De Armond S73 Schematics

[ifly65]

Hi! I have a repair Im doing for School of Rock.  Can anyone show me the wiring for the S73?  It has two humbuckers with one green wire from bridge and a red wire from neck.  3 way switch and four pots. 

Thanks!

James

[newey]

ifly65-

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

Do the red and green wires from the pickups each have a braided wire covering them?

Also, there are various types of 3-way switches, we're probably going to need a better description of this one. Or, a photo.

[cynical1]

At the time your guitar was made, Fender owned Guild. Guild developed an entire line of imports from the mid 90's to around the mid 2000's under the De Armond label. You might want to haunt websites for some Guild diagrams, as they're going to get you closer to what you need than anywhere else. Watch the wiring colors, as a some of the Guild\De Armond stuff wandered in design over the years.

HTC1

[ifly65]

Sept 28, 2016 5:53:22 GMT -5 newey said:

ifly65-

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

Do the red and green wires from the pickups each have a braided wire covering them?

Also, there are various types of 3-way switches, we're probably going to need a better description of this one. Or, a photo.

 
Hello, thx. They are single wires with the usual colored jacket, no braided wire.  The jack (not shown) is disconnected.  There is a red wire from a volume pot? disconnected, and a green wire from a tone pot? disconnected.  

[ifly65]

Sept 28, 2016 12:31:51 GMT -5 cynical1 said:

At the time your guitar was made, Fender owned Guild. Guild developed an entire line of imports from the mid 90's to around the mid 2000's under the De Armond label. You might want to haunt websites for some Guild diagrams, as they're going to get you closer to what you need than anywhere else. Watch the wiring colors, as a some of the Guild\De Armond stuff wandered in design over the years.

HTC1

Thanks!

[reTrEaD]

Sept 28, 2016 22:46:49 GMT -5 ifly65 said:

Hello, thx. They are single wires with the usual colored jacket, no braided wire.

Hello, ifly

If you look closely, those red wires and green wires have a braid. Or maybe a spiral layer. That's what Newey was asking about. Going from inside to outside you have:
- Inner wire
- White insulation
- Braid (or spiral wire)
- Colored jacket

Your wiring is kind of a mess but I can see well enough from the picture that it's fairly standard 3-way toggle, 2 volume, 2 tone.

This diagram from Seymour Duncan should be close enough to work with.



The switch you have is commonly referred to as an import 3-way box toggle. They have a reputation for high failure rate. You might want to replace that with a Switchcraft right-angle toggle. The switch in the SD drawing is similar but not exactly the same as a Switchcraft. We can talk more about that if you choose to replace the switch.

[newey]

I was in the process of writing a response but RT beat me to it. Essentially, this will be wired like a Les Paul. The inner white conductor is the "hot" for each pickup, and the braided (or spiral, as RT points out it may be) is the ground for each pickup.

There is some variation in LP wiring, in that there was a "vintage" '50s wiring where the tone pots came before the volume pots, and a "modern" way where the volume pots came first. Within the LP lovers community, each way has its adherents. From your photo, it looks like this was originally wired in the "vintage" '50s style, but you may decide to switch it over to the modern way, since you're basically rewiring the whole shebang anyway.

Here's a detailed discussion of the differences:

JohnH's "Modern vs. 50s wiring"

RT's posted diagram from the Seymour Duncan site uses the modern wiring, where the pickups go first to the volume pots, then to the tone pots.. Each pickup/vol/tone chain is then wired to the 3-way switch, and the center terminal from the 3-way switch goes to the tip connection for the output jack.

I agree with RT on the switch replacement, from looking at the photos I don't think I'd trust that switch for very long. However, if you do decide to replace it, measure the depth available in your cavity closely and check the dimensions of the switch accordingly- there are several types and some of the LP-style switches may be too deep to fit in your control cavity.

[ifly65]

You guys are awesome!  Thank you so much for helping me clear this up.  Yes I see now these are braided!  Someone really did a nice botch up job on this guitar at work.  I will read up and change this over to the modern Seymour style.  

It is nice when you are new to a forum and the members help out right away!!!   

James

[ifly65]

 Job done and it is working 100% with no buzzes.   Thanks again!

[reTrEaD]

You're welcome, James. Too often we give advice and never hear whether our efforts were helpful. We very much appreciate you taking the time to report on the results.

[ifly65]

No problem, I know what you mean!  The Switchcraft jack (needed) arrived today.