Series/parallel switching with single coils.

[Jeremiah]

Hello - I haven't posted for a while, (or got much closer to starting a Warmoth, as I've been distracted by other things. However, now I'm looking for a way to switch 2 single coil pickups from series to parallel.

I know it can be done on a Tele with a 4-way switch instead of the standard 3-way, where position 4 is both pickups in series, but I'm looking for a wiring diagram that shows how to do the same thing with a Gibson-style 3-way switch, and a mini switch or push-pull pot to switch from series to parallel.

Thanks for any help...

 

[-CB-]

One problem you get with that idea.... is if you accidentally hit the Gibby 3way in series mode, you turn off both pickups.  I've done what you want with a rotary switch, where you also bypass the 3way when in "series" mode.

 

[Jeremiah]

One problem you get with that idea.... is if you accidentally hit the Gibby 3way in series mode, you turn off both pickups.  I've done what you want with a rotary switch, where you also bypass the 3way when in "series" mode.

Hmm... thanks for the info.

So, I assume what you mean is that with the 3-way selector switch in the middle, and the mini switch in series mode, the pickups would be in series, but if the 3-way was either up or down, both pickups would be off. I could live with that and it might even have its uses.

With a rotary switch, do you mean use a rotary switch instead of the mini switch? I've never used a rotary switch before so don't know how they work. Do they have more poles/terminals than a standard DPDT switch so additional wiring options are possible? Maybe another option would be to use a 4-position rotary switch instead of the 3-way and wire it up like the 4-way Tele switch.

Something else I am thinking about is using a blend pot instead of a 3-way switch to mix the 2 pickups, but when I try to think about how that would work with the series/parallel switch it gets too confusing... what would happen in series mode in this case?

 

[-CB-]

I drew out the picture for the three position rotary this morning at work.

You get phased parallel, normal parallel, and series (either in or out of phase, you chose when you wire it).  You can also add one capacitor and get 2/3 out of phase (or 1/3 depending on how you look at it)... which gives an almost 2/4 Strat tone.

To recap-

Its five tones.  Bridge, both in parallel, neck - with rotary in the middle.  Flip rotary one way, and regardless of how the LP style three way is set, you get phased.  Flip the other way, you get series.  So, you can flip from neck only to snarly phased with one switch flick.  Or from thick series to neck only with one switch flick. 

To me, its the best of both worlds, giving the very nice and easy up/middle/down of a LP switch, plus the added two more tones of phased and series.... which are not quite as easy to set, but about fast enough for most live play if need be.

One reason the very nice L6s was not better received is that 6 way rotary switch, which is the PITS for live play.  Go from rhythm to lead... right... how many clicks?  The wiring I've got here is very close to the Bill Lawrence (the real one) design for the original L6s.  Gibson made him dumb it down, so he says... I had a brief conversation with him some  years ago on this, and he acknowledged that it was very similar.

 

[Jeremiah]

I'd be interested to see the wiring diagram for the rotary switch. How many poles does it need

I'm not sure where I can get a 3-position rotary switch from, however. I've seen some places selling 5-way and 6-way versions, and one 12-position switch that can apparently be locked to use only a lower number of positions, but the basic 3-way seems harder to find.

 

[dNA]

couldn't you do the same thing with a 3-way on/on/on mini switch?

 

[Dan025]

couldn't you do the same thing with a 3-way on/on/on mini switch?

maybe i haven't looked at it but the rotary will have 4 poles, maybe more. 3-way toggles most often have 2.

 

[dNA]

maybe i haven't looked at it but the rotary will have 4 poles, maybe more. 3-way toggles most often have 2.

does that work?

 

[Dan025]

i'm not sure if you can do exactly what cb describes i would need to draw it out. but yes you could use it to get some new options only limited by your creativity. i only meant to point out that maybe cb needed to do more things at the same time that a 2 pole allows, not sure at the moment though. oh and the function of a toggle is different, it has one common per pole and only 2 other connectors per pole, in the middle position of an "on,on,on" it is arranged like this;

http://classicamplification.net/Pickups/.%5CCoilOffsetTestbucker_J-D_truth_table.gif


a 3-way rotary has one common per pole but instead of staggering the connectors like the toggle in the middle position it has 3 separate connectors that the common can go to and the poles are synchronized, each one does exactly the same thing.