A couple of pickup wiring questions

ThePrettyDamned

So, upcoming build and my current LTD are going to need wiring up and I thought I'd ask a couple of quickies.

For the LTD: It has a pair of buckers and a 5 way superswitch, along with a single volume and tone.  I want to change it to a 3 way switch and ush/pull or push/push for coil tap.  Can anyone recommend a good quality pot for this?  Both would be 500K log.  Also, is push/push better than push/pull or vice versa?  I'd probably prefer push/push...

Right, now the bigger question.  My upcoming build will have either a pair of high output buckers or a high output bucker and P90.  They will be tappable - the humbucker to single coil, and the P90 from high output to a more vintage output (assuming this sort of build is possible... @theguitarweasel will know better, and it'll probably be his Venom V2 in the bridge, or an Alnico 8 depending on how crazy I'm feeling).  

Thing is, I'm not using a selector switch, but a blend pot.  So it'll be pickups - blend - volume - tone - output.  If I were to tap these, I'd want just one switch to do both (so a sorta modern/vintage mini switch). So would I be able to use a single mini switch to tap both pickups at once, then send that to the blend pot (IE the single mini switch would have two outputs)?  Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

The blend pot loom is already made, a Shugz Loom, and very nice it is, too, so I'll definitely use it, but I'd rather just have a single switch to tap both.

ICBM

For the LTD - you can get decent push-push pots, probably a bit higher quality than the common push-pulls.

http://www.allparts.uk.com/collections/500k-pots/products/500k-push-push-log-taper-potentiometer

For the new build - you can split the pickups irrespective of what happens after that. The best way to split or tap a pickup is to short the unwanted coil (by connecting the coil junction to whichever end of the complete pickup that coil is) so the split wiring doesn't need to go to the blend pot. You can do both pickups at the same time with a DPDT.

ThePrettyDamned

Thanks very much. It's a fair high cost for a pot, but if it's decent and makes the guitar what I want... Just need to sell the mooer!

Okay, going to be totally nooby here, but if I don't send the split wiring to the blend pot, how do I choose which pickup I want? I was planning on it being essentially 2 guitars in one - a vintage p90 and split bucker sound, blendable, and a high output humbucker and p90, blendable. I don't suppose you could elaborate for an idiot?

EDIT: Is it this wiring, but with a blend instead of a 3 way (black wires to the two lugs on the blend) and a mini switch instead of push/push wired in the same way? http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_1v_1t_3w_1pp

ICBM

The blend circuit works exactly as normal. The two 'hot' wires from the pickups go to it just as they normally would. The split wires from the coil junctions are either switched to ground or to the hot connections - which do need to be connected to the same points on the blend switch - depending on which coil is 'top' and which is 'bottom' in the pickup.

ThePrettyDamned

Okay... Hmm.  SO!

(You'll have to excuse me) I send the two hot wires to the blend as normal.  The other 4 wires control which coil I want when I split (I'll ask Ash about these when I have them).  I wire them to the mini switch, then to the same lugs as the hot wire on the blend pot.  The others go to ground.  Then the blend pot connects to the volume/tone as normal.  

That doesn't sound like too much trouble, if that's the case.

ICBM

Just about .

The two hot wires go to the blend.

The two ground wires (and any separate shield wires) go to ground.

The two coil-split wires (single wire on the tapped P90, the two other wires together on the humbucker) go to the mini-switch, and from there are switched *either* to ground or to the respective hot connection on the blend pot, depending on which coil that turns off. (It can be different for the two different pickups.)

ThePrettyDamned

Cool, I think I get it. Kinda makes sense really!

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