Calling the experts

m165

Junior Member
Messages
161
If any of the electronics experts on here has the time could you please take a look at this diagram www.seymourduncan.com/images/products/electric/stratocaster/501015-100.pdffrom Seymour Duncan but with a view to wiring of the "Everthing axe" set, and try to figure out how I can wire these pickups using a 5 way super switch, which I have already installed, the problem is the coil spliting for the middle pickup in this case "Duckbucker" cannot be done, I need to have it in series or in parallel, have been trying to figure this out now for nearly 2 weeks and it has gotten the better of me, I have found an explanation of the 5 way super switch at stewmac but its not helped me understand what I need to do.  As always any help is greatly appreciated.
 
you have 3 singles shown in the shematic, correct?  so how do you split a single,  anyway, eitherway, you really need a switch for coil splitting, either a stand alone 3p switch or a push/push or push/pull switch.

Think of your 5 way switch as only a selector of pups, any other funtions are normally gonna require an extra switch
 
Sorry if I did not explain myself enough, the pickups I have installed are single coil sized humbuckers, jb jnr bridge, duckbucker middle, lil 59 neck, so I tried to wire these as per the diagram on Seymour D. site using a 5 way super switch, which would give me, position 1 full Hum bridge, 2 split bridge & middle. 3 full hum middle, 4 split middle & neck, 5 full hum neck, but i did not realize that the the middle pickup in my setup although a humbucker "Duckbucker" cannot be split for sinlge coil, so I need to rewire the switch with this in mind, as it is now with the "Duckbucker" I only get top 3 strings.  Thanks
 
since the duckbucker (what's that?) can't be split, what are you aiming for then?  A regular strat switching?
 
because the duckbucker cant be split, looks like you'll just be wireing up this thing like a standard strat config.

1) JB Jr
2) Jb Jr/Duckbucker
3) Duckbucker
4) Duckbucker/Lil 59
5) Lil 59

you might also want to do the "bridge on all the time" mod which is a switch that turns on the bridge so you can have

6) JB Jr/Lil 59
7) JB Jr/Duckbucker/Lil 59

http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WDUSSS5L1204

I hope this is helpfull

Brian
 
The "Duckbucker"is the name of the pickup from Seymour Duncan, its a singe coil sized humbucker. I was now hoping to just change the wiring to give me split coil bridge with middle full in position 2, spit coil neck with middle full in position 4. I could also use the mod to do the bridge on all the time, that would be good, but will need to get the other problem sorted out firrst, thanks for the advice.
 
"I was now hoping to just change the wiring to give me split coil bridge with middle full in position 2, spit coil neck with middle full in position 4"

keep in mind that these two pickup selections will NOT be hum canceling....you will hear some nice 60Hz hum along with the sound of the pickups.

Brian
 
Another possibility...if you're just gonna go with the best five combinations of those pups, the standard strat switching may be the thing to do - I've done coil splitting on a couple of single-sized humbuckers and it always sounded terrible (thin and no character). Maybe just wire it up normally, play for a while, then decide what sounds you're missing?
 
As this is my first warmoth I am delighted to have gotten this far and have any sound coming out of the guitar but now that I have already installed the 5 way super switch, not a big loss to take it out and put in a normal 5 way but seeing as I already have it I would like to explore the possibilities of the pickups, thanks for the suggestions though, appreciated.
 
i believe the duck bucker gets wired in parallel. not positive on that though. easiest way for you is get a fender switch. you can do alot with the supre switch but doesn't sound like you want it complicated. 
i can give you a descitption on how to wire the super switch if your interested. do you want any odd ball combos? maybe one position with the neck and the bridge like a gibson? or neck/bridge both taped, for a tele esque sound? seriously i can do anything with that switch.

if you do the coil taps with the duck bucker on full the hum would be no more than a typical strat.

to do a standard strat wireing with te super switch you need to use two poles(is that the right word). the soldering lugs on the 4 outer corners are the commons, 1 for each pole. the two commons you use will go to the vol pot.

we'll call the neck position #1 and the bridge #5.
it doesn't matter which set poles on the switch you use but for clarity in explaination i'll teel you to use the 2 that are twads the front of the guitar.
the solder lugs are oposite the switch position so if the switch is in the bridge position the lug second from the front of the pick guard is on(the one in front is the common).
we'll # them to coincide with the switch position.
solder a jumper across the commons of the front two poles, this is you hot, conect them to the volume pot. if you need clarification on where let me know.
solder the hot lead of your bridge p/u to the #5 and #4 lugs on just one pole. solder the hot from your neck to the # 1&2 lugs on the same pole.
on the other of the 2 poles we are using solder the hot from the center p/u to lugs # 2,3&4.
solder all ground wires to the volume pot.

for coil taps run a ground wire to the common on a third pole.(one of the rear most lugs on the switch)
take the wires you soldered together for your bridge p/u(usually a red and a white for duncans) and solder them both to #4 lug on this pole
do the same for the neck but solder them to the # 2 lug.

you didn't mention your tone controls. how many? how you want them to work?
if you're happy with the fender setup, ie. no tone on the bridge, you canhook the tones directly to the desired p/u, if you want one tone hook it to the hot from the switch(the one that hooks to the volume)
if you want 2 tones to work 3 pups you need to use the last pole. hook the common to hot. lugs 1&2 to the 1st tone control, lugs 3,4&5 to the second.


an alternative to acheive coil tapping is to use the tone controls. many people use push/pull pots but it's not nesasary.
in a typical tone control you use only two lugs we'll call them #1 and #2. when viewed from the bottom with the lugs pointed upward #1 is on the left #2 is the middle and #3 is on the right
for this mod you'll hook your white and red wires both to the #3 lug.
make sure the #2 gets hot and #1 goes to the cap. this normally wont matter yor scematics may be diferent.
as the tone is turned near 10 your p/u is taped
using a higher value pot will let you find the full humbuker tone with less effect from the cap
if your brave you can open the pot  and scrape away some material next to lug #3 so it only has an effect when turned to 10.
 
I have a similar problem with the cool/vintage/hot rails combo. (I wish I read this first instead of starting another thread)

I found this diagram for a normal 5 way switch: HSH with auto splits

I guess the duckbucker and the vintage rail is the same pick up except for the rail vs. pole pieces.
I am going to think of it as HSH, and see what I can come up with.
 
DiMitriR33, thanks for help. have been away on holidays this last week so have not been able to do anything with the guitar switch. I would like to hear more from you about how his switch is wired, I am thinking about something like position 1 bridge full,  2 bridge split + middle full, 3 middle full, 4 bridge split + neck split, 5 neck full.  i am sure this is possible with the 5 way super switch. I think the best solution is to have the super switch wirring combinations figured as then I can change them if needed.

jackocaster, had a look a diagram, if i had known that was possible with normal 5 way, I may have done that at the start, but as I have already got the 5 way super switch I wll stay with it for the moment and try get it worked out, thanks for the tips, please let me know how you get on with this.
 
you didn't say 1 tone knob or 2?
if 2 do you want one to work on the bridge?
did you want position 4 in paralell, a tele like sound?
 
Thanks for the time on this, appreciated.  I have 1 vol and 2 tone. Can the tone switch be wired to work on bridge pickup also?  Position 4 wired in parallel would be great,  then I think I should have lots of tones with all the various combinations.
 
looks like you'll need to make a compromise on the tone controls. i can't make it work in any logical way.  ???
the coil taps on two pups in position 4 means use of all four poles. simply no room to wire the tones into the switch.
i can make them work like an ordenary strat as that doesn't need a switch, i really wonder why fender even uses both sides of the stock switch
 
try this, no tone in the last position but it's the best i can do.
 

Attachments

  • m165.GIF
    m165.GIF
    10.9 KB · Views: 386
Just a couple of questions on this, not too sure what you mean by no tone on last position, are the wires on 4 & 5 th pole on top left of switch connected (blue & black in the diagram). Will need to get some cable tomorrow and try this out, will let you know how it goes, thanks again I owe you one.
 
Back
Top