Help? HSH wiring diagram

[coolhandluke]

Hi guys. I desperately need help with a wiring diagram for this strat im building. I've asked for help elsewhere and tried to figure out some things for myself, but it's starting to take a long time, so i am begging for help.

So im building a strat out of genuine fender parts, but having it hum-single-hum configuration. Got the pickups, bridge: bareknuckle nailbomb, middle SC: seymour duncan SSL1 rwrp, neck: dimarzio air norton.

I also have a TBX tone control, and 2 push/pull volume pots (although i will be happy with just one volume control, and the other just functioning as a push/pull). I also have a 5 way super switch, but if necessary i will just get a normal 5 way fender switch.

What i want to achieve:

1 - Bridge
2 - Bridge (inner coil?) + middle
3 - Middle
4 - Neck + (inner coil?) + middle
5 - Neck

Then with the volume push/pull, to change between the series/parallel for the neck, and with the other push/pull to switch between series/parallel for the bridge pickup.

Suggestions are very much welcome, but thats what im aiming for at the moment. Thanks in advance!

[sumgai]

chl,

Hi, and welcome to the NutzHouse! ;D

What you want is not hard to design and implement, but if I may be so bold, what do you intend to do with the push-pull switches? Speaking for most of us here on the Forums, before we go into design mode, we usually like to have the requestor describe as much of the desired circuit as possible. Saves having to go back to the drawing board too often, eh?

HTH


sumgai

[coolhandluke]

1 push/pull will be the volume control and pushed down will be normal neck humbucker in series, up will be neck hb in parallel - i'm not sure if i'd prefer parallel or coil split, so ill just have to wait and see how it sounds. The 2nd push/pull will be to change the bridge hb from series to parallel, but it wont control volume. I initially wanted 2 volume controls but apparently this is difficult/complicated to wire on an HSH config, and i am still happy with 1 vol control.

Someone has kindly made me a diagram and ive tidied it up a bit added the colour coding for each pickup so i dont mess up. If you could check it or recommend some other configurations that would be cool. I've thought about sacrificing position 2 (bridge+middle) for having all 3 pickups on, or 2 humbuckers like the middle position of a les paul. If i do that would it just be a case of soldering a connection for each pickup on the 2nd terminal (on 3 of the poles) on the super switch?

[sumgai]

Luke,

There's nothing inherently difficult about wiring up multiple volume controls - the problem is actually simple to state: having three pickups and only two controls, which pickup is controlled by which pot? And is that cast in concrete, or does it change according to the switch position? See what I mean? Now having said that, our very own JohnH has done it anyways, go here to see it.

But IMHO, a master volume control always beats a pair (or trio) of individual controls, hands down. This is also known as the K.I.S.S. principle. But better yet, by yielding to common sense, you now have a hole left over, and there is a good use for that hole - put in a blend pot, per one of JohnH's circuits. Try here for a start, just plug in humbuckers where John shows single coils pups (including your series/parallel switching), and you're off and running.

There are other blend pot circuits here in the NutzHouse, you can use the Search function to find them. Personally, I'd either use the empty hole to house a rotary switch for a greatly expanded tonal palette, or else I'd just plug the hole closest to the strings, and have only a Master Volume/Master Tone rig. Plugs can be had from the local hardware store for less than 50¢. (And that gets the control knob out of your way when you're flailing away on the axe! ;D)

Your chosen circuit looks good, but the text near the bottom might be confusing to some folks. The "truth table" says that for position #2, the series/parallel switches are part of that position - for both humbuckers. Yet the wiring isn't that way, so a reader might have to stop and scratch his head. Just remove that extra verbiage from pos. 2, and all is well with the whole drawing.

And yes, if you want all three pups at once, or even just the two hb's, then make the appropriate changes to the selector switch for the sacrificial position. However, after looking at John's Blender circuit (linked above), you may elect to go his way instead. Don't say I didn't warn you! ;D

HTH


sumgai

[coolhandluke]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I think i will stick with just the one volume control. Although i think 2 can be useful, i have a volume pedal, 2 distortion pedals, and a dunlop wah with a 0-16dB boost. So for changing from a lower volume rhythm to a lead boost shouldn't be a problem. It just would have been nice to have the extra one, and you could possibly do a bit of killswitching stuff with the 2 controls.

There wouldn't be a hole left though, because i still need it for the 2nd push/pull pot (which will have an identical knob). So it will look as if there are 3 controls, but the one in the middle will only switch the bridge pickup between series and parallel. At a later date if im confident i might add in more switches and so on, but in some ways i dont want too many options. When theres more to choose from, it makes it difficult to decide what you want.

I agree, the text next to position 2 is confusing, i didnt put it there - but as i know thats not what it means it only confused me for a second He just typed it there, but it has nothing to do with position 2.

Also, could you tell me if positions 2 and 4 in the diagram, are the whole humbuckers with the middle single, or if it is one coil of the humbuckers with the middle. I'm thinking its the whole humbucker, but id prefer to have just one coil to get more traditional strat tones (if thats possible).

Edit:

I asked the bloke who made the original diagram, he said that positions 2 and 4 were the whole humbucker with the middle single. And that it would be difficult to auto coil tap the humbuckers in positions 2 and 4. I don't know myself. But i've made this as an alternative, with position 2 now both humbuckers. Think this would be fine.

[sumgai]

luke,

I'm not on my computer at the moment, but what if I told you that I can see a way to make your dreams come true, and by moving only a couple of wires on the main switch, and adding in a couple more to the series/parallel switches....... would that get your interest?

Your circuit designer was good, but he stayed with the tried and true, by-the-book, paint-yourself-into-a-corner approach. I can do the job, and I'll bet that others here can do it too, by not looking at the selector switch in the usual fashion.

I'll try to have a new diagram ready for posting tomorrow sometime (this machine has nada in terms of image manipulation software :, but it may be later in the evening before I can get back to normal, so don't hold your breath until you turn blue! And someone else may see the same thing I did, and beat me to posting a new diagram for you - so much the better.

HTH


sumgai

[coolhandluke]

If you can improve on the current design then that can only be a good thing. He was very clear that he had little/no experience with the 5 way super switch. And im a novice. I'll be interested to see what you can come up with. I'm just waiting for a pickup cover which should come within the next couple of days, so i think having it all wrapped up before friday should be easy.

Also, theres a bit of a problem with the diagram as it is anyway. The tone control i have is a TBX, and has 6 lugs, not 3... and im not sure what has to change

[sumgai]

Ta Da!

Here ya go, all hot and ready to be slathered into yer rig! ;D





Truth Table:

1 - Bridge Full Humbucker, series or parallel
2 - Bridge South and Neck South in parallel
3 - Middle
4 - Neck South and Middle
5 - Neck Full Humbucker, series or parallel

You should note the one thing we can't easily get away from, and that's a hanging hot. If you don't recognize that term, search on it (the button at the very top, under the main banner). Alternatively, just ask, and I'll turn the floor over to JohnH, one of our resident experts on the topic. But seeing as you have humbuckers, I don't think any problems will arise from this. Nevertheless, in either series position, the North Finish is connected to the output in positions 2 & 4. So be it. If you do notice objectionable noise, I can restore the unused sections of the selector switch, and use them to totally eliminate the hanging hots.

But I like simplicity wherever I can find it, and this one was especially nice - it can be done as a mod to nearly any Strat or clone, and if one has to replace a switch with only three terminals per side, at least they won't have to buy a more expensive Superswitch. Not a bad thing.

In looking back over your first and second posts, I see that you contemplate having all three pups on at once. If you do decide to go that route, obviously we'll need to restore a switch section. Piece o' cake! ;D


HTH


sumgai

[coolhandluke]

Thanks for your help, ill have a think about it.

[UnklMickey]

sumgai said:

You should note the one thing we can't easily get away from, and that's a hanging hot. If you don't recognize that term, search on it (the button at the very top, under the main banner). Alternatively, just ask, and I'll turn the floor over to JohnH, one of our resident experts on the topic. But seeing as you have humbuckers, I don't think any problems will arise from this. Nevertheless, in either series position, the North Finish is connected to the output in positions 2 & 4. So be it. If you do notice objectionable noise, I can restore the unused sections of the selector switch, and use them to totally eliminate the hanging hots.

Nice bit of work there, boss. I would have gone with plan B, disconnecting the hanging hots right out of the gate, but that's just my preference.

kudos.

[sumgai]

unk,

Nice bit of work there, boss. I would have gone with plan B, disconnecting the hanging hots right out of the gate, but that's just my preference.

Thanks. I truly did consider that option, but like I said, I was smitten by the idea of being able to do the requested circuit with only two switch sections. That makes the circuit a viable option for lots of folks who don't wanna fork out the bigbux for a Superswitch, which seems attractive to me.

Since we haven't all come to a 100% consensus on the topic of how much damage a hanging hot can do to a signal, I'm comfortable with my compromise. But on the other side of that same token, if I were to eliminate this problem, I'd have to watch out that I introduce the equally nefarious "Dreaded Tone Suck". The only way I can see out of both dilemmas is what I call "brute force"....... ugly and inelegant, but it does the job:



All I did was to break the North Finish connection for all selector switch positions except where that pickup is in Full Humbucker mode. Like I said, inelegant, but it's the only way I can see to make it all work as desired.


sumgai

[guitarist]

That is some beautiful tone selections. How might one get some of those Superstrat type series tones happening too?