Another HHH wiring question....

[newey]

I had an idea for the middle pup to throw past you guys and please shoot it down if it’s insane.. what about using SW-2 as an on/off for the push/pull, and use the pot itself to ‘blend’ the middle coils..? Basically full CW would be the ‘S’ coil, and full CCW would be the ‘N’ coil..

It's not "insane", it's do-able. But splitting the coils of one of those single-coil sized HBs has never yielded good results for me, the individual coils are too tiny. But, hey, maybe that's just me, and I'm not a hi-gain type of player, so maybe if you crank 'em up enough you'll get something out of them. I dunno.

[needmorefingers]

Thanks newey!

I finally got some time and attempted to wire it up according to your diagram. Everything worked and the thing sounded great!! It hasn't breathed a note in 20 years and it screamed all the way thru practice last night!!

When I wired things up, I wired the middle to split when the switch is pulled and I totally get what you're saying about splitting that single size HB...  Not much difference at all, kind of thin, but just mainly less gain... And I really didn't see much difference using the blower switch function on the bridge, it's a hot pup on it's own and just didn't jump out like I thought it would..

Since I'm feeling like I 'kinda' understand some basics, I'd like to try to draw something up myself and see what ya'll think..?

(on a side note... my buddy was diggin thru some parts he had and found a "IN5401 Diode"... He asked me if I could use it and we looked it up.. and apparently people put them in guitars/basses to get some sort of grit when you attack the strings hard. I'm new to all this stuff so I said sure I'll take it.. If there's any way it could be utilized let me know... I don't really use the tone controls anyway, so another use for those pots would be awesome!! It looks like you need to have some pretty hot pups or active stuff to get anything out of the diode, but I haven't had time to really look too much into it. If it's a no-go that's no biggie at all...)

I'd like to try..
SW-1 - Master Volume N-M-B
Switch UP=Coil split N+B

SW-2 - Tone Middle (If I could utilize the diode here instead of a .047 cap..??)
Switch UP=Middle ON

SW-3 - Tone N-B (Or utilize the diode here?)
Switch UP= Not really thinkin using the blower function, not really sure what to use it for? If anyone has any thoughts I'd sure like to try it out!!.. If I was Ace I could use it to set off my smoke bombs!!!

Besides tone functions, I don't really know what else I would use those SW2/3 pots for? My basic understanding of things right now limits me to getting just tone pots done right now.. But if you guys have any other ideas, I'd definitely give them a try!! I'll try to get something up soon depending on how life treats me....!!!

Thanks for all your help so far! I'm really diggin getting some noise out of the guitar!

[newey]

Not sure what type of diode that is, but JohnH has done some experimentation with Shottky diodes for a passive distortion in a guitar here. Germanium diodes also apparently work OK, but silicon ones not so much. John also has some sound clips you can listen to.

[needmorefingers]

Finally got some time to try and wrap my head around more of this stuff..... 



Tried to put together a diagram using the parts I have, and came up with this...



I drew it to have:
SW1:
Master Volume N/B
P/P = Down/Neck Series, Up/Neck Parallel

SW2:Middle Volume
P/P = Down/On, Up/Off

SW3:
Master Tone N/B (.047uF orange cap)
P/P = Down/Bridge Series, Up/Bridge Parallel

Hopefully the image uploads.... Would like you gurus to critique it and tell me if I'm on the right track.. I found a breadboard to do some experimenting with as well... Was going to try putting that 1N5401 rectifying diode on the middle pickup pot and see what it sounds like.. Also found some Red-Black-Black-Black-Brown resistors as well, trying to figure out what those are...? I could try hacking together some sort of bleed circuit if I can get them figured out? But I need to learn more about who/what goes with who/what!! Now I just need the time to get the toys out and play!!

Thanks for all your help so far, you guys are helpin an old guy do some tinkering!!!

[Deleted]

Not keen on the Middle Volume, When Off you have Ground Each side of the POT

I would cut it where it comes out of the POT personally

[newey]

Feb 1, 2022 4:57:34 GMT -5 @angellahash said:

I would cut it where it comes out of the POT personally

I agree. Also, you have reversed the "up" and "down" labels for the middle pickup. As shown, "up" will be "on", which is, I think, the way you would want that to work, but your text says the opposite.

Other than that, the diagram looks fine.

[needmorefingers]

I think I may have possibly told you wrong about the middle pickup wiring in earlier posts...



This is what I got with the DMM, and after scratching my head till hair fell out, I contacted Dragonfire support to verify..



MIDDLE PICKUP

South Start = White +
South Finish = Black -

North Finish = Green +
North Start = Red -




That's why the black is going to ground and green is hot... They told me to connect Red/White for coil split, that seems right, but that is using the STARTS of each coil rather than the FINISH..? Does that have to do with the RWRP wiring? I think I have much to learn still....

Thanks for looking and helping me, I really appreciate it!

[newey]

Feb 1, 2022 16:27:02 GMT -5 needmorefingers said:

but that is using the STARTS of each coil rather than the FINISH..? Does that have to do with the RWRP wiring? I think I have much to learn still....

The "dual rail" pickup is not "RWRP", it is a humbucker. It has two coils; one is reverse-wound, reverse-polarity with respect to the other coil, that's how it cancels the hum.

You're over-thinking this. Forget "Start" and "Finish", you don't need to worry about that. Just wire it as suggested by Dragonfire. As we mentioned earlier, since you are using 2 different brands of pickups, testing for phase before installation is recommended. if it is out of phase with the other pickups, you'll simply need to go back in and swap the green and black wires. But better to test it beforehand to avoid having to go back inside to fix it. Ounce of prevention and all that . . .

[needmorefingers]

Thanks again for setting my mind straight newey!!

I was totally overthinking this, it is just an HB!! I’ve already ID’d the wires, polarities, etc. I was just making it more difficult because I thought RWRP meant ‘magic’ of some sort…

I’ll be trying to finish this up over the weekend and conclude this far too long of a topic!!



You guys have been a great help! Thank you again for all your insight!!