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Post by richardsenior on Oct 23, 2008 9:35:25 GMT -5
Hello, I've been playing guitar for the best part of 30 years. I use a PRS custom 24 these days with the band, with a jap strat as a backup guitar.
I find a lot of guitarists have a guitar that they love because they've had it so long. Mine is a Westone Spectrum. I recently had a set of seymour duncans (one humbucker at bridge and two single coils) fitted to it but I'm having all sorts of noise problems with it so I've finally decided to stop paying people who don't know what they're doing, and rewire it myself.
My idea is to have a SPDT (centre on) switch to select between the two single coils, and have a volume/tone dedicated to those, and a separate volume/tone for the humbucker (no coil tap). That would mean I'd need a spdt (centre on) switch to select between all of the pickups (after the volume pot) I'd also like a solo switch for the humbucker. Does anyone know of a diagram that already does this? I'm working on one and I'd like someone to look at it when I've done it.
in the mean time... I've noticed that the tone pots generally let one end of the pot float with the wiper connected to the input and the other end to ground. Won't leaving one end of the pot to float pick up radio? Is there a better way?
-- Richard
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Post by ashcatlt on Oct 23, 2008 11:56:52 GMT -5
Welcome aboard!
What you propose seems simple enough. I can't think of a similar schematic off the top of my head. There's all kinds of good stuff on the Schematics sub-board, though.
The one issue I can think of is that of the interaction between the various controls. Among other things, you may find it preferable to wire the volume pots "backwards" like an LP, so that turning one all the way down doesn't silence the entire guitar.
Have you considered the possibility of having the two SCs in series with one another? This combination would tend to sound like a wide spaced HB. Complicates things a little, and requires a true 2P4T switch, but it could be fun.
As for the "floating" end of the tone pot. I've never heard anybody mention this as a potential noise source. I think it has something to do with the relatively high resistance between it and the lug that's connected to the hot ouptut. In any case where the tone is turned down from 10, this end of the pot is "closer" to ground than to the output. If it makes you feel better, though, there's no reason you can't jumper this lug to the wiper. That's the way a variable resistor is generally drawn in a schematic, and makes no difference in the way it functions.
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Post by ChrisK on Oct 23, 2008 12:02:50 GMT -5
Welcome a'board. Cool! We'll be glad to help. While we also don't know what we're doing, at least you won't have to pay us. ;D ;D Do you mean a switch like an LP pickup selector (one/both/other)? Is this a second LP type switch? Is this a third switch? In summary, is this you are asking for? An LP type SP3T center-ON (one/both/other) switch to select the two single coil pickups with the output going to it's own volume and tone pot. A humbucker with its own volume and tone pot. A second LP type SP3T center-ON (one/both/other) switch to select either the humbucker volume pot output, or the single coil pickups volume pot output, or both. Oops, I guess that you may not need the solo switch for the humbucker. (That'll be $0.00 U.S. please.) Once we're certain of what you want, we can talk diagrams. We're more than willing to make fun of your diagram if that's what you really want. Yes, but only from really tiny radios and iPods. Actually, no, it's them rays from Alpha Centauri that one has to worry about........ Yes, but it involves Tom Cruise, living room furniture, and large sums of money.............. ;D ;D
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Post by richardsenior on Oct 24, 2008 5:34:41 GMT -5
Hello again and thanks for the replies! Here is my idea : The wire coming out of the top of the humbucker is the green wire. The two SPDT switches are as suggested the Les Paul types (centre both) The westone spectrum has space for 2 pots and three switches. My plan is to use dual pots for the volume/tones so I don't have to drill more holes. I've attempted to wire the pots in the Les Paul (backwards) fashion but I'm not sure I've got it right? If there was such a thing as a dual pot with push pull, I could have a coil tap on the humbucker too, but lord only knows how to wire that in?! I know that the CTS 10% pots are the best to go for, but do they do them in the dual form? Also the switches would have to be fairly small, and I've no idea what the best types are. I know to use film capacitors, but I've read somewhere that you can put a resistor in parallel with the caps to straighten out the frequencies as volume is lowered, but that doesn't seem to apply to this backwards wiring of the pots? Thoughts?
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Post by ashcatlt on Oct 24, 2008 11:57:22 GMT -5
...but lord only knows how to wire that in?! Well I know how to do it. Don't really need your help with my Messiah Complex, though, thanks. A quick search reveals that CTS does indeed make concentric pots. They seem to sell around $13. I don't think you're likely to find one with a push-pull. However, if you get one DPDT center off toggle, we could find a way to add coil cutting action to your solo switch (with otherwise only needs to be an SPST). Backwards wiring means simply swapping the wiper with the hot ouput from "normal". The resistor in parallel is if you're wiring a "treble bleed" cap across the volume pot. Since I can't see your pics, and you didn't mention it in print, I'm not sure if you intend on doing this. And your pics don't seem to work. I followed the link and refreshed a number of times to no avail. Edit - You can do it with a DPDT center on as well. I thought I had a way to do it with just one pole, but I think I was wrong, so I deleted the post re: that altogether.
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Post by richardsenior on Oct 28, 2008 9:24:15 GMT -5
Updated graphic URL, sorry about that.
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Post by ChrisK on Oct 28, 2008 17:16:43 GMT -5
Your pic/design looks fine.
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