Multibucker wiring info

[mscmkr]

Hi people
Some of you may know the Dimarzio Multibucker which is essentially a combination of two hum cancelling strat replacement pickups (one Chopper and one Fast Track) side by side into a humbucker (four rails).

I am planning a two humbucker guitar (neck= Multibucker, bridge=unknown typical humbucker) with a five-way switch.
What I want to achieve are the following positions:
1. Full bridge humbucker sound
2. Multibucker's Chopper and Fast Track together creating the typical "out of phase" 2- or 4-position strat sound
3. Multibucker's Chopper by itself
4. Multibucker's Fast Track by itself
5. Full Multibucker humbucker sound

Is that remotely possible?

Thanks in advance guys

 

[Orpheo]

Hi people
Some of you may know the Dimarzio Multibucker which is essentially a combination of two hum cancelling strat replacement pickups (one Chopper and one Fast Track) side by side into a humbucker (four rails).

I am planning a two humbucker guitar (neck= Multibucker, bridge=unknown typical humbucker) with a five-way switch.
What I want to achieve are the following positions:
1. Full bridge humbucker sound
2. Multibucker's Chopper and Fast Track together creating the typical "out of phase" 2- or 4-position strat sound
3. Multibucker's Chopper by itself
4. Multibucker's Fast Track by itself
5. Full Multibucker humbucker sound

Is that remotely possible?

Thanks in advance guys

with a superswitch perhaps. I would so something else though, but thats just my opinion. I'd skip the 5 way blade, use a 3 way (for bridge/neck+bridge/neck) and use a 3 way toggle (on/off/on) to switch between the chopper, fasttrack or both in series. assuming that that is possible in the guitar. is easier to wire

 

[mscmkr]

Thanks man...
But you mean that I would leave out position:
"2. Multibucker's Chopper and Fast Track together creating the typical "out of phase" 2- or 4-position strat sound" ?

 

[stubhead]

You'll have to use a five-way switch just for the MultiBucker options and another three-way to cut the other pickup in and out - if you want the other pickup to do all that too, you'll need two five-ways and a three-way (believe me, it's been thought about by some nut, somewhere... hmmm....) I did up this guitar the opposite way, with all the juicies on the bridge Lawrence L500XL:

I used a SuperSwitch to wire all the possible combinations of coils from the L500 using this diagram, it's pretty much exactly what you're intending:
http://www.tdpri.com/wiring5wayStrat.htm
Treat each coil as it's own pickup, and work out the DiMarzio color codes with this:
http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/wiringresources.11pickupcolorcodes/

I also used concentric tone/volume pots so I could blend various levels of the single neck PU with parallel or series, north or south HB coils together (the neck blended with a tapped bridge coil gives you either Strat quack, or one BIG humbucker). I should warn you, wiring the SuperSwitch is a screaming bitch  :help: - look at the diagram and you'll see all the little jumpers you have to wire across and through different lugs, and they're little.... plan on setting aside five hours and a whole pot of coffee, lock the dogs/cats/wife/kids/goldfish in the basement and you'll still be blind and crazy for a whole day afterwards. Goddam goldfish.

You know - you could even use concentric pots to have control over each separate coil's volume?
HAHAHAHAHA!
When I get to the asylum, I'll tell the guards to hold a space open, I have a roommate coming in soon....  :cool01:

 

[Shmoopie]

no need to, i often vacation in crazy, (its lovely this time of year) so i got myself a condo.
you can stay as long as you like, just don't make direct eye contact with the walls and you'll be fine.

 

[mscmkr]

@ stubhead
You are really sick...  :glasses9:
.
.
.
.
and I REALLY REALLY LIKE YOU for that!!!!!  :hello2: :hello2:
Thanks man. You are most awesome! :rock-on:

PS. Are guitars allowed in that asylum?

 

[Orpheo]

you cant get that position 2/4 sound of a strat with that humbucker. you'd need a singlecoil middlepickup. and in that position, there is no out of fase by the way for that, you'd need a phase-switch, and thats yet one other pushpull pot.


but the MOST versatile would be a telecaster 4way blade, so you can choose either side of the pickup, or both in series, or both parallel. that output can go to a 3 way toggle, like a les paul, to choose either the bridge-assembly, or the neck, or both. if you want a fase-switch, you should take the NECKPICKUP instead of the bridgepickup

 

[DiMitriR33]

cool idea but i think you might find that you'll never use a few positions. i used to do all kinds of goofy stuf with wireing. did all my own schematics too. but i found that i was never quite satisfied with everything. like a split humbucher won't sound as good as a single coil.

now i have only one question. did you want a 2/4 position sound or did you want an outta phase sound? not the same thing, although some vintage guitars didn't all the pup wound the same or the magnets installed the same way and did go out of phase when the origonal switch was notched for these positions.
wireing out of phase whether in series or parllel gives a weird twangy kind of sound but you lose output and punch from the pickup.
wireing in parallel in phase gives a brite sound often described as a quack.
you can also go what they call 2/3 out of phase where you go in parallel out of phase but you put one pup in series with a capacitor. this gives the twang but with more bass and output.

you absolutely can do all of what you asked with this p/u and more but how many switches and wires do ya want to deal with?

and the biggest problem with you idea is there is no p-90 sound :laughing7:
you might get close by spliting one rails pup and going in series with the other but i'll just wait for the duncan p-rails to come out.
good luck with the wireing and feel free to ask more questions. and  :rock-on:

 

[mscmkr]

@ DiMitriR33
My bad. Forget the "out of phase" phrasing. What I want is that "quack" produced at 2 / 4 Strat positions (P-90 is in a future project... )
As for the switches, I would like to achieve that with just a Strat-style five-switch (I will get from the bridge humbucker only its "natural" sound for one position but I want to use the remaining four positions as described above).

 

[DiMitriR33]

ok i understand

you need a super switch, basically it's a prs rotary switch turned on it's side with a blade. you can get them from stew mac.

wireing is hard to describe. i can draw up a diagram or you can take orpheo's sugestion and use a tele 4 way for the multi bucker and run that into a gibson 3 way.
you can find a tele schematic and a gibson schematic on line and just plug one into the other. that will give all the options you wanted plus you can mix the bridge pup in with the diferent neck combo's.

 

[DiMitriR33]

now that i think of it what your asking for is exactly how i wired my strat. just a diferent order. i'll see if i still have the drawing lying aroud, i'll get back to ya.

 

[mscmkr]

Thanks man. Much appreciated either way.

 

[blisstree]

I have a multibucker in the bridge position of 1 of my les pauls, a P90 in the neck.  The wiring is standard 3-way pu selector.  The bridge tone control was replaced with a pan pot allowing me to dial in a mix between the chopper and the hot rails.  All one or the other or anything in between.  The neck tone was replaced with a Torres midrange cut/boost pot.  Both volume pots are still volume pots, but replaced with Torres 1 Meg volume pots.