3 way pickup selector switch question

Shandrazar

Junior Member
Messages
35
I have a quick question about 3-way pickup selector switches.  Are they usually ON-OFF-ON? 

I'm playing around in my head with an idea for when I finally get together enough cash to build it.  It's a Mustang or Jagstang built with Seymour Duncan P-Rails.  If I can use one of the ON-OFF-ON slide switches for the pickup selector, I can use the other one to select inner coils/humbucker/outer coils as per a diagram I saw on Guitar Electronics.com.  I figure that would be a very versatile little guitar with easily understood controls that I could give to my daughter when she is old enough.  The problem is that I can't find a diagram that shows how a 3-way selector works.  I'd think that it would simply be a case of using a slide switch to short one pickup or the other to ground to get a the other pickup by itself, but I'd like to double check that.
 
3 way selectors for LPs are just on-on SPST switches plus a "both on" position in the middle.  You will see this referred to as "ON-ON-ON", which is a little misleading.  I think Tele switches are different but I don't have any experience wiring those.
 
Actually an On-On-On switch is different than a Les Paul switch.  I don't know if this will work, but I'll try...

Up          Mid        Down
X  X        O  X        O  O
X  X        X  X        X  X
O O        X  O        X  X

Where the X's are the lugs that are connected by the poles in the switch.  The vertical planes are the only direction that the poles move.  This stuff has always been difficult for me to explain in a simple fashion.  The Les Paul switch is more of a Single throw switch

Up        Mid        Down
X          X            O
X          X            X
O          X            X

The output wire is connected to the middle X on this switch.  I hope this is not exceedingly confusing.  Once you get it...
Patrick


 
Hey nice diagrams!  I can see I failed to explain myself because that's exactly what I was trying to say.  I should have said "erroneously" referred to as ONONON... that's why it's misleading.

:kewlpics:
 
As usual, Seymour Duncan has a very complete explanation:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=3ws_trans
 
The only problem is the blade switch, it can be made as a mirror image of the Seymour diagram.  This might be if it is flipped upside down or what have you, but I had to wire mine, uh, I guess backwards from their diagram.  The only other thing I'd mention is that the on/on/on switch can be used to do several different wiring's (Series/split/parallel for instance) but generally it is figured out by folks that are much more clever than me.  I am sure that you can find a diagram that will allow for inner, both, and outer coils on a humbucker, and then use a blade or Les Paul to switch between the bridge and neck pickup.  The only other thing to add would be phasing the monsters, then you'd have just about everything possible.  I kid, I kid...
Patrick

 
Shandrazar, unless your pickups are specially designed, there isn't going to be much difference at all between inner split and outer split, I had that setup on a HH strat and they were 99% the same.
 
Back
Top