Wiring diagram please...

bloodandtears

Have scoured the web and am struggling to make sense of the ones I have found..

My Charvel model 3a config is as follows:
Two humbuckers with what appears to be 4 wires (red,white, green, black) + bare
One Vol and One Tone
5 way switch

My wiring ideal is:
1) bridge
2) bridge (south split single)
3) both
4) neck (north split single)
5)neck

Help!!!

AustrianJohn

There's an awesome set of wiring diagrams at Guitar Electronics. Not sure if they have exactly what you are looking for, but there are six different options for a pair of humbuckers, 1 volume, 1 tone and a 5 way switch.

ICBM

It can't be done with a standard 5-way, but there's a special switch you can get to do this - or very nearly, the middle position is both outer single coils rather than both humbuckers.

Megaswitch E model - http://www.stewmac.com/dropped_items/how-to/E-Model_Megaswitch.html

Or you can use an Oak Grigsby 2P5T - http://www.realparts.com.au/oak-grigsby-5-way-single-wafer-superswitch.html - which is a higher quality switch and will do exactly what you want, although seems to be hard to get in this country.

bloodandtears

@ICBM ; please consider these..

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WD2HH5L11_02/Guitar-Wiring-Diagram-2-Humbuckers5-Way-Lever-Switch1-Volume1-Tone-02.html

http://www.guitar-repairs.co.uk/guitar_pickup_colour_codes.htm

http://charvelusa.com/charvel_shreds/j0005_switch.html

http://www.jcfonline.com/threads/90074-Jackon-Special-5-Way-wiring-tutorial

ICBM

Unnecessarily complicated and expensive - you can do exactly what you want with a single-wafer 2P5T switch, you don't need a double-wafer 4P5T.

normula1

How about one of the "E" type of megaswitch here: 
http://http//www.eyb-guitars.de/Eyb-English/Megaswitch.html
http://www.eyb-guitars.de/Eyb-English/Megaswitch_files/Megaswitch%20engl.%203.0%20E%20HSH-1.pdf

bloodandtears

no.. I already have the switch.. its quite a flexible piece of kit.. plus it's the original component...

I'd like to work with really...

Sporky

So is it that Jackson 5-way that you have?

bloodandtears

yes sorry.. The Charvel Model 3a is fitted with a  j0005_switch.html

Sporky

Ah.

Then you basically have the same thing as the Superswitch. As ICBM says, it's over the top for what you want to achieve, but it can be wired to do it.

Simplest way (I think) is to use one pole for the bridge pickup, one for the neck pickup, and one for the splits.

bloodandtears

there is only 2.. but there are grouped from what I have read.

Sporky

I have changed "wafer" to "pole" in my post.

bloodandtears

by pole I assume you mean a pring on the switch?  if so which one?? will it be trial and error with a multimeter for continuity?? any tricks to help me?

Sporky

The switch has four poles, each one has five throws and a common.

You need to think about what needs to be connected to what in each of your five switch positions.

Position 1 - just the bridge hot to the output, no connections to the split wires
Position 2 - bridge hot to output, and the bridge split wire to either hot or ground depending on which is needed to leave the south coil live
Position 3 - both bridge hot and neck hot to output, no connections to the split wires
Position 4 - neck hot to output, and the neck split wire to either hot or ground depending on which is needed to leave the north coil live
Position 5 - neck hot to output, no connections to the split wires

ICBM

bloodandtears said:

no.. I already have the switch.. its quite a flexible piece of kit.. plus it's the original component...

I'd like to work with really…

Ah, ok. It looks like a double-wafer switch so you just need to use half of it.

Use Sporky's instructions, with both rotors connected to the output and the various terminals connected as described. To get the correct coils in the single-coil positions you will need to arrange the pickup wiring so the coil you want is the lower (ground end) coil, so that connecting both the hot and the coil split to the output bypasses the upper coil.

So you also need to know which colours are which coil on the pickups.

Sporky

It's occurred to me that with 4 poles you can, if necessary, use one pole for each split. It'd be simpler and neater to do it your way though.

ICBM

Sporky said:

It's occurred to me that with 4 poles you can, if necessary, use one pole for each split. It'd be simpler and neater to do it your way though.

Actually, your way is simpler - at least conceptually . My way is neater, possibly - although I hate to see unused poles on a switch, so it's not 'neat' in that sense.

I would probably parallel them for reliability, but I'm like that...

Sporky

I don't really like to leave lugs unused, which is probably why my switching schemes get so unnecessarily complicated.

ICBM

Sporky said:

I don't really like to leave lugs unused, which is probably why my switching schemes get so unnecessarily complicated.

I often do that too, if they can be used to usefully improve redundancy.

bloodandtears

I took it to my tech who educated me whilst fixing it.. £20 well spent ...

Essentially I watched him double check the pairings etc to confirm the following.. Jackson illustration
http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/wiring_resources_guitar_wiring_diagrams.humbucker_wiring_color_codes/
as my pickups are jackson J80C models.

He then removed the superflous jumpers that were already there... then wired the bare and black together and soldered to ground...  then green (hot) to one of the 4 outputs...  paired white and red together (linking the two single coils to make the humbucker pair) and connected to the other wafer output. The clever bit (obviously to a novice its all clever) was identifying the relevant pole to split the two coils and shorting it to ground.

repeat the process for the other wafer and pickup.

It looked a lot neater than what I had inherited and I certainly felt educated for my £20; let alone a fixed guitar.