Help with S-S-S pickup mods

[beanmachine7000]

Hey guys... I'm new here... I was wondering if ya'll could help me with this mod... I have two strats one with the Individual pickup switching mod and one with the series-parallel mod... I would like to combine these two mods on my favorite guitar... I was wondering if someone could show me how, I have schematics drawn up but im not sure if they are right and as soon as I figure out how too ill post them up here. I'd like to be able to select each individual pickup in or out of phase then put those in series or parallel... HELP PLEASE!!!

[sumgai]

bean,

to the forums!

What you've asked for is doable, but in an effort to get you up and running, let me guide you over to another sub-forum here: guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?board=schem Several of these just may trip your trigger, but if you are not afraid of getting your hands dirty, then just jump right in and check out both the ToneMonster2 and the ToggleCaster.

Let us know what you decide, and we'll answer any questions.

HTH


sumgai

[beanmachine7000]

thanl you very much...i belive im going to do the tone monster 2 do you know what pickup configurations are available with this mod?

Thanks

[JohnH]

Hi Beanmachine - let me step in on behalf of my baby (the TM2).

In phase. it can do any combo of 1, 2 or 3 pups, in series or parallel. It also has a phase switch, to give the same with the neck reversed. Then it has a blender control, to mix the bridge with whatever you have selected of middle and neck. Big range of tones, from deep and powerful 2 or 3 l in series, through all the standard combos, to zingy out of phase settings.

Since posting the design, Runewalker and I have developed a slight improvement to the blender wiring. If you are interested in going ahead, I will post that.

cheers John

[beanmachine7000]

Yes, it would be great if you could post those...Where would you suggest getting the parts for this mod...all I could get from the local electronic parts supplier was the DPDT on-on switches...I was also wondering if there was someway i could add a series parrallel switch to a guitar that has the individual pickup selection mod already done thanks.

[UnklMickey]

johnh said:

Hi Beanmachine - let me step in on behalf of my baby (the TM2)....

Aaaah, just like a proud father. you can almost see the smile of John's face.


ya gotta love it!

[JohnH]

Beanmachine. The less common parts are the 4 pole toggle switch and the dual-gang pot. I'm in Sydney Australia, and found these locally. In the US, theres heaps of mail order suppliers, try www.mouser.com.

The most unusual part is the pot used for the blender. It has to be dual gang linear, and you have to open up the back to cut the rear track, as described in the post. RW and I have tried without doing this, but it is much better if you do it. Fortunately this is not too hard to do, and I have some step by step photos of the process that I could send you. This blend pot is also best if it has a centre detent, to identify the neutral position. If you can't get this, then get a dual again linear 250k pot (instead of a 100k), and the two 100k resistors get reduced to 33k each.

The basic design also works fine without the blender, to get the series/parallel wiring and switching options. I can simplify the diagram to remove the blender function if needed.

As to installing over an existing build - figure on removing all the wiring and starting again to make this work.

BTW - the amended design that I mentioned previously just moves one wire, to make the blender get more cleanly out of circuit when the bridge pup is not used. No change to parts or complexity - Ill post that later.

cheers

John

[Runewalker]

I'll ride on John's wave here. If you want to see how the circuit evolved there is a long discussion thread (guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?board=wiring&action=display&thread=1117172128&page=1), which also is the genesis for the other Hewitt schema post, LP Maximizer, an HH design.

As John notes there have been some minor changes that do improve the beastie on the ground, playing.

It will completely enlarge the range of your instrument and the vision of your playing. (a little over the top? well what did you expect?)

But don't try to convert your existing wiring. It needs a fresh rewire. The switches are tiny and the wiring takes patience as well as good soldering skills. Follow the scheme exactly to avoid re-dos, as the small lugs don't really appreciated it.

As JH has done one (ok, several if you count how many time the same one has be adjusted in the prototyping phase) I've done about 4, and have more scheduled .... and we can help you through the tight spots.

There are options as you go through the build, the main one is whether to pig-tail the wires to connect to the pups or pups direct to the switching array. I tend to pigtail, so I can explore different pups, but under the hood pix will not be posted in Popular Electronics.

There is one variant I built with -Hums at the neck and bridge and a single in the middle. Then the -hums can be switched between both coils in series or parallel, or with a cut coil. Enough switches to launch a rocket. NASA, stand back.

So you can do a lot with the design.

I have built for musicians and while few of them have any experience with blend controls (ok quasi-experience if they play LPs or SGs) the blender becomes addicting. It allows you to dial up ranges of treble, mid or bass based on the geometry of the pickup and System settings. Most end up rarely using the tone control after adapting to the blender.

Parts?

I can point you to exact Mouser cat numbers, and they are the least expensive source. You can buy the parts at guitar houses but expect to pay 2S to 4X as much. The 4PDT can be hard to find and are more expensive than the common DPDT. But you only need one.

One of these days JH will relent and let us post a parts list, but he makes the point of making sure you are ready for the concentration all of the advanced designs in the Schema section require. You absolutly can do it, we just suggest some planning and diligence.

The rewards are well worth it. You will never obtain a guitar like it from the commercial sector, and I would be surprised that any local tech would bother.

[JohnH]

Take another look at the TM2 thread for the latest updates. Happy to respond to questions on this.

John