HH Coil Tap - Is This Right? ...

[kurdt]

Hi,

I'm building a H/H Strat and was hoping to wire in a coil tap on a push pull volume pot.

I want both humbuckers to work as standard when the push pull switch is in the down position, and then both change to single coils when the switch is in the up position (preferably the coils with the adjustable poles).

I've been trying to read up about it on here, and elsewhere online, but I seem to be getting more confused ... so thought I'd ask you guys

Excuse the dodgey diagrams ! ...

So, this is the colour code for the wires on the humbuckers ...



And this is how I usually wire them up, one master volume and individual tone pots for each pickup (this is also how I want them to work when the push pull is in the down position) ...



Now, have I got this right ? (probably not) ... Is this how the push pull volume switch should be wired to change both humbuckers to single coils when in the up position ? ...



Any help would be greatly appreciated !.

Cheers.

[newey]

kurdt-

Welcome back!

You're on the right track here, except that you can't just run the pickup grounds to the switch- they have to be grounded somewhere in turn.

Better yet, leave the pickup grounds soldered to the grounding point (the back of the volume pot, if you do it as shown in the diagram.)

Then, run a ground wire from both bottom lugs on the P/P (where you now show the pickup grounds connected) to the grounding point (again, use the back of the volume pot if you like). You don't need to run 2 separate wires, just run one and jumper the 2 bottom lugs together, so that both lugs are grounded.


Also, you may want to consider that this diagram will split the same coil from each of the pickups (not sure without looking at KA colors whether it's the N or S coil). To maximize hum-cancelling with both pickups split, it is preferable to have one N and one S coil, which is easily done if both pickups are identical as you have here.

Our friend wolf, as usual, has the answers in diagrammatic form:

www.1728.org/guitar7.htm

This shows how to wire one of the 2 HBs "inside out", as wolf calls it, so as to get one North and one South coil, thereby making the "both pickups" selection on your three-way selector to be hum-cancelling when you have the P/P pulled up for single coil operation. Wolf is using DiMarzio colors, but these appear to be the same as the KA colors so it should work as shown.

[ashcatlt]

That'll split 'em both, yep!

It'll split them to like coils, though. If both HBs are the same magnetic polarity, that'll be noisy. To get humcancelling you'll need to pick one of the pickups and split it to the other coil. Easy way would be to swap the green wire for the red on one side of the switch. Otherwise, you'll have to wire one pickup "inside out". I'm afraid it's too early for me to explain that right now.

[kurdt]

Hey guys,

Thanks alot for the help, it's much appreciated !

So, after reading your posts I've just wired it all up, and everything works fine, except I've somehow managed to do the opposite of what I wanted.

With the P/P in the down position, both pickups are working as single coils (both coil A), switching the P/P to the up position changes both pickups to humbuckers. I really want to get this working the other way around as I'm gonna be using the pickups as humbukers alot more than single coils.

I havn't got a clue as to how to go about this, so again, any advice would be great.

Thanks alot for that link Newey, I did wonder about the possibility of the middle position being humbucking with both pickups working as single coils. I've had a read of that and it sounds simple enough. Once I've sorted this basic P/P coil tap, I think I'll go back and experiment with which combination of coils sounds best. If I try to do it all at once I'll probably just end up confusing myself ... again

I'm really stoked after having a listen to how these pickups sound both as single coils and humbuckers, can't believe I've not tried a coil tap before!

[newey]

Kurdt-

If the push/pull is working backwards from what you want, you need to "flip" the wiring vertically on the switch. Wires connected at the "top" lugs go to the "bottom" lugs on the same side of the switch, and bottom swaps with top.

The center lugs are the "common" or "pole" lugs, they stay connected as is. But top right lug wire(s) go to bottom right, top left to bottom left, and vice versa.

This may help you visualize. This is looking at the P/P pot upside down, as we would be looking if we were wiring it from the rear:

[kurdt]

Thanks Newey,

So if I'm understanding this right, I just need to change the ground wire from how it is now ...


To this ...



And the wires attached to the lugs on the pot all stay the same yeah?

[newey]

Yep, it's easier to see with your diagram that my verbal description, but you've got it.

[kurdt]

Brilliant.

I'll open it up tomorrow and sort it out.

Thanks again! ... it's great you guys are so willing to help noobs like me out