Push Pull switch Parallel/south coil setup

[manchild69]

Hello I've been searching all over with help for this wiring scheme. I want to have my push pull switches on my volume and tone knobs split my neck and bridge humbuckers into the down position being parallel and the up position to be the south coil. If anybody could help me out I would appreciate it very much. The pickups are Dimarzio's with 4 wire + bare, and instead of a switch i have three mini switches with a single coil in the middle. If you need any other information about my wiring just ask!

-Manchild69

[reTrEaD]

Hi manchild69 and to Guitarnuts2.

This sounds easy enough but before anyone draws something up, let's make sure this is what you want ...

Oct 16, 2020 22:41:44 GMT -5 manchild69 said:

I want to have my push pull switches on my volume and tone knobs split my neck and bridge humbuckers into the down position being parallel and the up position to be the south coil.

Usually 'normal' (push-pull in the down position) has the two coils of the HB in series with one another and pulling the push-pull to the up position selects just one coil of the HB.

You're saying you want the 'normal' to have the two coils of the HB in parallel with each other? I'm not saying this is a bad choice but it's different than what we usually see.

[manchild69]

Yes that is correct. These Dimarzio super 3's just have a little too much output in series configuration for my liking but the single coil configuration is right where i want it. But still, i'd like an option that can give me a fatter sound without sacrificing the 'openess' i get from the individually split coils. At the moment I have them set up to have the down position be the north coil and the up position to be the south coil. This works great but there isn't much difference in sound between the two options. I previously had it setup to be a series and parallel switching setup and found myself gravitating towards mainly using the parallel mode. I'm new to the wiring game and i've configured my own unique circut based of what I can find online but getting this modification to work has eluded me.

-manchild69-

[reTrEaD]

Okay, I don't have the time to make a drawing but I can explain how it goes and if you can't make your own drawing, someone else might draw it up for you. Else I'll post a drawing in a few days.

For DiMarzio, the color codes are like this:

Red - North (+)
Black - North (-)
White - South (+)
Green - South (-)

Connect the Green to one of the poles of the push-pull and to ground.
Connect the Black to the throw farthest away from the pot on the same side of the push-pull as the Green.

Connect the White to the other pole of the push-pull and to the mini-toggle that enables that pickup.
Connect the Red to the throw farthest away from the pot on the same side of the push-pull as the White.

The throws closest to the pot won't have any wires connected to them.

This will give you both coils in parallel when the push-pull is pushed.
And only the South coil when the push-pull is pulled.

[reTrEaD]

I had a bit of time so here ya go ...

[ashcatlt]

Give it a try if you want, but I’m not sure how much more “full” it’s going to sound. Two coils in parallel will be brighter than either on its own, and about the same overall volume. Honestly it’s not a whole lot different from the split coil, just a little extended top end and of course hum-cancelling.

I wonder if you might get closer to what you want with a “broadbucker” arrangement where the two coils are in series, but one is bypassed by a cap. That gives you single coil treble with the added low frequency girth of an HB.

[JohnH]

When I've had parallel and single coil options on my himbuckers, I've found the single to be a bit edgier in sound. The parallel tone has its two coils smoothing out the high harmonics, in addition to humcancelling.

This may depend on the guitar cord. I tend to like short cords which have a low capacitance. If you use a longer one like 20', then the effects of that may favour the parallel wiring for more treble, due to its lower impedance.

Summary: it depends...

BTW: Unless there's something else going on, can we not get the parallel/south coil switching using just two lugs on one side of the switch, to disconnect the north hot lead? Leave its ground connected.

[reTrEaD]

Oct 18, 2020 15:02:53 GMT -5 JohnH said:

can we not get the parallel/south coil switching using just two lugs on one side of the switch

We can. And if it was desired to use a single push-pull to split both pickups, that would be the way to go.

But if separate push-pulls are used for each pickup, using both sides of the switch provides lugs for connecting all four wires in one convenient location.