hokochu
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Post by hokochu on Apr 15, 2012 14:55:43 GMT -5
I am trying to unlock the maximum potential from my Carvin DC 747, so that my 7 string can be a tone monster. This is my first project of this nature however so I have some questions regarding it. Currently it is wired in the factory default. 1.bridge 2.Bridge + Middle 3. Middle 4. Middle + Neck 5. Neck it also has two on/on dpdt switches that will switch the humbuckers to single coil. with a 5 way selector that is the "carvin type" www.carvinservice.com/crg/manuals/5wayswitch-manual.pdfall together this gives me a total 9 pickups combinations which is pretty sweet for a factory default. the most important part of the rewiring for me is to have access to all of the pickup combinations with the least amount of redundancy. It would be nice if I could have access to different humbucking combinations of pickups like the megaswitch e gives you. I also don't want to have to do any body modification which means that I can have up to 2 miniswitches, and 2 push pull pots, and either the megaswitch e or the carvin type switch that I have now. I think that with the switch I have in it now, the Carvin type switch, that I could change the bridge humbucker to be on all the time and to have a kill switch attached to it in the form of a push/pull switch. which would give me the all the combinations of pickups I could use. what would be the best option for the last switch? Could I hook up a series/ parallel switch or would it be better to hook up a phase/out of phase switch? Is there a better way to wire it so that I can have access to all the pickup combinations with out using 3 of my 4 switches?
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Post by sbgodofmetal on Apr 15, 2012 15:29:38 GMT -5
Welcome to the nutz house. And congrats on the carvin I've been eyeballing the dc 727 myself. You could try this, replace your volume and one of your tones with your push/pulls and do both series/parallel and p/oop. Replace your second tone with a 6way rotary switch and jump your pickup leads from the 5way to the 6way switch leaving its 1st position open or no load. This will give you the standard 5 sounds +the s.c. switch selections and double it with the added 6way. Its basically a modified version of the double barrel strat mod that will let you keep your stock/factory appearance. Good luck. ;D
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Post by newey on Apr 15, 2012 19:49:44 GMT -5
Given that you already have the coil split switches for the HBs, I'll assume they're 4-conductor types. If so, one thing you can do to access the HB combinations is to replace those 2-position DPDT "On-On" with 3-position DPDT "On-On-On" switches, one for each HB.
These can be wired so as to give the split in one position, both HB coils in series in the second, with both coils in parallel for the third.
Alternatively, those switches can also be used to choose both coils, or either of the SCs, North or South, to maximize your hum-cancelling combos.
Adding a "Bridge pickup On" switch for one of the push/pulls, as you noted, would give you the added combos, B + N and B + M + N.
A better way to wire it is such that, with the knob down, you have the std 5-way selections; pulling the knob up puts the bridge pickup "on" in parallel with whatever is selected by the 5-way.
Now, we haven't discussed any series connections between pickups. Those are the remaining options you wouldn't have, although some series settings could be accessed by using a second P/P.
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Post by reTrEaD on Apr 15, 2012 22:06:53 GMT -5
If you're interested, I adapted one of JohnH's designs for an HHH configuration for use as a HSH. It requires a superswitch and two DPDTs (push-pull pots or minitoggles). As the superswitch lever moves from bridge to neck, the combinations are: Bridge screw coil & Bridge slug coil Bridge slug coil & Middle Middle & Neck Slug coil Neck slug coil & Neck screw coil Neck screw coil & Bridge slug coil If the volume push-pull is pulled, only the first coil in the combination is used. If the volume push-pull is pushed and the tone push-pull is pushed, the two coils of the combination are in series. If the volume push-pull is pushed and the tone push-pull is pulled, the two coils of the combination are in parallel. Single coils (volume pulled) are obviously not hum-canceling, but all other selections are hum-canceling.
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hokochu
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Post by hokochu on Apr 15, 2012 23:04:32 GMT -5
You guys are great in how quickly you respond to new guys. And so many suggestions as well.
I think adding a 6 way rotary switch would be awesome, and I know I could get the maximum amount of combinations from that, but on my current configuration I only have a master volume control and a tone control. I wouldn't mind only having a master volume switch though if I could have almost complete control over the electronics of the guitar. Is the wiring diagram for your double barrel strat on the forums somewhere?
Is there a good wiring diagram for turning the bridge humbucker on that you know of?
I am familiar with series and parallel but I am not sure how to make the most from using only one push/pull switch. Is there a good diagram for that as well?
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Post by sbgodofmetal on Apr 15, 2012 23:49:48 GMT -5
I can't link it while I'm using mobile web without going through the painstaking endevor of typing in the link manually sorry. Maybe newey or sumgai Could help out ther but yes it should be at the bottom of page 5 in the guitar wiring section if not there it'll be on top of page 6 its titled "rewiring my b.c.rich st".
Feel free to read through some of my other threads as well I know I've got material on series parallel and phases out of phase on here somewhere.
Also try ashcatlt's threads he's the local reigning authority on the use of rotaries.
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Post by sbgodofmetal on Apr 17, 2012 16:48:14 GMT -5
Here's a basic overview of how to do this with rotaries It was originally drawn up for a s/s/s strat but it shouldn't be too hard to wire it up as h/s/h as I mentioned in an earier post you can use the mega switch and have more Tone caps plus the diodes for passive o.d. in the neck position. I'll try and dig up my diagrams for the p/oop, series/parallel some time tonight.
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Post by sbgodofmetal on Apr 18, 2012 0:04:26 GMT -5
Here's the standard 5way switch wiring And here's the standard wiring on a 6way rotary Ok the last pick was a 5way rotary but just add a 6th pole to each side for your 6th position
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kman42
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Post by kman42 on Jun 15, 2012 3:02:39 GMT -5
Is this thread still alive? I thought I'd add my 2 cents because I recently built an hsh strat with relatively simple but ( I think) very useful pickup options. The standard 5 way switch selects the pups in the common fashion: bridge bridge coil split + middle middle middle + neck coil split neck I wanted to keep the body as clean and classic looking as possible so I kept the 5 way switch and 3 pot arrangement, but instead of 2 tone pots the 3rd pot was the master tone while the 2nd pot controlled the volume of the middle pup. That means with the middle pup dialled out of the mix, I get: bridge bridge coil split - neck coil split neck Which means, although theres a bit of pot dialing involved, I can get all the sounds of an SSS strat and all the sounds of an HH les paul (minus neck+bridge). I'm soon going to replace 2 of the pots with push/pull pots to switch the HB from series to parallel. I'm very impressed with the amount of sounds! Here's a picture of it.
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Post by newey on Jun 15, 2012 5:26:40 GMT -5
kman- All threads here are alive, we don't beat folks up for resurrecting old threads. And this one is only a few months old anyway. Oh, and: A very nice guitar you have there. Since you mentioned that you were going to be doing some more work on it (HB series/parallel on a P/P, you said), you might consider adding a second P/P to turn the neck pup "on", in conjunction with whatever is selected on the 5-way switch. This would give you the N + B combo when the 5-way is set to the bridge position, and will also add an "all three" combo when set to the B + M (although the bridge will of course be split in that position). Our long-time member JohnH has a scheme for a Strat with 2 volumes. Although his scheme is a bit different, in that he has the second volume controlling the bridge, you might find some useful info in there. In particular, he recommends the use of a dual-gang pot for the tone control so as to be able to avoid interaction with the master tone. In your case, one gang of the tone pot would be used for the middle pup, the second for the other two.
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kman42
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Post by kman42 on Jun 15, 2012 8:02:27 GMT -5
That idea for the Neck pup switch is a pretty good one, I think I'll try that. As for the dual gang tone pot, I don't really use the tone enough to justify the mod I think. In addition to the Series/parallel switch, when I open it up there are a few other things I'll add: - a treble bleed on the master volume - not sure about the middle volume but possibly a treble bleed on there too. - positions 2 and 4 aren't hum cancelling. Although the guitar's amazingly quiet (full copper shielding and the pups are all individually shielded) it still makes alot of noise in high gain situations. I've heard that you can fix it with the following diagram: so I'll do some experimenting. - I'll try the neck bypass switch like you suggested. - I want to change the middle volume to a linear pot for smoother blending. Hopefully after those mods, this guitar will be approaching perfection!
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Post by newey on Jun 15, 2012 13:53:13 GMT -5
The diagram from Guitar Electronics doesn't help you as far as hum-cancelling. While we don't (yet) know how your guitar is wired, it presumably is already either identical to, or very similar to, the G.E. example. (Yours will of course be a bit different because of the separate volume for the middle pup.)
If 2 and 4 are not hum-cancelling, you will need to rewire both humbuckers so as to select the opposite coils and, if you still want the inner coils combined with the middle, you will then have to flip the HBs around 180 degrees.
In the alternative, you could flip the magnet on the middle pup and swap its 2 connections around.
I suspect that this arises because the middle pup is of a different brand than the HB? Are both HBs the same? It looks like the neck HB has a Seymour Duncan logo but I'm not clear on whether the bridge one does or not.
We will need confirmation of the wire colors for all 3 pickups in order to proceed.
Also, on the "neck on" switch, we will probably need to see how you have the coil splits wired (at least for the neck) so as to be able to integrate the "neck On" switch with the coil cut.
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kman42
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Post by kman42 on Jun 16, 2012 2:18:40 GMT -5
My guitar is currently wired exactly as in that diagram (this is the diagram I followed to wire my guitar) but with an extra volume pot between the single coil and the 5 way switch. I was actually referring to the note at the bottom of the diagram about moving the coil-tap output on the switch from ground to hot, which as you say would select the outer coils. Selecting the outer coils actually sounds preferable to me because with the option to switch the HBs to parallel, this would give me more tonal options. You are correct, the pups aren't the same. The neck is a Seymour Duncan Jazz, the middle is a Dimarzio True Velvet neck (NOT RWRP - hence the hum issue) and the bridge is a Dimarzio Air Classic. I sadly didn't think of the RWRP single coil when I bought the pups, but as I said this might end up tonally better anyway. The wire colours are per manufacturers standard. www.seymourduncan.com/support/schematics/schematics.php?schematic=color_codesI think I know where to go now, if I'm correct rewiring according to the note on the diagram. As for the 'neck on' DPST switch, does this look right? hot output to volume pot -----0 0 black wire from neck pup------0 0----white/red wires from neck pup hot output to 5 way switch ---0 0----to neck coil tap lug on 5 way switch
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Post by newey on Jun 16, 2012 7:07:59 GMT -5
OK, if the inner coils are not a critical issue, then you're good to go with the GE diagram. The difference in sound between the two coils is not likely to be great in any event, as the coils are presumably identical and the location difference from inner to outer is small. But some folks are militant about wanting the inner coils in this type of wiring. I thought I'd better bring it up because the GE diagram doesn't expressly say that by changing the connection you are selecting the opposite coils for the coil splits. Your diagram for the neck one switch is good to go, assuming you want the "neck on" to be the full HB. You clearly don't need our help with this as you have a good understanding of this wiring, so fire up the iron and have at it!
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kman42
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Post by kman42 on Jun 16, 2012 22:57:29 GMT -5
Haha thanks, I was just double checking. Believe it or not I'm pretty much learning this as I go along, so it's good to have the confirmation Thanks for all the help!
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