I need help understanding this diagram!

[JoshuaB]

Alright, I have searched high and low and finally sound the wiring diagram I think I need. The idea is HH wiring with a 5 way four pole super switch to do the following: bridge series, bridge parallel, bridge and neck in parallel, neck parallel, neck series.

I wired this up as best I could, two things I had questions about. One is, does the orientation of the super switch matter? It happens to be that the orientation of my switch has to be opposite to the diagram to fit because the route and position charvel decided to place it. Two, I’m not sure I understand the connection points. It seems to me there is tons of jumping going on, but there are some that have black dots and some that don’t. What’s the relevance of this. I’ve wired every guitar myself prior to this with no problem understanding, this is just a difficult one for me. Plus I’m completely uneducated about the process. I just follow diagrams.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

1. The blade switch orientation is important because you want to be sure the lever towards the neck position selects the neck pickup, and the bridge pickup in the opposite direction. However it doesn’t matter which side the frame of the switch is orientated. So you can rotate the switch end to end and it will still work if you wire the positions as per the diagram.

2. It is a drawing convention that a black dot shows an electrical connection between two lines on the schematic. If the lines cross without a black dot there should be no connection.

I hope i made it clear, but let me know if there are questions.

 

[stratamania]

I think you need a better diagram. Who added the green lines?

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

It looks to me like the diagram probably works, but I don’t think the design is ideal, or in other words it is unconventional. The potential disadvantage of this design is the north coils are always connected to the volume control. There is possibility of unwanted noise pickup and also capacitance loading due to connection of both neck and bridge coils at all times. In practice it may not cause any issues, but it’s unconventional IMO.

 

[stratamania]

Here is a screenshot from my bumper fun book of wiring. @JoshuaB you are in luck that I happened to have this already drawn out.

 

[JoshuaB]

Thanks so much for the replies. I thought it a pretty messy diagram, @stratamania I will give this a try this evening. Thanks for the diagram!

 

[JoshuaB]

One more thing, can I just solder the poles together to jumper them?

 

[Spud]

One more thing, can I just solder the poles together to jumper them?

You can but could be tough to do

 

[JoshuaB]

What would I need to do to get the middle position just inner coils or would that cause out of phase issue? I think on the Seymour Duncan bridge the polarity is reversed. If that’s the issue then I’m not gonna bother with flipping the magnet to reverse neck polarity, I just won’t use the middle position much.

 

[JoshuaB]

Followed the diagram you shared. It seems that the positions 2 and 4 are parallel, but positions 1 and 5 sound coil split and there is hum. Middle position sounds right, I think, and is hum cancelling. What could be the issue here? Appreciate any help. I've only wired single coil guitars previously and this is quite the challenge.

 

[stratamania]

Followed the diagram you shared. It seems that the positions 2 and 4 are parallel, but positions 1 and 5 sound coil split and there is hum. Middle position sounds right, I think, and is hum cancelling. What could be the issue here? Appreciate any help. I've only wired single coil guitars previously and this is quite the challenge.

Then it is wired incorrectly if 1 and 5 are splitting.
You might have a blob of solder shorting between terminals, for example.

Post a photograph of your wiring. They need to be clear so they can be looked at easily.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

Are you using Seymour Duncan humbuckers? If not, there may be some variation of the wire colour code used in the diagram.

 

[stratamania]

Are you using Seymour Duncan humbuckers? If not, there may be some variation of the wire colour code used in the diagram.

This is also a good point. The diagram as it states uses Seymour Duncan colours, if you are using some other brand such as DiMarzio the colours differ.

 

[JoshuaB]

I figured it out. The screws that hold the 5 way switch were touching the poles on the switch, in effect shorting out the circuit.

 

[JoshuaB]

Are you using Seymour Duncan humbuckers? If not, there may be some variation of the wire colour code used in the diagram.

I was using Seymour Duncan.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

After wiring a guitar, before final assembly I always use a multi-meter to check the resistance of each pickup combination. I put the meter on resistance scale, press one probe on the back of the volume put, and the other one on the volume pot lug that is connected to the blade switch. If the resistance values of the pickups is known, its possible to check the meter is "Seeing" the correct resistance in each position. Eg if the neck humbucker is 7.5k, Position 5 on the switch should read close the that. Parallel in Position 4, should be 7.5k / 4 = 1.87k. Position 3, is typically 5k or under, depending how hot the bridge pickup is, etc.

Even though I "should" know what I'm doing, I always check it before putting a pickguard in the guitar. I can avoid wasting time if there is a problem and it's reassuring to do a basic test anyway..

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

I figured it out. The screws that hold the 5 way switch were touching the poles on the switch, in effect shorting out the circuit.

Glad its sorted now!

 

[stratamania]

I figured it out. The screws that hold the 5 way switch were touching the poles on the switch, in effect shorting out the circuit.

Glad you figured it out. I am not sure how the screws could be doing that, which switch were you using?

 

[JoshuaB]

Glad you figured it out. I am not sure how the screws could be doing that, which switch were you using?

It’s a 5-way 4-pole super switch, I’ve never seen it happen, which is why it took me so long to figure it out.

 

[JoshuaB]

After wiring a guitar, before final assembly I always use a multi-meter to check the resistance of each pickup combination. I put the meter on resistance scale, press one probe on the back of the volume put, and the other one on the volume pot lug that is connected to the blade switch. If the resistance values of the pickups is known, its possible to check the meter is "Seeing" the correct resistance in each position. Eg if the neck humbucker is 7.5k, Position 5 on the switch should read close the that. Parallel in Position 4, should be 7.5k / 4 = 1.87k. Position 3, is typically 5k or under, depending how hot the bridge pickup is, etc.

Even though I "should" know what I'm doing, I always check it before putting a pickguard in the guitar. I can avoid wasting time if there is a problem and it's reassuring to do a basic test anyway..

This is what I really need to do. I’ve really gotta get a multimeter!