What to do with 2 extra push/pulls

[timothyrb]

I have an R8 with 4 push pulls in a JP setup, and unbalanced Fralin unbuckers in neck and bridge.

I recently received 2 SD Tripleshots which provide pickup ring switching for both coil taps, series/parallel for each pup.

I am going to rewire with the JP dual mix option, so that my tone controls keep the master serial/parallel and phase switching on the tone controls push/pulls. But what to do with the newly available extra 2 volume push/pulls? I'm thinking:

1. Phase/out of phase for between coils in each pickup - which could also let me match any set of single coils for humbucking. Normally would cause a lot of cancellations, but the unbalanced pups cut through better.
2. I could use switches for capacitor overrides, or some other tone circuit or even active boost.
3. I could use switches to create a master volume override, or maybe figure out a way to create a master override to bypass all options to return to stock, since the Tripleshots are a bit cumbersome.
4. I have Fralin Unbuckers in there which sound great with all the combos, but of course never get true balanced humbucking, so maybe I do a true coil tap to balance them out - I'm a little nervous about doing this one myself.
5. Or admit that I have enough switching as is, and just install good quality volume pots.

I am leaning towardss #1 makes most sense. What do you guys think would give me the best bang for those last 2 push/pulls?

Carlo

[Yew]

Maybe a " broadbucker" switch? and a phase switch (out of phase broadbucker?... interesting..... I may have to dig out my iron)

[ChristoMephisto]

My vote for #1

You mentioned you had the JP wiring, if thats bridge into neck
add the 'broadbucking' which is neck into bridge
both great sounding

[newey]

Thanks for reposting this, Carlo.

You have quite a few options with those extra p/ps, and I'll let others weigh in here. You are correct that the dissimilar nature of the coils will mean less cancellation in OOP settings with these pups; there will still be more cancellation than with coils positioned further apart. It's your call whether the resulting sound is useful for your purposes or not.

which could also let me match any set of single coils for humbucking.

Not sure what you mean by this. Your Triple Shots already allow for the selection of either coil of each HB; adding the phase switches will allow you to select a SC and put it OOP with the other pickup (whether in HB or SC mode), but the overall number of hum-cancelling combos won't increase.

[timothyrb]

May 3, 2011 13:44:33 GMT -5 ChristoMephisto said:

My vote for #1

You mentioned you had the JP wiring, if thats bridge into neck
add the 'broadbucking' which is neck into bridge
both great sounding

I thought order of 2 humbuckers in series did not matter. The JP dual mix wiring already gives me the broadbucker, right?

[timothyrb]

Not sure what you mean by this. Your Triple Shots already allow for the selection of either coil of each HB; adding the phase switches will allow you to select a SC and put it OOP with the other pickup (whether in HB or SC mode), but the overall number of hum-cancelling combos won't increase.

You're right, the master phase switch would already allow pairing any neck or bridge single coil in hum cancelling. Didn't think of that.

[JohnH]

I'd say you have more switches than you need!

But my opinion would be to use then to get local parallel on each pup, with the JP schemes don't usuually do.

Use the existing push pulls to do series/parallel on each pickup (ie, instead of coil cutting), plus overall system series/parallel and phase. Then use your triple shot switches to get the coil cuts and select one, other or both coils.

Potential problems abound with all those switches, in terms of dead settings and confused guitarist. Hint: This will all work out fine if, for each pickup, the triple-shot switches connect the series link between coils (which will be two lugs at he back of the push/pull switch), either to that pickups 'hot' or 'cold' (ie to black or green if SD colours) or neither. So the coil cuts will only work with pp knob pushed in. Pull out for local parallel and it will overide the triple-shot switches.

cheers
John

[timothyrb]

Just to clarify:
The SD Triple shot already provides local series/parrallel, plus single coils A and B. I believe the only thing it does not do within the pickup is out of phase.

So what to do with those 2 left over push/pulls?

[newey]

JohnH-

But my opinion would be to use then to get local paralle on each pup, with the JP schems dont usuually do.

The triple shots given series/parallel/N Coil/ S Coil in binary tree fashion. We've dissected the wiring scheme, and we've discussed other possible uses for it, but the basic wiring, "as is" from SD, gives only those options. It is not just 2 DPDT switches that one can use however one wishes.

SD Triple Shot™

I thought order of 2 humbuckers in series did not matter

It doesn't; what CM means is which pickup gets the cap in the Broadbucker setting. It does matter which pickup is partially bled through the cap. It's the difference between "mostly bridge with a bit of neck" versus "mostly neck with a bit of bridge".

[ChristoMephisto]

Thx Newey, you explained it better.
I've messed around with series in both directions and the do sound a bit the same, but the Broadbucking config and bridge into OoP neck are both killer tones.

[JohnH]

If you prefer not to rewire the triple-shot switches, then they seem to do all the basic requirements for switching within each pickup. If starting from scratch, I think I'd then just put in standard CTS pots on the volume controls, which I prefer the feel of to push/pull pots. If you want to keep them however, a few more possibilities:

1. Active boost - but pull one to get a clean active buffer, pull the other (or maybe both) to get a volume boost.

2. If your 'buckers are significantly unbalanced, you might be able to make a hum-cancelling option by bypassing the stronger coil with a resistor, using a preset pot to tune out the hum. Would need to try that first as an experiment, but it could be a switched option if found to be desirable.

3. On coil-cutting of HBs, i find that my bridge burstbucker sounds better if one coil is not fully bypassed, but bypassed by a 47nF cap. So thats another option that could be on a switch

4. Switch a small cap across each entire pickup, say about 2 to 5nF, for a new lower resonant peak and different from just turning down the tone pot (with its 22nF cap)

cheers

John

[timothyrb]

John - Your option #2 sounds very interesting. Idea would be to lower the output of the hotter coil to match and cancel the weaker one? How to calculate the value?

Thanks for everyone's thoughts. I will need to demo some of these options.

[timothyrb]

John,

Just reread your post - you imply a trim pot to dial in the correct resistance, right? Or if I was willing to alter the look of my R8 (I'm not), I could use concentric pots. That would be great mod on a non-historic with unbalanced pickups - isn't that really an adjustable coil cut?

[JohnH]

May 4, 2011 20:51:15 GMT -5 timothyrb said:

John,

Just reread your post - you imply a trim pot to dial in the correct resistance, right? Or if I was willing to alter the look of my R8 (I'm not), I could use concentric pots. That would be great mod on a non-historic with unbalanced pickups - isn't that really an adjustable coil cut?

That's right. The trim pot will go across the hotter coil, which is probably the one that has the higher resistance reading on a meter. its not at all obvious what value it should be set to, except Id expect it is less than 50k, so that would be a good value for the pot itself. But first, I suggest wiring up any pot you have on flying leads temporaily , to see if the effect is one that is worth having. If it does seem good, then wire it to the triple shot switch in a way that only makes it work in series mode, because this idea would likley spoil the tone of single or parallel settings if engaged.

John