Mahogany Strat/Tele Hybrid w/ Petrucci Wiring

[persistence48]

I spent about two years spec'ing out this guitar, a Strat/Tele hybrid, and finally pulled the trigger on it in June. The body surprisingly came about 6 weeks early (kudos to the guys at Warmoth), so I was able to get this put together much sooner than expected. Here are some pictures and the specs:

Body:
- Mahogany Back
- Quilted Maple Top
- Turquoise Dye / Transparent Turquoise Burst-Over
- Contoured Heel

Neck:
- Vintage/Modern Mahogany Shaft
- Ebony Fretboard
- SS6100 Frets
- 12" - 16" Compound Radius
- Sutherland Welles Hand-Rubbed Tung Oil Finish

Hardware:
- Schaller M6 Pin Staggered Locking Tuners
- Duncan SH-2N (Jazz) & SH-5 (Custom) Pickups (Shop Floor Custom w/ chrome hex poles, black powdercoat covers, and no logos)
- Recessed TonePros TOM Bridge
- Volume w/ 1nF Treble Bleed
- 3 Way Blade Switch (inner coils in middle position)

I found when wiring the pickups that I could not find a single correct diagram for the "Petrucci Wiring" with the inner coils active in the middle position for a 3-way blade (even the one I received directly from DiMarzio did not work; the middle position was inactive using that configuration and the jumper was not even connected between the common lugs for a CRL switch), so I created a new one after tracing the connections on the 4PDT toggle switch Music Man uses on their guitars with this configuration. I may create a separate technical post specifically with this diagram, as I am not sure how so many incorrect diagrams have remained online for so long, but I wanted to attach it here for reference to this guitar as well.

 

[teleme01]

Nice

 

[Strat Avenger]

I never knew that wiring configuration is possible with a blade switch. I had the toggle switch that the Petrucci guitars have but I would prefer the blade switch. I might do that on my gold Warmoth Strat.

 

[stratamania]

Nice-looking guitar.

For reference if you make a separate thread. Per the wiring, the switch being 180 degrees is normal for a blade switch due to how it works mechanically. For that diagram, the bridge position of the switch is A1 and B1 and neck A3 and B3. So, the wires are diagrammed to the opposite lugs. For the bridge position, it looks like you have it wired to only have the other coil and not the full humbucker. Is this intended?

 

[persistence48]

Per the wiring, the switch being 180 degrees is normal for a blade switch due to how it works mechanically. For that diagram, the bridge position of the switch is A1 and B1 and neck A3 and B3. So, the wires are diagrammed to the opposite lugs. For the bridge position, it looks like you have it wired to only have the other coil and not the full humbucker. Is this intended?

I intentionally wired the neck and bridge pickups in the opposite switch positions due to personal preference, so that's why I added the notation about flipping the switch around to get the typical switch directionality. I will reverse the labels of all the lugs on the diagram, and that should make that more clear. I have confirmed the full humbuckers are wired in the neck and bridge positions, even though the wiring looks backwards; however, it seems like it's actually the outer coils active in the middle position in this configuration rather than the inner ones. It sounds almost identical to other guitars I have with the inner coils in the middle position, which is why I didn't notice. I was able to rewire it so the inner coils were actually active, but it sounded very tinny/shrill for some reason (maybe just these particular pickups), so I ended up putting it back the way it was originally. I may mess around with it more later to see if I can figure out why it sounded so strange when I changed the wiring, but for now, it at least sounds as expected for the "Petrucci Wiring" I'm used to on my other guitars.

EDIT: I went back and swapped the wires used for each pickup in the original configuration, and was able to get the inner coils working in the middle position in the way I originally expected. I have updated the diagram above to reflect this, so it now properly represents the "Petrucci Wiring" with a 3-Way Blade.

 

[stratamania]

The logical wiring in the new diagram looks better. But why not just flip the switch round in the diagram as well so that the lugs, however they are labelled (or not), are positioned how they look in the guitar.

As it is, most people following that diagram would get the bridge pickup on when the neck is selected and vice versa.

Don't most Petrucci wirings use a 3-way toggle for pickup selection and a push-pull to go between full humbuckers in the middle position or inner coils dependent on the push pull position?

 

[Strat Avenger]

What if I wanted to leave the neck pickup wired full humbucker but turn off the outter coil on the bridge pickup when in the middle switching position?

 

[Hodgo]

What if I wanted to leave the neck pickup wired full humbucker but turn off the outter coil on the bridge pickup when in the middle switching position?

In OPs diagram, you would run a jumper from the yellow lead on B3 down to B2 and tie the black and green leads off together somewhere. YMMV depending on the pickup manufacturers color scheme and how you orient the pickups.

 

[persistence48]

The logical wiring in the new diagram looks better. But why not just flip the switch round in the diagram as well so that the lugs, however they are labelled (or not), are positioned how they look in the guitar.

As it is, most people following that diagram would get the bridge pickup on when the neck is selected and vice versa.

Don't most Petrucci wirings use a 3-way toggle for pickup selection and a push-pull to go between full humbuckers in the middle position or inner coils dependent on the push pull position?

That's true, I can swap the sides of the switch each pickup is connected to so the connections to specific lugs is no longer important. And yes, many Petrucci guitars use a push-pull; I believe to include the ability to switch between full humbuckers and inner coils in parallel in the middle, you would connect the A2/B2 lugs to the middle row lugs on the push-pull, add jumpers from the hot connections (A1/B3) to the bottom row and connect the neck black/green & bridge red/white pairings to the top row. Then, in the "down position," A1 & B3 connect directly to A2 & B2 respectively giving the full humbuckers in parallel, whereas in the "up position," the paired black/green & red/white wires would instead connect to A2 & B2, removing the outer coils from the circuit. I personally just only ever use three positions with the inner coils in the middle position, so I left the push-pull out from this build/diagram.

 

[Strat Avenger]

The Ibanez Petrucci models and the early EBMM Petrucci mod3ls had only 3 switching positions: Bridge humbucker, Split with inner coils on, and Neck humbucker. Later EBMM models offer more switching options.

 

[stratamania]

The Ibanez Petrucci models and the early EBMM Petrucci mod3ls had only 3 switching positions: Bridge humbucker, Split with inner coils on, and Neck humbucker. Later EBMM models offer more switching options.

Okay, that makes sense.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Interesting, I’ve done the stock diagram from Dimarzio’s website in several instruments over the years with blades and ep#1111 with perfect success, even with pickups from other manufacturers.

 

[Strat Avenger]

Interesting, I’ve done the stock diagram from Dimarzio’s website in several instruments over the years with blades and ep#1111 with perfect success, even with pickups from other manufacturers.

I've never seen a diagram for that with a 3-way blade switch. I have 2 guitars with the EP1111 switch.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I've never seen a diagram for that with a 3-way blade switch. I have 2 guitars with the EP1111 switch.

On the Dimarzio site, it references a super switch in the diagram, 12 pole if memory serves, not the standard Tele switch.

 

[Strat Avenger]

On the Dimarzio site, it references a super switch in the diagram, 12 pole if memory serves, not the standard Tele switch.

Yeah, I was referring to a standard Tele switch. I've done the Super Switch thing before and not really a big fan of that.
I have the Petrucci wiring and switch on my first Warmoth Soloist. I also had it on a ESP M-2 but later changed it so that the neck position is humbucker in parallel, bridge position is humbucker in series, and middle is outter bridge humbucker coil turned off with neck humbucker still both coils on in parallel. 'Sounds wonderful, and for my taste better than the Petrucci wiring, because the middle position is not so thin sounding, but still "sparkley".