2 P90 and a p-rail, 6 way rotary and a push pull.

[mgaut051]

So here's the guitar

It has a SP90-1 (vintage) soapbar in the neck (referred to as "N" from now on).
SP90-3 (Custom, high output) in the middle ("M")
And an SHPR-2 (Hot P-Rail) in the bridge ("B" for the p90 coil and "R" for the rail coil)

All the P90's are the same winding direction and polarity, the only RWRP is the rail coil.

It has 2 knobs: one push-pull volume, (which I was going to use to shunt the rail out on any option of the rotary switch) and a 6-way rotary from stewmac (4P6T).
(you can see the little hole I drilled in the control plate to anchor the rotary switch)

As a very kind forum member on TDPRI described, the whole concept of this guitar is "10lbs of sh*t in a 5lb bag".
Think brutish, uncouth, loud, not subtle - kick-the-door-in-guns-blazing-(and-grinning-stupidly) type of guitar. Think Weezer meets Chevelle. Not shred, not death metal, but fun, no holds barred, sounds better with distortion.
To get there, I was thinking of wiring all the options in series (Question 1: is this a bad idea?) I can accomplish both actually, so it's not such a big deal.

Here's the Simplified circuit (without the switching options - don't think I could legibly scribble in a 4P6T):

The on-off switch below the rail is the push-pull, it will serve to bypass the rail coil of the bridge pickup.

Now, I had completely forgotten the implications of the coax cables on the P90s - I'll have to take it apart (again) and shield them with heat-shrink to prevent the grounds from being in parallel.

I'll be using a notation I saw on a site (http://alexplorer.net/guitar/mods/rotary.html) for the 4P6T:

Each throw connects each pole to the lug in their own row. I find it easier to understand what the wiring is than with the wafer diagrams...

I've come up with a VERY large number of options, and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to which combination of wiring schemes I should employ (and why).

To understand: N1 is point 1 on the Simplified Circuit (neck pickup negative), M2 is point 2 on the Simplified Circuit (middle pickup positive), M3 = point 3 = middle pickup negative, B4 = point 4 = bridge p90 coil positive, 5 = point 5. H is Hot, G is Ground.

Pole 1 is ALWAYS N1 (neck negative)
Pole 2 is ALWAYS M2 (middle positive)
Pole 3 is ALWAYS M3 (middle negative)
Pole 4 is ALWAYS B4 (Bridge p90 coil positive)

The major disadvantage to this scheme is not being able to have a rail-only option without permanently shorting out the p90 coil of the bridge PU.

Here are the options I came up with (with a description of each below)
(sorry, there are too many, I know, but this is why I need your help to pick!)
The final wiring can essentially be any combination of 6.

In series (as I was thinking of doing)

*for all options, the push pull adds the rail in series*

i) Neck
ii) Neck and middle in series
iii) Middle
iv) Middle and bridge p90 coil in series
v) Neck, middle and bridge p90 coil all in series
vi) Bridge p90 coil
(not pictured) vi.b) Neck and bridge p90 coil in series


Options in parallel:

vii) Neck and middle in parallel
viii) Middle and bridge p90 coil in parallel
ix) Neck and bridge p90 coil in parallel
x)  Neck, middle and bridge p90 coil, all in parallel
xi) Neck in series with (middle and bridge p90 coil in parallel)

Options with out-of-phase (ok I started getting lazy with the diagrams - skipped a lot of options with this one, but you get the idea)

xii) M, Bp90 in series, middle pickup out of phase
xiii) N in series with (M and Bp90 in parallel, M out of phase)
not pictured, but can be done:
xiv) N, M in series, M out of phase
xv)  N, M in parallel, M out of phase
xvi) N, M, Bp90 all in series, M out of phase
xvii) M, Bp90 in parallel, M out of phase

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think stock strat wiring would be i), vii), iii), viii), vi).

So again:

Question 1: should I do all in series wiring? Will this add more in-your-face punch to the sound?
Question 2: is using my push pull as a kill switch for the rail coil a good idea? If not, what should I use it for?
Question 3: anyone see how to get only the rail coil without changing my poles, and without permanently shorting out a coil?
Question 4: based on personal experience, what combination(s) would you recommend, and maybe a little bit of an explanation why?

I tried testing the wiring options with alligator clips, but the sound was spotty, awful - so it's going to have to be on blind trust.

My initial thought for wiring was:
i) iv) v) vi.b) vi) xvi)

Or

i) iv) v) xi) vi) xvi)

(I'm still looking for  a little tonal variety...)

Thanks for reading / and your help!

Martin

Edit: got mixed up in my out-of phase diagrams and whatnot. Sorry.

 

[Cagey]

Holy jumpin' Jesus Christ on a camroller! Are you on drugs?

The answers to all your questions are probably best sought out at a good therapist's office, or maybe even as an in-patient at the local rehab center, perhaps with a good Fluoxetine/Lithium/Diazepam cocktail for breakfast each day <grin>

 

[mgaut051]

Holy jumpin' Jesus Christ on a camroller! Are you on drugs?

The answers to all your questions are probably best sought out at a good therapist's office, or maybe even as an in-patient at the local rehab center, perhaps with a good Fluoxetine/Lithium/Diazepam cocktail for breakfast each day <grin>

No risperdal? No methylphenidate?
Still, that's a pretty potent happy hour cocktail.

But what would you do, if you were me? For the guitar, I mean - your honest opinion matters to me...

 

[mgaut051]

I've decided - I think.

Position 1: neck.
2: middle, but wired so that it's out of phase with the rail. Sounds just like a normal PU on it's own, but punch in the rail (in series) and I think I may just have a useable OOP tone.
3: Bridge p90 coil
4: Neck and Bp90 in parallel
5: N and Bp90 in series
6: N M B in series - maximum overdrive!  :headbang1:

The push pull adds the rail in series to any of the above, and it's RWRP so it's going to give varying degrees of hum cancellation.

Thoughts?

 

[Cagey]

It's tough to say what any of that will sound like, so you're probably going to have to just wire it up and see what you get. You'll either end be pleasantly surprised, indifferent, disappointed or some combination of the three. Might need a 5 way switch for your emotions <grin>

You have several different styles of pickup there, and they're at different nodes along the string. All things being equal, just rearranging the pickups would create wildly different tones. Then you have the choices of individual pickup outputs, or in series with one, two or three others, or in parallel with one, two or three others, or out-of-phase with one, two or three others. The number of combinations you can create is huge, and chances are many of them aren't particularly useful. So, where do you stop? When do you finally say "uncle" and just play the thing?

You also have to consider how much time you have to goof around with switches and knobs while you're playing. Make it too complex or difficult to accomplish in the small fractions of a second you sometimes are constrained to, and you just get frustrated or sloppy. You really want things simple, so you can do things quickly and instinctively, without a great deal of thought or effort.

This is part of the reason some people will have several of seemingly the same guitar. Rather than have 72 bajillion tones available out of one fiddle, you have several fiddles and you use the one best suited to the task at hand.