Specific Multibucker wiring - feasible?

[mscmkr]

Hi people and congrats for a well-organized forum

I have been told that this is the place to ask questions like the following so here I am!

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

I am planning a two humbucker guitar (neck= Multibucker, bridge=unknown yet - 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 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? And if so, do you have any idea how I can achieve it?

Thanks in advance people

[zamzara]

I haven't worked out the exact diagram yet, but it's possible with a 4-pole superswitch.

Switching on the bridge for position 1 requires one pole. This leaves 3 poles to control the other 2 coils, which is the same as the T-riffic telecaster scheme. So that shows it's possible.

[newey]

Hi Mkr!

What you seek is doable, but not with a std Strat-style "5 way" switch, if that's what you were planning. You'll need either a multi-pole switch, or you'll need to use a push/pull pot in place of one of your pots to get the options you want. Really, what you are asking to do breaks down to be (as I read it):

1) Bridge HB alone, coils in series
2) Multibucker Chopper and Fasttrack in parallel
3) Chopper alone
4) Fast Track alone
5) Multibucker Chopper and Fasttrack in series.

You should browse the schematic section above, there may not be an exact match to what you want but there will be several that are close to what you want to serve as a starting point.

[zamzara]

I think this will do it. Sorry for the unpolished diagram.









(Edited to make the real image appear, as if by magic!)

[newey]

And mkr-

You may also want to consider (assuming that you haven't bought the parts already) that you are leaving out some potentially highly desirable options. With some additional wiring and another switch, you could add neck and bridge HBs together, in series and/or parallel, in- and/or out-of-phase. Or the bridge pup with either the Chopper or the Fast Track alone.

I certainly would want both buckers together if I were doing such a project (IMHO). Of course your wants/needs/playing style may all differ-

But since it sounds like you're pretty much going to be starting from scratch with this, now is the time to decide what you really want to do, it's a lot easier to plan for it now than to decide later that you really did want another possible option.

[ChrisK]

Re:

Multibucker's Chopper and Fast Track together creating the typical 2- or 4-position strat sound

will not sound like the typical 2 & 4 Position (and certainly not the #2 since the bridge isn't involved).

While these pickups will be in parallel, they both are still dual-coil series wired single coil-sized humbuckers. They are warmer sounding and hotter than Strat single coil pickups.

Additionally, they are significantly closer together than the typical Strat pickups, and will hence sense a much narrower harmonic window.

[wolf]

I couldn't resist redrawing zamzara's diagram (which was actually pretty good to begin with).


I hope I interpreted the parallel and series abbreviations correctly.

[ChrisK]

Well, ok, perhaps we should differentiate betwixt the two ground symbols, eh?

The one with the three parallel lines is for earth ground (as opposed to chassis) and the triangle is for circuit grounds (as in analog, digital, etc.).

We don't want the signal ground connected to earth ground (the lip fuse! - as in isolating the lips, er, Shielding the Beast) and we don't want the signal connected to a ground.

/\ anyone?

[wolf]

ChrisK
Well, I redrew that diagram by making all the ground symbols the same.
Maybe I'm not using the proper schematic symbols, but what is the proper symbol for the signal ground?

Is it ∇ and so zamzara drew it correctly?

[ashcatlt]

Wolf, where's the hot output on your drawing?

I think it should be where zam's got the triangle...

Oh, and where's the "commons" on the left side of the switch?

[wolf]

ashcatlt
I have made those corrections and thanks for catching those errors.

[ChrisK]

∇ ---> /\ (or hot, as it's oft called) ,




and the commons are inferred as the four outer terminals on the pictorial of this general layout of the super switch (the other three groups of inferred pole-related terminals are the same as those denoted in one instance as 1-2-3-4-5). The bridge and Fast Track each have a pole for their hot, and the Chopper has both leads switched (it's the "flying pickup").

Refer to the super switch here in Electronics Templates.

[zamzara]

Sorry for the confusion, the arrow on my diagram is indeed output to volume control.

(I was using the Mike Richardson scheme as a base for my drawing; I'm sure those of you familiar with it will have noticed his influence.)

[mscmkr]

You guys are amazing!!! Thank you very much for your help. Much appreciated.