Wiring 2 HB - 1 Vol - 1 Tone - 3way Blade

[indyplumber]

Hello,

Nice board and reference area. I looked for a schematic for doing an H-H strat with 1 tone, 1 vol and 3 way blade switch. I've found a few around the web but i'm still a little unsure since they vary on how to wire the switch.

Can anyone suggest a solid working schematic for this. I'm sure it is really simple. I just need re-assurance.

The components I have from Warmoth are 2 500k pots, .047 cap, and 3 way blade switch. The buckers i'm wiring are a Dimarzio super distortion in the bridge and a dimarzio 36th anny PAF in the neck.

One question I have is the blade switch. It appears to me the the orientation of the switch on to the pickguard doesn't matter. Is this correct?

[JohnH]

Hello and welcome to GN2.

Most HH diagrams probably use a toggle switch, but an HH with a blade switch sounds more like a Telecaster. Here is Seymour Duncans version, which is exactly what you want, except for the wiring colours:

www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=tele_2hum

For DiMarzio pickups, you'll need to translate the colours. Here is a referemce:
www.guitar-repairs.co.uk/guitar_pickup_colour_codes.htm

Basically
SD DiMarzio
Green Green
Red White
Black Red
White Black

Its true that a blade switch like this can be spun 180 degrees and it still functions the same.

cheers

John

[indyplumber]

Well I completed my project.

1 500k Vol Pot, 1 500k Tone pot with .47 cap, 1 3-way blade switch, 1 Super Distortion and 1 PAF 36th Anny.

Problem is, my new PAF has no output.  Well, very little.  Can only hear it if I crank the amp to 13.

Using my Snap-Jack head, I plugged it into the guitar and check ohms.  My Super D gives me 13.9k ohms and my PAF is reading 0.540M ohms.  I'm about to pull the pickguard again.  I'm hoping that I find a stray wire strand causeing a fault.  I don't want to have to send my new PuP back.

[4real]

You may want to check that you haven't wired the neck pup in parallel or something...and of course, make sure that nothing is loose or shorted or you are not missing a ground perhaps when the neck pup is selected.

If you have shielding or a foil coated guard...check to see that there is no why that things short when you put things back together...perhaps if there is any doubt (such as the switch being close) stick some tape over the foil so nothing can touch it. Also tape any loose connections, such as the joined HB leads...all these things can lead to frustrating problems like this...

Hope your PUP is ok, but problems seem to be rare....check the values of each coil perhaps...double check the wires are what they say they are...and good luck...

[indyplumber]

I found the black and white wires of the pup had a loose connection. I re-twisted, soldered then covered and now I'm getting 7.44k ohms which is in the range of that pup.

So now I've installed some new strings and my guitar sounds like crap. Either pickup, doesn't matter. All power chords sound farty. The tone seems farty. Like out an of tune chord. These are Dimarzio pups, black/white wires together, green/Bare to ground, and red to hot. The PAF is my new pup, the Super D I've had. But now the Super D sounds like crap.

Any advice?

To me, and I'm no expert, the common link in the chain is either the tone pot or the 47 cap. I reason this because the Super D was just fine in my old config with a 500k Vol pot and not being hooked up to the tone pot like the other pups.

Should I change the cap? I guess I could just clip the wire from the tone pot to the vol pot and that would take both pups off the tone pot. Then I could see what it sounds like.

[indyplumber]

Update:

I unsoldered the hot wire from the tone pot. Re-tuned and tested. Both pickups sounded much better.

I then removed the .47 cap I received from Warmoth and replaced it with a .22 cap from Radio Shack that I had laying around. The Radio Shack cap was huge compared to the .47 from Warmoth.

Anyway, reassembled, re-tuned and the pickups came to life. Sound is very nice and controllable with tone pot. Dunno, maybe bad cap, or maybe I got it too hot when soldering originally.

[newey]

Indy-

Glad you got it working to your liking. The cap shouldn't have made a difference with the Tone control at full, only as you turned it down. But who knows what gremlins may have been afoot?

[Yew]

Could have just been the legs of the cap shorting with the hot lead.. making the guitar feel like it had tone all the way down..

Or maybe just another gremlin that you could solve by just opening up the guitar, then closing it again, a random short