Peter Green Phase Switch Installation

David40

I'm looking for a bit of advice on the possibility/difficulty of fitting a Peter Green-style phase switch.

The guitar is a PRS SE 245. I have previously modded it by installing Seymour Duncans and putting two push/pulls under the tone knobs to split the humbuckers. The pickups are 4-wire ones.

I now would like to fit another push/pull under the neck volume control in order to reverse its polarity and bring in an out-of-phase option when the switch is in the middle position. in my head this is as simple as putting in a push/pull pot and wiring it in normal polarity on the bottom of the pot, and the opposite way around on the top (i.e. when it is pulled out). The thing I'm really unsure about it how I would get the wire to split and spread across both. 

Can anyone advise as to whether this would be possible, feasible, difficult etc., and what gear it would require aside from a new pot and a soldering iron? If it would be too difficult for an amateur like myself to achieve, could anyone advise as to how much it would cost for a luthier to carry out?

Thank you in advance for any help. 

ICBM

Yes, a phase switch will do that - you just need it to swap the hot and ground wires, which are the black and green on Duncans. Depending on how the split is wired you can have it either keep the same coil active or have it swap to the other one (which is probably less work, if the split goes to ground).

All you need is another push-pull pot. If you can solder fiddly connections then it's a fairly simple DIY job; if you need a tech to do it then half an hour's work should easily cover it.

David40

ICBM said:

Yes, a phase switch will do that - you just need it to swap the hot and ground wires, which are the black and green on Duncans. Depending on how the split is wired you can have it either keep the same coil active or have it swap to the other one (which is probably less work, if the split goes to ground).

All you need is another push-pull pot. If you can solder fiddly connections then it's a fairly simple DIY job; if you need a tech to do it then half an hour's work should easily cover it.

Thank you for the reply mate.

This is probably a stupid question, but in terms of wires from the pickup would it connect initially only at one point to the pot, or would the wire itself have to be split in two directions (like a fork) to connect to the pot at two connection points?

Funkfingers

ICBM said:

Depending on how the split is wired, you can have it either keep the same coil active or have it swap to the other one (which is probably less work, if the split goes to ground).

The signal path options are,
1) Pickup > coil split > phase reversal > pots > selector switch
2) Pickup > phase reversal > coil split > pots > selector switch

Of these options, I would take #1.

If the guitar were mine, I would repurpose one of the existing DPDT switches to phase reversal. 

•

Are the bobbins of the SD humbuckers open or under metal covers?

Strictly speaking, the Green phase reversal effect was created by an incorrectly positioned bar magnet after a pickup repair. Some guitarists with bat hearing reckon that magnet flipping and conductor reversal - whilst electronically interchangeable - do not sound the same. 

My opinion is that, even with the phase reversal wiring mod, the only way to get the full Green effect was to be Peter between 1965 and 1972. (It's in the hands.)

ICBM

David40 said:

This is probably a stupid question, but in terms of wires from the pickup would it connect initially only at one point to the pot, or would the wire itself have to be split in two directions (like a fork) to connect to the pot at two connection points?

The black and green wires go to the phase switch, the red and white wires go to the coil split switch, and the bare wire goes to the pot casing.

It's wired like this -



Although for you, ignore the 'To bridge tone pot', that should be to the neck tone pot. (And in fact, if you want '50s' wiring the tone pot connections should go to the middle terminal instead.)

That switching gives you out of phase when the knob is pushed down. If you want out of phase when it's pulled up, swap the green and black.

The red and white wires go to the tone pot pull-switch as they already will now.

David40

ICBM said:

David40 said:

This is probably a stupid question, but in terms of wires from the pickup would it connect initially only at one point to the pot, or would the wire itself have to be split in two directions (like a fork) to connect to the pot at two connection points?

The black and green wires go to the phase switch, the red and white wires go to the coil split switch, and the bare wire goes to the pot casing.

It's wired like this -



Although for you, ignore the 'To bridge tone pot', that should be to the neck tone pot. (And in fact, if you want '50s' wiring the tone pot connections should go to the middle terminal instead.)

That switching gives you out of phase when the knob is pushed down. If you want out of phase when it's pulled up, swap the green and black.

The red and white wires go to the tone pot pull-switch as they already will now.

That's perfect, thank you for your help.

Headphones

If the coil split works in the traditional "ground the coil link wire fashion", this will give nothing in one position as both ends would be grounded.

ICBM

Headphones said:

If the coil split works in the traditional "ground the coil link wire fashion", this will give nothing in one position as both ends would be grounded.

No, it will give the other coil out of phase.

Headphones

ICBM said:

Headphones said:

If the coil split works in the traditional "ground the coil link wire fashion", this will give nothing in one position as both ends would be grounded.

No, it will give the other coil out of phase.

Ok, I see how now.

Teletastic

Just remember there are actually 5 wires coming out of a Duncan. The plain uninsulated one always goes to ground (back of pot or similar) then the phase switch swaps the green and black ones.