Please Review My Wiring Diagram

[slejhamer]

Hi Folks.

Doug C. (Mini Strat Maine) advised me to check out this site for help I needed with series/parallel wiring. I believe I found what I was looking for, and now I'd appreciate it if some of you Guitar Nuts would take a look at my diagram and recommend any necessary changes before I proceed.

The guitar being modified is a Squier '51. It has already undergone a few changes, including replacing the stock bridge humbucker with a GFS Bigmouth, and the stock single-coil neck pickup with a GFS Lil Killer. Here's a pic:


www.pbase.com/m_schlesinger/image/55592276.jpg

My intention now is add DPDT mini-switches so I can toggle between series and parallel for each pickup. (I'll need to do some minor routing under the pickguard to fit the switches.)

Also, I want to use a blend control pot instead of a 3-way switch. I like "in-between" tones.

Last, I'll use dual concentric pots for master volume and tone. (Presently the dual pots are volume/volume, and the stock volume switch is serving as a tone control. No pickup selector.)

Here's what I've come up with:


www.shuttertalk.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10061/mojowire.JPG

Does it all seem to make sense?

I had a question about the GFS wiring. Doug sent me a PDF from Jay at guitarfetish that confirmed my thoughts that the green wire is hot, black is ground - that's how I wired the pups when I installed them. However, I got an email from Jay stating that GFS wiring is the same as Duncan, which would make green ground and black hot. Does it make a difference?

Also, the dual pots diagram from Stew-Mac confuses me. I thought the input to the volume pot would be on the right-side lug, and the output from the middle. They've got the input to the middle, output from the right. Will that work, or is something wrong with the Stew-Mac diagram?

Thanks in advance for any help, recommendations, or confirmations you can offer.

Cheers,
Mitch

[Runewalker]

No comment on the wiring, that will come from the people who know what they are doing.

But this thread:

guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?board=pup&action=display&thread=1145477038

Mentions the pups you describe. Care to go there and give an evaluation of their sound?

[UnklMickey]

runewalker said:

No comment on the wiring, that will come from the people who know what they are doing....

why limit it that way! i'll answer some of it anyway.


Mitch,

first of all, WELCOME TO GN2!

we deal with these kinds of issues everyday.

stick around, look through the old threads, there's lots of great stuff here!

reversing the green and black, for hot and ground won't make any difference. as long as you wire them BOTH the same way.

BUT the red and white must in the right places. (yours are)

personally, i'd switch the ground and output connections on BOTH of the switches

(leaving all the pickup wires just where they are),

but it will work just fine as shown.

those "inside out" volume controls are necessary when connecting 2 volumes together.

imagine what would happen, if you connected the ground as it is (crossed), and one pickup to the upper left, the other one to the lower right. of course you would REMOVE THE CROSS jumper wire.

the jumper for the output would now be placed across the 2 wipers (middle connections).

everything's fine in the middle of the blend, but if you turn the pot to either end, one wiper is at ground.

since the 2 wipers are tied together, the output is shorted -- no sound!




JohnH is our "blend-master". i've sent him a personal message, to point you in the right direction for a little better understanding of what can be done to maximize a blend control.



unk



EDIT:

i almost forgot.

there's no need to wire your volume control backwards too.

DEFINITELY, wire that forward, as you described:

"I thought the input to the volume pot would be on the right-side lug, and the output from the middle."

also, connect the right-side lug of the volume, to the middle of the tone pot, and the cap between the left-side lugs of both pots.

[Mini-Strat_Maine]

I knew Mitch would get some good input here.

And nice diagram, Mitch!

[slejhamer]

Runewalker: I'll check out that thread; thanks.

Unk: Thanks for the warm welcome! If I'm reading you correctly, you'd leave everything as I've got it in the diagram EXCEPT the dual-concentric volume/tone pots, which you'd suggest wiring the "usual" way, input to the outside vol pot lug, output from the center, and tone pot connections adjusted accordingly. Correct?

Doug: LOL about the diagram. I did that at work using MS-Paint (yes, the same one that's been a freebie in Windows for twenty years.) I'm very good at cutting and pasting!

[JohnH]

Slejhamer

Your blend pot wiring looks fine, if it is based on the special blend pot that I think StewMac sells, which is specifically designed for this job. At the centre position there is a detent, and you get full output from each pup.

As you turn it to one side, one pot stays at full volume and the other is reduced

If you were using a normal pot however, it would not be so good because you would get losses through the pot.

cheers

John

[slejhamer]

Thank you JohnH. It's an Allparts blend pot, which I believe is the same as (or at least very similar to) the Stew-Mac blender. The description is the same, 500K audio taper blend/balance with center detent. I appreciate your help!

[UnklMickey]

slejhamer said:

...Unk: Thanks for the warm welcome! If I'm reading you correctly, you'd leave everything as I've got it in the diagram EXCEPT the dual-concentric volume/tone pots, which you'd suggest wiring the "usual" way, input to the outside vol pot lug, output from the center, and tone pot connections adjusted accordingly. Correct? ...

that will work just fine!

but if you're into "standardization", swap the ground and output wires at the switches too.



unk

[slejhamer]

Thanks for the following up Unk!

The mini switches arrived last night. I'm just waiting on the Sprague orange-drop caps now.

I appreciate all the good advice!

[slejhamer]

Just wanted to pop in and thank you folks once again. I got everything installed this weekend and it works perfectly. The difference in tone between the series and parallel settings is a little more subtle than I expected, but still enough that it was worth the effort of installing the switches.

I kept the switches as they are in the diagram to avoid a mental mishap, but I did reverse the volume/tone locations on the dual concentric pot (so the top knob controls volume, lower knob controls tone.)

Also, the blend pot is fantastic for getting "in between" tones from the pickups.

Cheers!