Wiring Help Please! 2 way mini toggle as pickup selector.

XJ980

Hey there my name is Lee and I need some help.

I am building an Explorer Style guitar and need a little help with the pickup selector switch.

I have a standard 3 way selector, but as i don't switch pickups that often I want a mini toggle switch for a cleaner look. I have a 2 way DPDT switch that I would like to use. I dont use the middle option for both pickups, so can anyone tell me how to wire my on/on switch as a Neck/Bridge selector?

I am using two passive humbuckers, A 2 way DPDT for selecting, and a push/pull volume pot for coil splitting - No Tone.

Can anyone help me with the switch wiring please? Many thanks for any help

ICBM

Easy - wire the middle two terminals to the volume control, one pair of end terminals (at the opposite end from the direction the switch is pointing in when selecting that pickup) to one pickup, and the other two end terminals to the other pickup.

Strictly speaking you don't need to use both sides of the switch but it improves reliability for no penalty so it's daft not to.

Incidentally, if you ever do want the 'both' setting, replace the switch with an on-on-on 3-position one with the same wiring and it will work correctly.

XJ980

ICBM said:

Easy - wire the middle two terminals to the volume control, one pair of end terminals (at the opposite end from the direction the switch is pointing in when selecting that pickup) to one pickup, and the other two end terminals to the other pickup.

Strictly speaking you don't need to use both sides of the switch but it improves reliability for no penalty so it's daft not to.

Incidentally, if you ever do want the 'both' setting, replace the switch with an on-on-on 3-position one with the same wiring and it will work correctly.

Hey, thanks for the reply. This is what i have read up on another forum but my issue is grounding. Do I still need to ground the switch? Thats what the other forum said and as the casing is aluminium I cant solder it... So is there another way of grounding if I need to? Thanks for your help though

ICBM

You don't really need to, but if it worries you then put some copper shielding tape on the floor of the cavity so the switch bushing passes through it, and solder the ground to the foil.

XJ980

ICBM said:

You don't really need to, but if it worries you then put some copper shielding tape on the floor of the cavity so the switch bushing passes through it, and solder the ground to the foil.

Alright, thanks for your help!