB, or single coil will vary that, Location along the string will change the harmonic balance too.

You can also vary timbre by altering the resistive load on the pickup, it changes the resonant peak, which is why people suggest 250k for single coils, 500k for humbuckers, and often say that a direct out / blower from PU to amp sounds "bad" (for "bad" read different, with many possibilities)

You can vary the top-end of the bandwidth by capacitative loading, and progressively move the resonant peak and cutoff down the frequency scale.

What you get depends very much on what you start with, pickup type, placement etc.

That is one reason why people are now taking notice of guitar lead capacitance, and that "true bypass" is not the nirvana that most believe it to be, it is a lot more complicated than that.  Anything up to the first active stage will interact and will  change the loadings on the pickups, and affect the frequency characteristics (tone).

Please correct me if I am wrong with any of this.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have a bit of a project myself, so I am exploring pickups, switching etc.

I'm also discovering about tone and pickup type and placement, magnetic interaction / interference issues etc

?  Can anyone here cast any light on any of that ?  I would be so grateful  (sorry, don't mean to thread-jack, it seems relevant though)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And it seemed such a simple question too  

ICBM

You can get a very useful set of sounds with a standard 5-way switch (not a superswitch).

1 - single coil

2 - single coil + coil 1 of humbucker

3 - single coil + both coils of humbucker

4 - coil 2 of humbucker

5 - full humbucker

Which coil is 1 and 2 in the humbucker, and which combinations are hum-cancelling, depends on the magnetic polarity of the pickups, but you'll get at least two and possibly three hum-free settings.

I'll need to find the diagram, it's not a commonly known one.

grungebob

Thanks guys, ICBM if you stumble on a diagram of that I'd be grateful if you could point me in its direction.