Help with an odd wiring request

[bjwarshaw2]

Gentlemen,

I have a customer who wants his Les Paul (2 humbuckers) wired with the 'buckers in parallel (this I know how to do), but he wants positions one and three on the toggle to give him the respective pickups out-of-phase with themselves. Everything I've read says both:

1. This is to be done with a separate switch; and,
2. This is highly undesirable, as the resultant sound is very weak and noisy.

If I can't talk him out of this, is there a way to wire the configuration without having to install a new switch?

Thanks,
B. Warshaw

[ChrisK]

Yep!

I have a customer who wants his Les Paul (2 humbuckers) wired with the 'buckers in parallel (this I know how to do),

Does this mean that both pickups are in internal series and are in parallel in the middle switch position (the standard LP mode), or does this mean that he wants both of the coils of each pickup wired in parallel, and then both of the pickups are in parallel in the middle switch position?

but he wants positions one and three on the toggle to give him the respective pickups out-of-phase with themselves. Everything I've read says both:

1. This is to be done with a separate switch;

Yes, I believe that 4 poles are needed, depending on the answer to my first question.

2. This is highly undesirable, as the resultant sound is very weak and noisy.

You betcha', since the spacing difference between the coils of each humbucker is about 3/4". For best out of phase sounds (OOP), a much wider spacing is best. Bridge/middle and middle/neck are OK, but I prefer bridge/neck at a minimum and bridge/middle/neck all in series with either the bridge or neck OOP. this way two pickups "vote" against a third.


And oh yeah, noisy, 'cuz in your customer's desired mode, you well know they ain't humbuckers any more!

If I can't talk him out of this, is there a way to wire the configuration without having to install a new switch?

Well, depending on what you can find that is compatible with the thick top of an LP, push/pull pots (with attached DPDT switches) may be of help.

[bjwarshaw2]

Thanks for your help, Chris. I've talked him out of out-of-phase (does that mean I talked him in-phase?).

He now wants the ability to have the middle position be both humbuckers, full and in-series, while the 1st and 3rd positions are the parallel humbucker (neck or bridge, respectively). I figured that the only way to do this is with switches, so if he still wants that middle position, I told him we'll probably be best off with push/pulls. A few questions:

Should I stick a push/pull in place of each volume pot, since the pickups are running to those first already? Or do they need to replace the tone pots?

How should I wire to the switch-side of the pots to achieve this?

What do I need to do at the selector switch to make the middle position run both pickups without any splitting?

Many thanks again in advance,
B. Warshaw

[UnklMickey]

bjwarshaw2 said:

...Should I stick a push/pull in place of each volume pot, since the pickups are running to those first already? Or do they need to replace the tone pots?..

mox nix. leave that up to the customer's preference.

bjwarshaw2 said:

...How should I wire to the switch-side of the pots to achieve this?...

like this:



(the color codes are for Seymour Duncan. if your HBs are from a different manufacturer, you will need to alter the colors accordingly.)

bjwarshaw2 said:

...What do I need to do at the selector switch to make the middle position run both pickups without any splitting?...

it isn't practical to attempt a wiring scheme with a gibson 3-way switch that interfaces with the series/parallel switches, to inhibit their operation.

so each pickup needs to have it's 'mode' selected at it's push-pull.

then Neck / Both / Bridge is handled as always, by the 3-way.



unk

[ChrisK]

it isn't practical to attempt a wiring scheme with a gibson 3-way switch that interfaces with the series/parallel switches, to inhibit their operation.

Unless you can talk them into a 3 position rotary that fits (sort of) the same mounting hole as the toggle (and then why stop at just three positions?).

[bjwarshaw2]

Thanks. You guys are so ridiculously helpful!