Wiring Strat w/ 3-Way 2 Vol 1 Tone

[dizzydan02]

Hello everyone I recently purchased 2 humbuckers out of a Dean Rebel, one is a Dimarzio for the neck and a Dimebucker for the bridge. I also received 2 volumes, and 1 tone that the pickups were wired to, and a import strat style 3-way switch.
Everything was already wired together except where the humbuckers were snipped where they go into the volume pots. I have looked at tons of wiring diagrams and just cant figure out where the remaining wires attach to the weird switch at.

Here are a few pictures, hopefully someone will be able to help me out im going crazy trying to figure this thing out.

[sumgai]

dizzy,

Hi, and to the NutzHouse!

This is easy, thanks to your photos.

First, I note that the switch is brand new - no solder on the terminals.

Next, I note a hatchet job in disconnecting all the remaining wiring. Bad ju-ju.

So, can we straighten this thing out? Yep, sure can. ;D   Here, hold my beer, and watch this!


The switch is a garden-variety import Strat switch. The common terminals are the two tabs in the center of the row. The short gray cable (with the white center conductor) mounted to the tone control goes to both of these.

The other cable coming out of the tone control goes to the output jack.

The black wire hanging off the back of the Neck volume pot is the string ground.

The taped-up mess near the Bridge volume control has the two wires that go to the 3-way switch. Unwrap that mess, and locate the two wires that come from each volume control (the center terminal of each one). Run one wire to the far end terminal of that switch, and the terminal next to it. This should leave one empty terminal between these two and the two center terminals that have the gray cable from the tone control.

Now, take the remaining wire out of that mess you just undid, and connect it to the terminal at the opposite end of the row. Also hook this wire to the terminal next to it. That should leave you with an empty terminal next to the two center terminals.

To recap - you have one volume control wire going to terminals 1 & 2, terminal 3 is empty, terminals 4 & 5 are going to the tone control, terminal 6 is empty, and terminals 7 & 8 are going to the other volume control.

Now, Lowered willing and the wife don't find out, your axe should produce Darryl-approved tones! ;D

If you find that the switch is getting the wrong pickups, you can either unsolder and resolder the wires to the correct positions, or just dismount the switch and turn it around in the pickguard.

Questions? Let 'em rip!


HTH




sumgai

[dizzydan02]

Thanks alot for the help. After starting this thread I fooled around with it some more and ended up with a little different configuration on the switch than the one you provided.
The way I have it setup is:
1 vol control wire going to terminal 2 & 3 the gray tone wire going to 4 & 5 and the other vol control wire going to 6 & 7.
Everything works excellent as far as I can tell, the switches, volumes, and tone all work.
If I wired the switch up the way you indicated would it sound the same or different, or would it not work?

Thanks Again!

[ashcatlt]

It'd work just the same as if you simply spun the switch around.

This is basically standard Tele wiring only w/seperate V controls. Now, it looks to me as though those volumes are wired with the outputs on the wiper, which means that in the middle position turning one all the way down will silence the whole axe.

[sumgai]

dan,

Yes, your method gives the same results as my layout. I just "chose" one way, and had at it. In hind-sight, I could have written out both methods, and the final results would have been the same.

Also, pay attention to what ash said just above, about the volume controls. If you turn down either one all the way, the whole guitar will "go dead" in the middle position (both pickups selected). OTOH, that might be useful to you as an ersatz kill switch, if you're into that kind of thing.....

HTH



sumgai

[dizzydan02]

You guys were right it does silence the whole guitar in the middle position when one volume is turned down. Im not sure if I like it like that yet or not though. If I ever wanted to change it so that each volume only controls one in the middle position what would I have to do?

Thanks Again!

[ashcatlt]

If you choose to change it, you'll just need to swap the center lug (wiper) with the lug which is not grounded (I never remember which one that is, CW, CCW?) on both volumes.

Before you make the change, though, there's a bit of a gotcha here too. This wiring, occasionally called "reverse" will leave the cable essentially unterminated when the volumes are turned down. Even when you turn both down, the hot lead of the guitar will turn into a big antenna connected to your amp input. It will likely buzz something like if it were unplugged from the guitar entirely.

I prefer to be able to find silence when I want it - to be able to turn down the volume on the guitar between songs or during breaks and not leave it buzzing and annoying. I also don't see any point in flipping to the middle position if you only want to hear one pickup anyway.

You, of course, will have to decide which is going to work best for you.