First time wiring. This look okay?

[doctorpunk]

I did a pre-wired assembly for my first build so I've never laid out my own wiring before. That was a fun build, but the guitar I'm building out now is a little more bespoke. Does this diagram look correct?

Three pickups (I guess they're all technically humbuckers since the middle p90 is noiseless). Each is controlled by Jaguar style on/off switches. All have an independent volume control. No tone knobs. All run through a kill switch before the output jack.

I looked at a bunch of different wiring diagrams for guitars that do what I want and - I'll admit it - I even asked ChatGPT. I just want to make sure this looks right by asking actual humans with experience. I apologize for the rudimentary drawing, I made it in Powerpoint.

 

[supertruper1988]

Take each pickup to its volume then to the switch panel. Also in this case, if all the switches are off you get a kill switch so do you need the kill switch too?

 

[Tretgeraet]

I'm not completely sure, but I think you will lose quite a bit of treble with all those pots in parallel and it will get even worse, if you turn down the volume.

Like @supertruper1988 just wrote I too would wire the pickups to their individual volumes (to the outer lug!!!) and from there to the switch.

From there you could lead a single output wire to the killswitch and the output jack.

 

[doctorpunk]

Take each pickup to its volume then to the switch panel. Also in this case, if all the switches are off you get a kill switch so do you need the kill switch too?

That’s Gibson-style, right? I was thinking that would break the independent volume control with parallel blending, which I was hoping to go with.

I plan to use the kill switch more as a stutter switch. Easier than trying to rapidly flip all three on and off.

 

[doctorpunk]

I'm not completely sure, but I think you will lose quite a bit of treble with all those pots in parallel and it will get even worse, if you turn down the volume.

Like @supertruper1988 just wrote I too would wire the pickups to their individual volumes (to the outer lug!!!) and from there to the switch.

From there you could lead a single output wire to the killswitch and the output jack.

I thought I read somewhere that treble loss only happens if pots are wired in parallel to the pickups themselves. I thought this design would isolate the pots after the switches and keep them from parallel.

Wiring is so confusing!

 

[Tretgeraet]

I thought this design would isolate the pots after the switches and keep them from parallel.

A switch only isolates when it's off.

Try to look at it this way:

When you have 3 PUs, with three individual volumes and they're all ON, then these 3 PUs and volumes are ALL in parallel! You can't change that.

But you can put the volumes before the switches. That way, if a PU is swiched off, it's volume control is taken out as well.

That’s Gibson-style, right? I was thinking that would break the independent volume control with parallel blending, which I was hoping to go with.

Well, yes. In most Les Pauls, if both pickups are on, turning one of the volumes to 0 kills the signal completely, regardless of how the other volume is set. Since there's a pickup selector switch, that isn't really a problem.

On for example a J Bass, however, there's no pickup switch, so to use one pickup alone, you must be able to turn off the other one without muting the signal completely.

That's why in that kind of wiring, the pickup is connected to the middle lug.

The big downside of this wiring is, that when lower the volume, you also lower the resistance parallel to the pickup and therefore lose treble!

But since it's a bass and it was 1960, nobody cared about treble back then...


So, I would wire it "Gibson-Style" as you called it. You can still mix and blend the pickups with each other, you just can't turn one of the pots to 0 while doing so. But that's fine, you don't need to: You have 3 individual pickup switches for that!

 

[TBurst Std]

I would ask you to consider the practicality of on/off switches for the pickups. My BMG is set up that way; and while I love the guitar itself, it is a royal PITA to use live. Those switches don't tend to lend their selves to "on the fly" changes while performing live.

 

[supertruper1988]

One more thing, I have my 3 pickup jazzmaster wired with 3 switches but because they are double pole, I have used the other set of poles to allow for the "all off" position to actually be "bridge" so I am never in a no sound condition. I would 100% mess that up live so I made it work for me.

I show "to volume" on my diagram because it would be going to a master volume but you would just go to the killswitch/jack

https://imgur.com/Ls2PUAM

Edit to add:
To be clear about the diagram, if all the switches are down (OFF) then you get the bridge pickup. as soon as any switch is up (ON) that will disconnect the failsafe path and thus give you whatever combination you have selected. This also means that pickup switching live can be easier if you just remember that to get "bridge" you just need all the switches down.

 

[doctorpunk]

A switch only isolates when it's off.

Try to look at it this way:

When you have 3 PUs, with three individual volumes and they're all ON, then these 3 PUs and volumes are ALL in parallel! You can't change that.

But you can put the volumes before the switches. That way, if a PU is swiched off, it's volume control is taken out as well.



Well, yes. In most Les Pauls, if both pickups are on, turning one of the volumes to 0 kills the signal completely, regardless of how the other volume is set. Since there's a pickup selector switch, that isn't really a problem.

On for example a J Bass, however, there's no pickup switch, so to use one pickup alone, you must be able to turn off the other one without muting the signal completely.

That's why in that kind of wiring, the pickup is connected to the middle lug.

The big downside of this wiring is, that when lower the volume, you also lower the resistance parallel to the pickup and therefore lose treble!

But since it's a bass and it was 1960, nobody cared about treble back then...


So, I would wire it "Gibson-Style" as you called it. You can still mix and blend the pickups with each other, you just can't turn one of the pots to 0 while doing so. But that's fine, you don't need to: You have 3 individual pickup switches for that!

Thanks for the feedback!

Would a Kinman-style treble-bleed be another way to address the loss of treble issue in my setup? I realize this is starting to look a little “mad-sciencey” but sometimes the chaos is part of the fun!

 

[doctorpunk]

One more thing, I have my 3 pickup jazzmaster wired with 3 switches but because they are double pole, I have used the other set of poles to allow for the "all off" position to actually be "bridge" so I am never in a no sound condition. I would 100% mess that up live so I made it work for me.

I show "to volume" on my diagram because it would be going to a master volume but you would just go to the killswitch/jack

https://imgur.com/Ls2PUAM

Edit to add:
To be clear about the diagram, if all the switches are down (OFF) then you get the bridge pickup. as soon as any switch is up (ON) that will disconnect the failsafe path and thus give you whatever combination you have selected. This also means that pickup switching live can be easier if you just remember that to get "bridge" you just need all the switches down.

Thanks! That’s a really practical idea. I’ll noodle on that a bit.

 

[doctorpunk]

I would ask you to consider the practicality of on/off switches for the pickups. My BMG is set up that way; and while I love the guitar itself, it is a royal PITA to use live. Those switches don't tend to lend their selves to "on the fly" changes while performing live.

I’ve got a Cyclone II with the 3 switch setup, and I agree it can be a little awkward. I sort of got used to it, I guess.

This version moves it to upper bout so it’s a little closer to my aging eyes and slightly easier to see!