4pdt Switch Wiring Help

[bombadil75]

In my quest for information on a 4pdt switch the talkbass forums keep coming up in the search but the question was unrelated so I figured I would ask to see if anyone could help with a 4pdt switch.

If I had a guitar humbucker with 5 wires coming out like in the Seymour Duncan wiring schematics, could I take either a 4pdt on/on or on/off/on switch and basically split those 5 wires into 2 switchable paths?

Basically, all five wires going in, then 5 out on one side, 5 on the other and whichever side is selected the other is canceled out?

I drew up this blank diagram quickly, if anyone could help with how to wire this it would be greatly appreciated and also I'm in no rush. Thanks!

[line6man]

What exactly are you trying to do?

[bombadil75]

Originally Posted by line6man

What exactly are you trying to do?

Basically trying to have a humbucker (or two, I hope to build both in the near future) going to a 4pdt switch and from that to 2 separate volume knobs, using the 4pdt to switch between them.

Seymour Duncan soon will release an active preamp for guitar that turns a passive pup into an active one by way of the preamp, the preamp is attached to a 25k pot and will require all 5 wires from the humbucker hooked up to the preamp. I was hoping to be able to switch from that active preamp/pot to a passive 500k one. The SD representative claimed the only way to switch between active and passive with this was to use a "4pdt switch" and that "someone with wiring knowledge will know how to do it" --meaning they weren't interested in giving a diagram

Also, I put a single humbucker in the diagram, I think the SD rep meant a 4pdt switch for two humbuckers, so perhaps 4pdt would be overkill for a single humbucker setup.

[StonewallValent]

It looks to me like they're using fancy words to say they now sell a preamp, similar to the kind that used to be in one of their pickup sets. If you want to look for switching between passive and active, there are quite a few schematics for active-passive switching. You should just need a dpdt switch, unless you're set on the Duncan pre, and it needs all four pickup wires. Wiring would be basically the same, just with 2 more poles for the extra wires.

[bombadil75]

I made a new diagram of what I'm hoping to do switching between the volume poits, would an on/off/on 4pdt switch accomplish this or is there a better switch to do the trick?

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by bombadil75

I made a new diagram of what I'm hoping to do switching between the volume poits, would an on/off/on 4pdt switch accomplish this or is there a better switch to do the trick?

Actually it's simple. You first wire all the shield wires (what ever color that is) to ground.

Now wire the remaining four signal wires down the center row of the switch. The switch will swing the contacts either up to the upper row or down to the lower row. Just make sure wire colors all match vertically.

If you choose a 4pdt switch it will switch between the two curcuits. If you choose and on-off-on 4PDT switch it will have a center position that will be "mute".

Normally you don't even have to use all 4 poles since one of the pickup wires is usually always grounded like the shield. (unless you are doing series/parallel).

[bombadil75]

Originally Posted by bassbenj

Actually it's simple. You first wire all the shield wires (what ever color that is) to ground.

Now wire the remaining four signal wires down the center row of the switch. The switch will swing the contacts either up to the upper row or down to the lower row. Just make sure wire colors all match vertically.

If you choose a 4pdt switch it will switch between the two curcuits. If you choose and on-off-on 4PDT switch it will have a center position that will be "mute".

Normally you don't even have to use all 4 poles since one of the pickup wires is usually always grounded like the shield. (unless you are doing series/parallel).

Thanks!