Suggestions needed for a HH project

[allmektig]

I've just recieved in the mail a couple of humbuckers I'm going to use for a new project for my strat.

Currently, it's wired up with 3 single coils in a Brian May configuration with a single master tone and volume controll.
The sounds I mostly use of that wiring is the neck and mid pickup in series in phase, the bridge pickup alone and the neck and bridge pickup in series out of phase.

What kind of switching would I need to be able to achieve those sounds in a HH configuration? (I know I can't get the neck and mid pickup in series sound, but I recon the neck humbucker on it's own will take care of that sound)

There's another thing I'm thinking about.
What's the difference in sound between a coil tapped humbucker and a humbucker with both coils in parralell?
Wich is "best"?
Would there be any point in putting in enough switches to give me both series/parralell and coil taps?

When I'm going for half the neck in series and out of phase with half the bridge, wich coil should I use to achieve hum cancling?

[allmektig]

So.
I've been busy with other stuff lately, but now I've finally gotten around to sorting it out. I think

It would be nice if any one could have a look at my schematic before I get on with the soldering.

I made a separate image for the pickup selector switch to make it easier to see where everything connects.
The 2p3t switch that selects the capacitor for the tone control is actually going to be a sp5t rotary switch with 4 caps and a no load position, but DIY layout generator didn't have a symbol for a rotary switch.
Both DPDT switches for coil taping are push pull pots.






Any comments, hints or suggestions?
Would it be worth while to add S/P switching to each pickup?

[newey]

Your wiring looks fine, although I'm not sure you have the correct coils in the coil cut positions so as to be humcancelling.

As far as the difference between a HB in parallel versus a HB with a coil cut, the hotter wound HBs show more variation between the two. With less-hot pickups, the sounds are similar, but the parallel HB has the advantage of being hum-cancelling.

[allmektig]

I changed the bridge coil tap as to choose the other coil.

It would be optimal to be able to choose the other coil as well, for the ooP sounds.
But I can't figure out a way to do that with a single DPDT on/on switch.
Can it be done?
My brain is telling me it can't, but it's been wrong before.

[newey]

amg-

I just noticed. on your diagram, you have both pickup ground wires to the Superswitch labeled "ground from neck". Just a labeling error, but it may be confusing to someone looking at the diagram.

But I can't figure out a way to do that with a single DPDT on/on switch.
Can it be done?
My brain is telling me it can't, but it's been wrong before.

I think it can be done, but I'm not sure it can be done without a major re-wiring of your diagram.

You have done the coil cuts with both poles of a DPDT switch, but these can be done with one pole of the DPDT, thus freeing the other pole. Just thinking out loud here, I haven't got a plan beyond freeing up the pole on one of the coil-cut switches.

Or, better yet (again, thinking out loud- nothing resembling a concrete plan here, you understand . . .) I think that you really only need 3 poles from the superswitch to do your wiring. Seems to me I've seen schemes with series/parallel/OOP using only 3 poles. If so, the 4th pole could then be used to select the other coil on one of the pickups at position 4.

Let me cogitate on it a bit, I'm only on my first cup of coffee this morning, so I'm not firing all the neurons just yet. I seem to remember JohnH had a set up to swap coils in OOP, I'll have to take a look.

[allmektig]

Apr 28, 2013 8:22:37 GMT -5 newey said:

amg-

I just noticed. on your diagram, you have both pickup ground wires to the Superswitch labeled "ground from neck". Just a labeling error, but it may be confusing to someone looking at the diagram.

Sorted.


I do have some 4pdt switches as well.
And I could order some dpdt on/on/on switches as well.

I prefer using both poles on a DPDT to do the coil taping instead of just shunting the coils.
It somehow seems "cleaner".
But that might just be my slight OCD tedencies.

I have 3 of the 4p5t superswitches.
Do you know if 2 of them can fit in the cavity of a squier strat?
I could also, instead of using push pul pots use 2 spdt switches per pickup, like the triple shot system.
I have some spdt slide switches lying around as well.

I actually think I'll go for that instead.
But then I have 2 DPDT switches on the volume and tone pot to play with...

[newey]

Aha! Amazing what another jolt of Java can do!

I was thinking this could be done with just three poles of the Superswitch, because one of my own drawings does exactly that:

www.guitarnuts2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=schem&action=display&thread=6380

This was for 2 single coils, but since you are doing the coil-cut switching elsewhere, you can treat your HBs as being 2-conductor SCs and use the diagram "as is". I do have the positions reversed, as I put the OOP setting in the center, but apart from that, it's exactly what you have.

I used the 4th pole there to select different tone caps, but of course you could eliminate those and use the 4th pole to select the other coil at position 4. To do so, you would rewire the DPDT for one pickup so as to free up a pole there, and then "carry" the wires from the coil cut switch over to the extra pole of the SS.

Here's what I came up with, using the 4th pole of my SS diagram as suggested, and rewiring the bridge pickup's coil cut switch to free up a pole there.

Note that, the way this works, the coil cut is in position 3 on my scheme, which is the OOP position- not sure if my scheme can be changed to make the OOP at position 4 or not-it probably can, but I haven't looked at that.

Also note that the coil cut switch for the bridge now works opposite at position 3. With the switch in the one direction, you'll have HB at all positions except position 3, where you'll have the neck HB OOP with one coil of the bridge. With the switch in the other direction, you'll have the bridge coil cut in all positions except position 3, and then the full HB at position 3.

So, if you have no coil cuts and you're playing with both full HB, switching to position 3 automatically cuts the bridge to one coil, and you'd have to then change the bridge coil-cut switch to get back to the full HB. I don't see any way around that problem with this set-up, but maybe someone else has a better idea . . .