Wiring scheme check - help needed

[hanonymously]

Hi there, 

Here's a question. I'm not entirely new to this forum (done quite some reading), but I need a little bit of help checking my scheme. 

I've been modding my Telecaster before but now I'm going for a Humbucker neck and a super switch. I've made this scheme. Before I start soldering, am I missing out on something in my wiring? 

By the way: any thoughts about the resistors?   

[Deleted]

One the volume looks like the input from the switch and the output to the jack are hooked together
Also looks like the ground is missing

----------

I'm guessing the tone put has two legs hooked together but hard to see from the thick marks.

----------

Shouldn't the green common No2 be linked to blue output

----------

[jhng]

Hello and welcome to GN2.

Wiring diagram is nearly there, but you need your blue wire to go to position 2 on the top left pole. Otherwise position 2 will just be Bridge pup. Also your pic is too small on the volume bit for me to make it out clearly, but I presume that is all standard.

Also, I’m not sure about the various resistors, and particularly 470k in series with the Bridge pickup. Isn’t that going to kill the tone in positions 1 and 4, where the whole guitar signal goes through the resistor, and also block out the Bridge pickup in the two parallel positions? Just think carefully about what you trying to do there and with the trim pot. Having extra resistances in series in the circuit isn’t normally something you want in a guitar. But others here will have more nuanced understanding of that. Perhaps post a summary of what you are trying to achieve with the resistors and I’m sure someone will comment.

Incidentally, interesting switching layout. I’m surprised that you don’t feel the need for Neck single coil? Also, while experimenting, do try Bridge in series with just one coil of the Neck — you may find that provides a more balanced sound than putting it in series with the whole humbucker.

[newey]

hanonymously-

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

jhng and angellahash are both correct- everything looks OK except position #2, your HB is completely disconnected at that position. And I, too, am making assumptions that the volume and tone pots are correct as the diagram is unclear.

And, I'm with jhng on the resistors, not clear what you want to achieve there. Sometimes we want to attenuate the signal a bit in one or two switch positions, but you've got your bridge pickup permananetly wired to the resistor in all switch positions. So, you won't ever hear the single-coil "chime", even in position 1.

[hanonymously]

I completely missed the blue wire in pos 2. Thnx. Wiring volume and pot is standard, my drawing is a bit messy

Reading your comment, I think going for single and single in series probably makes more sense.

The thing with the resistors is as following. I asumed using 500k pots on a single coil brigde pickup, would make the sound too dull. So i tried to fixed it with a resistor.

Same thing for split coil, inspired by the lindy fralin partial tap resistor.

[ashcatlt]

A 500K pot parallel to the SC might make it a bit brighter than many people would like, so some people will put another 500K resistor parallel to that in order to reduce the total value and bring the cutoff frequency down. 500K in series with about any source will kill a bunch of treble, create pretty big broadband attenuation while also adding a bunch of noise.

If the intention was to make the V pot look like a 250K to the SC, just strap the R across the phase switch and get to the super witch with a wire. The partial split is weird to me, but it’s not as damaging. You will want to tune that by ear, but I suppose the range covered by a 10K pot is probably about what you’d want to shoot for.

[hanonymously]

I've changed the wiring and I'll try it without the resistors first. Then, if needed I can quickly add them or test them with a paperclip. 



As soon as it works and when I'm satisfied, I'll share it on this forum. Thnx for all the feedback.

[newey]

hanonymously-

Am I correct in assuming that the black wire from the phase switch is grounded to the back of the Vol pot?

Looks to me like position 3 (neck coil split in series with the bridge) is wrong. You are spltting the neck HB to the North coil (green wire connects to output, white wire is grounded). But the bridge + is connected to the Neck HB red wire, which is the South coil. The other end of the South coil, the black wire, is disconnected at position 3. So, as shown, you will only have the neck N coil alone, the bridge pickup is disconnected.

We have also not discussed hum-cancelling when you have the neck HB split in conjunction with the bridge SC. It's a Fender HB but you didn't mention the type of bridge pickup. You will probably want to check coil polarities to ensure that the split coil positions will be hum-cancelling with the bidge pickup.

[hanonymously]

You're asuming correct when it Comes to grounding from the switch.

I'll check the wiring again.

By the way, its a neck HB Fender 72 tele humbucker reissue. The bridge is stock Mexican Fender tele

I'm afraid hun canceling and conjunction is beyond my knowledge

[newey]

Your HB has two coils, one coil will be RWRP ("reverse wound, reverse polarity") with respect to the other coil. Noise/hum is generated via the coil windings (they act as an antenna). The magnets and coil windings are both responsible for our guitar signal, but the magnets don't really play a role in the hum. So, by having one coil both reverse wound and reverse polarity of the other, the two coils remain in phase with each other- if we had changed either the winding direction or the magnetic polarity, but not both, the coils would be out of phase, cancelling a portion of the signal. But by swapping both, we maintain phase. But, as the two coils are reverse wound of each other, the noise induced into one coil is out of phase 180° with the noise induced into the opposite coil- and the matching frequencies cancel each other out.

This is essentially the same way that those noise-cancelling headphones work. A certain amount of ambient noise- in phase- comes into the headphones as they don't perfectly seal to one's head. To cancel this noise, a small microphone picks up the same noise from outside the 'phones, and the signal is then inverted so it is out of phase with the ambient noise- and the common frequencies cancel out.

So, there's a quick primer on Hum-cancellation. The bottom line is that, as between your neck and bridge pickups, you'll want to split the HB to the coil, either N os S, which is the opposite of the bridge SC pickup (because the Pickups are from the same manufacturer, it's a pretty safe assumption that "North" and "South" have the same meaning for both their HBs and single coils.) So, if the bridge SC is "North", you would want to split the Neck HB to the South coil, so that all positions where you have the neck split to a single coil will be hum-cancelling with the bridge. If the bridge is a "South", then the opposite coil of the HB is the one you want. This effectively makes your neck HB, when split, and your bridge pickup into a "widely-spaced" humbucker.

Now, you have 3 options. First, you may be able to find out on the web what the polarity of a Fender Mexican Tele bridge pickups is. If so, you should be good to go, just split to the opposite coil of the HB.

Second, if the pickups are not mounted into the guitar, you can check the polarity by placing the bridge single coil against each coil of the HB in turn, face-to-face. You want opposite coils, and as the saying goes, "opposites attact"

And, if the pickups are already mounted, a simple test with a child's toy compass will show which coil of the HB is opposite of the bridge.

[hanonymously]

Thnx! FYI: It has so be south (pickups are not mounted yet).