49 combination HSH wiring (Help)

[rikpat]

I've been searching some mods, I've mostly liked PTB tone pots and 9-way strat switch, and of course coil split/series/parallel humbucker wiring.
So in the end, I've created some wiring using 3 On/On/On switches, in which two are controlling Humbuckers and one is adding 4 other possible combinations to 5-way switch. 

I don't really know whether the mods are compatible, because the 9 way mod is meant for 3 single coils.
Has anybody tried it? Are the sounds diferrent enough to use it?

I've created the wiring in DIY Layout creator, and in photoshop I've marked all of the possible combinations. I'm not sure, whether it will work like this, I will provide sources in the end of the post.



Wiring Diagram, cable colors are random, except those coming from pickups, and ground is green:

Edit: Diagram was replaced with edited version, replacing the pickup connection in 5-way switch. Also resized. To see the full size image, click here

Possible Combinations (If Working):



Sources: 

[JohnH]

Welcome to GN2. I havent checked the diagram, but I dont see any reason in principle why you cant combine all those mods. Id suggest a no-load pot as the treble-cut side of the PTB tone controls.

Of course, with 49 sounds, you will find many sound similar, and 46 of them that you never use. But that should not be a discouragement, and you will only know which are your best ones when youve tried them!

One thing you might want to think about is which single coil you want to cut to on each humbucker, in terms of humcancelling in combos with others. I think id try to chose the coils which are opposite magnetic polarity to your M pickup, so you get hum cancelling MB and MN combos if B and N are coil cut. (Or just wire it up and see what you get!)

Good luck!

[newey]

rikpat-

Hello and Welcome to GNutz-2!

JohnH is right, theoretically this can all be done. And, I haven't been all the way through your diagram yet, but I think I see some problems.

For starters, when the neck HB switch toggle is "up" (meaning the lower pairs of lugs are connected),and when the middle switch is likewise "up" (lower lugs connected), the neck HB is connected in series (red and white wires connect together via the upper switch), the black wire goes to the neck-most lug on the 5-way where it connects to output. However, the green "ground" wire then connects to the center switch via the yellow wire, which in turn connects via the light blue wire to the neck lug of the 5-way- where it meets up with the black wire from the neck HB, thereby shorting the pickup's output. I don't think that was what was intended, but it's hard to tell from trying to compare that to the diagrams of the switch positions (your "truth table", as we say)

So that I can try to keep all this straight, I need you to number your switches so that we can talk about them intelligently. In your diagram showing the various pickup combos, I don't know what "1 default". "1 down" and "1 Up" mean. So I'm unable to go much further in vetting the diagram.

[rikpat]

Thanks for all the replies!

I don't know what "1 default". "1 down" and "1 Up" mean.

The 1 up. 1 down 1 default, is for the middle 3-way switch, I forgot to number them, it is supposed to switch the other 4 options for the 5 way switch. (see the 9-way strat diagram), I've replaced the image with middle instead of 1.

when the neck HB switch toggle is "up" (meaning the lower pairs of lugs are connected),and when the middle switch is likewise "up" (lower lugs connected), the neck HB is connected in series (red and white wires connect together via the upper switch), the black wire goes to the neck-most lug on the 5-way where it connects to output. However, the green "ground" wire then connects to the center switch via the yellow wire, which in turn connects via the light blue wire to the neck lug of the 5-way- where it meets up with the black wire from the neck HB, thereby shorting the pickup's output.

My bad, I've now realised, that I've switched the hot wires from the humbucker pickups. Thanks for noticing.

Of course, with 49 sounds, you will find many sound similar, and 46 of them that you never use. But that should not be a discouragement, and you will only know which are your best ones when youve tried them!

I want to know whether, and which are obsolete (like coil split and parallel humbucker have supposedly similar sounds, but parallel is still hum cancelling, but I think that in HSH the coil split can be used for more of a strat sound)
Also, I've thought about using one switch for both humbuckers (4pdt / 4p3t), that will just enable the three diagonal sets of options, making it completely 25 different variations.

And of course I will compare the sounds in some recordings, but I suppose I am going to do this mod sometimes in summer, since I am in university, so I don't have time, and I also want to properly shield the guitar, maybe do some recolor (it was a generic black&white SSS strat, I've replaced the pickguard for a yellow HSH about 3 years ago, and I would maybe add some yellow stripes), but that needs few days of contiuous work.

Id suggest a no-load pot as the treble-cut side of the PTB tone controls.

One thing you might want to think about is which single coil you want to cut to on each humbucker, in terms of humcancelling in combos with others. I think id try to chose the coils which are opposite magnetic polarity to your M pickup, so you get hum cancelling MB and MN combos if B and N are coil cut. (Or just wire it up and see what you get!)

Thank's for both suggestions! I am just planning of buing parts, possibly ordering them from e-bay (or preferably aliexpress, but I'm not sure about quality), if they are not available in my country, so I can do it the way you are saing. 
I've read about no-loads, they let true bypass, but it's one of the parts that are not entirely available to me. I will look for it however, since I have lots of time to think before doing it.
And about that pickup poles, can I somehow test it with multimeter (cheap, generic one)? I've read something about compas, but that's one of hard-to-find things, or there are really expensive touristic ones. But I think I will order one from aliexpress for 50 cents. 


Also I want to ask whether the images can be resized, because the post looks very unorganized (I hoped they would be somehow resized automatically).

I think that the switches are supposed to be this type 2. I am probably going to use 8pin 3p2t slide switches (because on/on/on dpdt's are hard to find in my country) and I can achieve this behavior just by adding 2 wires. Although I personally like toggles more than slides, mostly because of the ease of control.

[newey]

rp-

Your "type 2" is the only way I've seen these switches. But I surely haven't seen everything, so I'd say check them with a cheap multimeter to be sure which way it is.

If you're going to get into rewiring your guitar, a multimeter is an amazingly handy thing to have.

I've read about no-loads, they let true bypass, but it's one of the parts that are not entirely available to me. I will look for it however, since I have lots of time to think before doing it.

I think JohnH was envisioning a do-it-yourself modification of a pot- opening up the case and scraping the center-most portion of the track. John has a tutorial on opening up pots somewheres, we'll get you pointed in the right direction on that. The task sounds more daunting than it really is, and if you screw it up, well, pots are relatively cheap . . .

[radek]

Hi

Can anybody explain me the meaning of the white square on the volume pot? This resolution does not allow me to read this.

Radek

[newey]

Hi, radek-

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

The original post doesn't specify this, but it looks to be a "treble bleed" circuit. Treble bleed circuitry is optional and can be omitted. It is designed to avoid loss of treble when turning the volume down. There are various different types of these circuits, you can read more about them from JohnH here