Double Mod? HSH Wiring

[geronimo1345]

I've been thinking about doing a major overhaul to an old guitar of mine, which includes routing the guitar to add a single coil in the middle. It has 4 pots right now and a 3 way. What I would like to do (when I get single coil added) is have 1 master volume, 1 blend knob (which would do nothing when set on ind. pickups, only when mixing pickups), 1 tone, and 1 bass contour (such as Reverend Guitars). Also, would definitely probably change the 3 way to some sort of rotor switch due to the addition of another pickup. Any suggestions on how to accomplish this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[newey]

Geronimo-

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

All of what you want seems doable, although this:

1 blend knob (which would do nothing when set on ind. pickups, only when mixing pickups)

may present some issues. At a minimum, you would need an additional pole on the rotary switch to switch the blend pot in/out of the circuit. Life becomes much more simple if the blend pot only operates on one pickup.

While a rotary switch is certainly a possibility, there is also the "Freeway switch", which is a 6-way toggle switch that can directly replace a regular toggle (space permitting, some routing may be needed).

If your current toggle switch is on the bout, a la a Les Paul, replacing the switch will involve running a lot of wires to/from the controls to the bout. This will quickly become a PITA when you start wiring.

While all of this is possible, and can be done, there is an easier way, if you're interested. It's perhaps a bit of a hack, but much easier to wire. Use the blend control to blend your new middle pickup in/out of the mix. This has the advantage of leaving the toggle switch wiring "as is", you'll just be rewiring the pots in the control cavity.

This will allow for blending the middle with either the N or the Br pickups, as well as blending the middle into the N + Br combo. It would not allow for N + Br to be blended however. It also does not allow for the middle pickup alone. However, if the blend pot were replaced with a push/pull pot, the push/pull could be used to force the middle pickup "on" while disconnecting the toggle, so you could blend the middle with the knob down, while pulling the knob would give the middle alone. If you don't care about the middle pickup by itself, then no additional pieces are needed.

[Deleted]

I am just going to cut the chit chat of your request, The Routing is up to you, i'm not going there as Electronics

Sept 3, 2018 4:57:38 GMT -5 geronimo1345 said:

It has 4 pots right now and a 3 way. So classing Gibson LP type of Switching, Wiring i guess.
What I would like to do (when I get single coil added)So going HSH 
1 master volume,OK with that
1 blend knob (which would do nothing when set on ind. pickups, only when mixing pickups),Well i dont know what IND. means in this case...
1 tone, Easy enough, what Type of Resistor/Cap Values... GreaceBucket BlackIce.. 250K/500K.. 10/15/22/33/47nF
1 bass contour (such as Reverend Guitars) Guess this means like a G&L type of Bass C1M with a 2n2F cap
Also, would definitely probably change the 3 way to some sort of rotor switch due to the addition of another pickup. Well this depends on what you want.. There are 1P12T 2P6T 3P4T 4P3T even crazy 4P5T .. after that it kinds of gets a bit BIG switching wise, guessing your 3 way is just a Toggle On-On-On 

[sumgai]

^^^ IND means "individual", meaning in this case that just one pickup is chosen via the pickup selector switch.  The statement was rather superflous, as it describes the way a blender works under normal circumstances. But we'll forgive geronimo, he's still somewhat new here.

HTH

sumgai

[Deleted]

If they dont come back after a year, do we class them LOST to the WILD!!