3-way lever switch wiring problem on an import

[petros]

Small accident where a wire got disconnected and now I'm not sure where it belongs. The problem is the 3-way lever switch is not conventional, and I can't find an appropriate wiring diagram. This is from an Asian made Squire Stagemaster that has two humbucker pickups.



Coming from each pickup is a shield wire, a white wire (which is the connection between the coils of the humbucker), and a red wire (+ hot). You can see in the photo the switch is somehow modified with cross connections between the poles so that it works like a 3-way switch. The three positions on the switch were wired simply bridge/both humbuckers/neck.

The black cable you see with the completed connection on the right is coming from the bridge. The cable on the other side has the white wire that got disconnected and I'm not sure now if the wire connects to where the other white wire is connected on the switch (the most likely place) or if it connects to the volume pot you see in the photo. Anybody with switch wiring experience ever seen this before?

[ChrisK]

Image link does not work for me (corporate blockade).

It works on the same machine from outside the VPN. I see it now.

Photobucket appears to work for most.

[sumgai]

petros,

At first glance, the wire certainly looks like it came off of the bad solder joint surrounding the Bridge white wire. But.....

Unless I miss my guess, these are not stock pickups, nor is that a stock selector switch. And the whole soldering job is too...... grubby, especially for an Asian rig. Those people do nothing but solder all day and all night, they're soldering fools........ what I'm seeing here, they could do better than that in their sleep. Hence, my accusations.......

So, my next guess is that the switch doesn't operate the way one would expect it to, or else the quitar hasn't performed correctly since you got it. Did the thing work correctly at any point in the past, that you know about?

I cite as my authority: www.squierguitars.com Click on the support link, and scroll all the way down to the bottom. Informative, yes?

From the diagram(s) on that site, I believe that some reconstructive surgery just might be necessary. For one thing, those white wires? Not shown on the schematic. And how can they both go directly to the volume pot's hot terminal? Another thing is that there are only 7 terminals (solder lugs) on your selector switch, whereas the diagram shows 8 such lugs.

There are too many variables here to make an over-the-net diagnosis, I'm sure you'll agree. Can you take some resistance measurements? What is the relation of each of the three wires coming from the Humbucker pickup? And which switch terminals are connected in each of the three positions?


HTH



sumgai

[ChrisK]

What you have for that there switch may be a Schaller MegaSwitch from StewMac. Note that the PCB with the contacts is now different, but they work the same.

Here is some tech info from StewMac.

The contacts may not be the same, but the mechanical part looks quite similar.

As sumgai sez, you may have to measure the resistance in each position at the output jack with the volume at 100% and post the results.

[petros]

Thank you sumgai and ChrisK for some help. Sounds like a lot of work just to put one wire back where it was originally. I don't have an ohm meter.

Let me provide some history about this guitar. I purchased it in 2001 at Sam Ash ($199). You can't find it anymore, and you won't see it on the Squire website. I don't have any paperwork on this instrument. At the back of the neck it reads clearly "Hand Crafted in China" with a serial number. I recall the advertising for this saying something about the pickups wired to be "hot" humbuckers. Of course, that's meaningless. I do know this guitar is better quality than the current Squire Stagemasters you see sold in starter packages. My guitar came with a Floyd Rose licensed vibrato (and it works perfectly).

Old photo:



I'm going to provide a complete wiring diagram so that maybe it makes more sense to someone. I was looking at how a typical 3 way toggle is wired and I can see that this "modified" 3 way lever switch is not wired in that fashion. Maybe the designers wired it for some kind of coil combination, but I've always assumed the switch operated bridge/both humbuckers/neck. The mid switch position for both humbuckers was always the best sounding.

[petros]

Full wiring diagram:



You know, I might be wrong about the red wire being hot (+). If the builder stayed consistent with wiring colors it looks like white may be hot (+) (according to the ouput jack). It would also explain the volume pot wiring.

I thought this would be an easy call for experienced guitar techs, but I can see you never know with odd switches and an unknown wiring scheme. This pickguard/electronics is from the guitar I'm in the process of modifying and it's being completely replaced. I'm only looking to get the original back to working order for resale. So, no need to bang heads against the wall (unless you're into that kinda thing).