Help needed with some split coil wiring

[mr_sooty]

I am wiring up my Strat with Lollars (single coils) in the neck and middle, and a Dimarzio Are 61 in the bridge (which will later be replaced by a Heavy Blues 2). The '61 and HB2 are a stacked humbucker type noiseless single coil.

It has been recommended to me by someone who know's a lot about these pickups that I wire it so that in position 2 (middle/bridge), the '61 is split, top coil only. This will do two things. 1, it will ensure hum cancelling with the RWRP middle pickup when combined, and 2, it will give me more traditional 'quack' in that position.

The '61 has a red and a green wire for normal wiring. Then there is a black wire and a white wired that are soldered together, insulated, and not soldered to anything else.

According to the diagram, to split this pickup (turn off the bottom coil) you remove the insulation from that connection between black and white, and run a wire from that connection to ground. This is easy enough with a SPDT switch or a DPDT switch, because you can connect it so that the black and white wires either go to ground, or are just connected to each other.

However, I am trying to do this with the stock 5 way, so that it auto splits in position 2 (middle bridge). There is one free terminal on my five-way, which conveniently, is activated in position 2.

This is the basic Strat wiring, except that I have altered it so that the middle/bridge tone is connected to bridge only. So istead of the wire from the second tone pot going to the middle terminal, and then that terminal connecting to the bridge one, the wire from the pot goes straight to the bridge terminal, leaving the middle terminal on that side free.

At first I thought that I could connect the black & white wires from the pickup to this terminal and then to ground, but obviously if I do that they will be permanently grounded. Plus, it'll probably cause some kind of short when combined I guess.

Is there a way I can acheive what I want to? Or do I need a more advanced 5 way switch?

[newey]

No can do with a std 5-way switch. Position 2 is one of the "notch" positions and is not independently wire-able. At position 2, you will always get the combination of what you have wired to 1 and 3. Since you specify that the bridge stack HB be stacked in position 1, you can't unstack it in position 2.

A Superswitch or Schaller Megaswitch will do the trick, however.

[mr_sooty]

Sorry, to clarify, I still want the bridge pickup to be in combo with the middle PU in position 2. I just only want the top half of it. Apparently it can be done by wiring the black and white wires to the bridge 'shunt' lug, which is where my bridge tone is currently wired, and wiring the middle shunt lug (currently disconnected) to ground.

The idea is that the black and white wires are grounded in position 2, but open - that is, connected to each other only - in position 1 (bridge). Grounding the black and white connection will cut out the bottom coil, that much I know.

The complication that arises is the fact that my tone pot is connected to bridge shunt lug. Will this wreck it? This will mean that the the black and white wires will be grounded or shorted or something in position 1, right?

[ChrisK]

...by someone who know's a lot about these pickups

Perchance they don't know a lot about wiring though, eh?....


Yes.

You just need a more advanced wiring scheme.

There is one free terminal on my five-way, which conveniently, is activated in position 2.

...and position 3 and position 4 if you mean the terminal "formally known as the connection point for the middle tone pot."


Now, (I always start with "now"), the second pole on the 3/5-way selector switch (it's a 3-way shorting DP3T switch with a 5-way mechanism) is used solely to select the tone pots. This was done this way since the switch came with it and it made the wiring simpler to do in the factory.

The neck tone pot is selected only when the neck pickup is selected (positions 4 & 5) and the bridge tone pot is selected only when the bridge pickup is selected (positions 1 & 2).

If you connect each tone pot not to the second pole on the 3/5-way switch, but to the terminal on the primary pickup selecting pole that the respective pickup is already wired to, you can free up the second pole for this function. You will also have to disconnect the second pole from the output to the volume pot.

Also, if you continue to share the tone cap (Leo did this since the original 3-way switch could only select one pickup at a time and who wants to waste money on two caps), when one tone is turned down it will couple the pickup into the other at the tone cap point. This may or may not matter. It might even be neat.

www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=1h_2s_1v_2t_5w_as

Just connect the middle tone pot to the bridge pickup hot instead of the middle pickup hot. (And you DO understand that you have to translate to the DiMarzio color code. Your first pic might be a clue.)

Simple is.

[newey]

As usual, I hadn't thought of that. Wire away, Mr. Sooty!

[mr_sooty]

Well, I did it, but unfortunately it didn't seem to make any difference to the amount of hum in the bridge/middle position. I can tell it's working, because when I ground that wire, the bridge pickup hums, but I guess the top coil of the bridge pickup doesn't want to play the hum cancell game with the middle pickup.

[newey]

I guess the top coil of the bridge pickup doesn't want to play the hum cancell game with the middle pickup.

With different pickup brands, there's no guarantee those two coils aren't wound and polarized the same.

But you have 2 SC Lollars, and if position 4 is hum-cancelling, then the neck and mid Lollars are RWRP with respect to each other. If the mid is the same as the bridge, the neck must be RWRP with respect to both other pickups.

Meaning that if you swap the neck and mid pups (by rewiring each one into the new position, not simply swapping their respective locations in the guard), you should get hum canceling in both 2 and 4, just as Leo* ordained it should be.

*Or, maybe it was CBS by that time. A few of those years are somewhat foggy . . .

[mr_sooty]

Hmm, good thoght there. Only thing is, after wiring up the Lollars, I'm not sure I like em enough to switch back to humming pickups. They sound very nice, but the Area 58's sound close enough in comparisson.

[mr_sooty]

Got it all sorted, after ALOT of trial and error. Honestly, this took the whole day. Thankfully it was my day off. The Lollar's in n&m positions were out of phase with the Dimarzio, so I ended up wiring the Lollar's in backwards, ground to hot, hot to ground. Seems to have worked well. Pickups are now behaving as they should. Cancelling the hum in pos 2 as planned. Thanks for the help guys. This forum never lets me down!