Trying to get a MM parallel sound in a series wiring mode

[Thedaivisch]

Wiring in standard series would be an easy like for like drop-in (albeit with 4 wires rather than 3). It gets messy figuring out how to change the circuit to parallel through the switchblade etc....I can't believe it's THAT difficult.

[sevdog]

Originally Posted by Carey

I'll give a quick overview here of the three vesions and the intent of each...
4.2 - This is as close as we could come to an early Music Man pickup with the shorter magnets. I analyzed a real one and made our pickup match it as much as possible. If you want an original Music Man tone, this is as close as we can get. It is a traditional hum-bucking pickup and can be run in series, or parallel, which is the way they were run in OEM installations. A single coil setting will be true single coil and have 60 cycle hum like any other single coil.
4.3 - This is an alnico version of the Sterling pickup. It's got three coils in a pyramid configuration (the third coil is underneath the center of the other two coils). It is intended as a replacement ONLY. We do not offer wiring support for any other installation. If you want to work out some options on your own that is fine, but don't ask us how you install it with a three way, four way, five way... etc. switch. We simply don't have time to work up custom wiring diagrams on a regular basis. Also, it should be noted that this pickup requires a special rout for inatallation because of the third coil hanging off the bottom.
4.4 - This is the pickup you want if you'd like to have a silent single coil setting on your bass and you don't have an original Musi Man bass. This will also work best in Lakland installations where you want to maintain the original switching for the MM pickup. This pickup has four coils arranged in two linear hum cancelling rows, one set for each row of magnets. You can run it series, parallel, or split it to the front and/or rear coils and maintain silent operation in all modes. It's the most versatile pickup we make in this style. It does sacrafice a little high end because of the extra coil wire required for the hum-cancelling design.

So, to sum up...
If you want the old school no compromise Music Man tone and don't place a priority on single coil mode- get the 4.2.
If you want the old school Music Man tone in your Sterling bass - get the 4.3.
If you need to have a silent single coil setting and don't mind or want the slight compromise in high end response (darker sound) - get the 4.4.

Hope that helps.

(I think I need to post this on my website too... )

Found Carey Nordstrand's explanation in an old thread. It's all just wires, so if you can't figure out how I'm sure you could take it to a professional and tell them how you want it.

SGD makes musicman replacement preamps, maybe he can help you out.

[Thedaivisch]

Originally Posted by sevdog

Found Carey Nordstrand's explanation in an old thread. It's all just wires, so if you can't figure out how I'm sure you could take it to a professional and tell them how you want it.

SGD makes musicman replacement preamps, maybe he can help you out.

Thanks man! I'll try him. Yeah I'm pretty sure it's the 4.2 I need. The Humbucker on the HS is a true dual coil, the dummy coil is attached to the single coil.

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by Thedaivisch

They couldn't tell me how to wire it in parallel into the Sterling's circuit, no

The Sterling does not have a parallel setting on the switch for the bridge pickup.

You would have to rewire the switch. But then you have to figure out how to wire that into the preamp, since the switch connects to several points on the circuit board.

[ex-tension]

Originally Posted by Thedaivisch

Yeah that is a good plan. The only thing is, the wiring/blade switch seems to be undecipherable. Nordstrand tech support and even the great John East were unable to tell me how to do it after having stared at a wiring diagram/photos...

Someone must know how to wire these up in Parallel!

Someone who has a HS Stingray should trace the switch wiring and the input stage of the preamp. Then we'll have idea about modifying the switching in HS MM basses.

[73jbass]

Originally Posted by Rano Bass

I had the same problem as you when i bought my SR5 HH, the bridge pup was wired in series and i wanted that classic Musicman bridge pickup in parallel sound.
I ended up replacing the bridge pickup with a Basslines smb-5 and never looked back.
As you can see i don't care about resale value

I think the SR5 HH is wired in parallel,The Sterlings are series.

[Thedaivisch]

Originally Posted by 73jbass

I think the SR5 HH is wired in parallel,The Sterlings are series.

Apparently they were wired in series for a while, then they changed it?

Rano Bass says he redid his wiring by changing the switch blade from a 5 to a 3 (as per single H versions), which gave him parallel, all coils and single neck coil.

Dave

[Thedaivisch]

Anyone know exaclty how the circuit on a MM 3-way blade switch works?

Dave

[73jbass]

The 3 way switch is parallel,single coil,series.

[Thedaivisch]

Thanks dude. I'm after a detailed wiring diagram. I've found one, but I'm still none the wiser. It seems that the switch is wired into the preamp in a different way any way..

Sterling H:


Sterling HS:

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by 73jbass

The 3 way switch is parallel,single coil,series.

Not in the Sterling HS it isn't, which is what the original post was asking about. There is no parallel mode for the bridge pickup.

[Thedaivisch]

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

Not in the Sterling HS it isn't, which is what the original post was asking about. There is no parallel mode for the bridge pickup.

I was asking about whether I could replace my 5-way selector with a 3-way to get a parallel option, hence me asking for the wiring.

I'm not sure how I'd wire that into the preamp, though, and how I'd wire up the other modes with single coil on a 3 way. Obviously I'd only have 3 modes, which is fine. I'd be happy with option1: parallel H, option2: coils 2+3 and option3:all coils or single neck.

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by Thedaivisch

I was asking about whether I could replace my 5-way selector with a 3-way to get a parallel option, hence me asking for the wiring.

I'm not sure how I'd wire that into the preamp, though, and how I'd wire up the other modes with single coil on a 3 way. Obviously I'd only have 3 modes, which is fine. I'd be happy with option1: parallel H, option2: coils 2+3 and option3:all coils or single neck.

Does that pickup have 4 wires coming out of it? In the diagram it has two. So you would have to rewire the pickup, or get a replacement with 4 wires.

From looking at the diagram, it appears that there is more than one input for the preamp. You can see the gray, orange, blue, and brown wires coming from the switch. They appear to be going to resistors. My guess, having not seen one of these preamps in person, is that the resistors are to keep the volume the same between coil combinations. But then there is also the white and yellow wires going to the preamp.

Unfortunately there are no real schematics available online for that preamp.

So, yes, you can get a three way switch, and either rewire the pickup, or replace the pickup, but then the question is where does it connect on that preamp.

[Thedaivisch]

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

Does that pickup have 4 wires coming out of it? In the diagram it has two. So you would have to rewire the pickup, or get a replacement with 4 wires.

From looking at the diagram, it appears that there is more than one input for the preamp. You can see the gray, orange, blue, and brown wires coming from the switch. They appear to be going to resistors. My guess, having not seen one of these preamps in person, is that the resistors are to keep the volume the same between coil combinations. But then there is also the white and yellow wires going to the preamp.

Unfortunately there are no real schematics available online for that preamp.

So, yes, you can get a three way switch, and either rewire the pickup, or replace the pickup, but then the question is where does it connect on that preamp.

I'm definitely planning on getting a replacement pickup I asked MM for a circuit diagram, but the answer was a very firm "No!"

Dave

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by Thedaivisch

I'm definitely planning on getting a replacement pickup I asked MM for a circuit diagram, but the answer was a very firm "No!"

Dave

They used to have them on line too. I had a bunch of them, but then that hard drive I kept them on died....

[Thedaivisch]

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

They used to have them on line too. I had a bunch of them, but then that hard drive I kept them on died....

Do you think there is any possibility those resistors on the circuit board are isolated from the rest of the preamp and the the main connection is the yellow and white cables? (and I could therefore bypass those resistors if I wasn't bothered about volume equalization?)

Dave

[SGD Lutherie]

You could pick one of the inputs and use that.

But... I'm not sure which is the main input. It's hard to figure out what's going on from that wiring diagram.

If I actually had one of the instruments to study I could trace the wiring; the diagram doesn't show exactly what the switch is doing. If it's set up like a normal 5 position switch, then I might be able to trace it from the diagram.

That might shed a little more light on how it connects to the preamp.

[Thedaivisch]

I don't think EB want to make it easy to make mods

When you say one of the inputs, which cables do you mean? Which colours? Thanks.

[SGD Lutherie]

Originally Posted by Thedaivisch

I don't think EB want to make it easy to make mods

Of course not. Nothing is made to be modded.

When you say one of the inputs, which cables do you mean? Which colours? Thanks.

Each wire from the switch that gores to the preamp is probably a signal connection from one of the switch combinations with at least one being ground.

My assumption is that they are using different resistors to keep the volume level the same between the different switch settings. But this is just a guess, and I have not had one of these basses to try out.

But there's an awful lot of wires going to the preamp than you would find normally. In a more standard setup there would be two wires from the switch to the preamp.

[Thedaivisch]

Originally Posted by SGD Lutherie

Of course not. Nothing is made to be modded.



Each wire from the switch that gores to the preamp is probably a signal connection from one of the switch combinations with at least one being ground.

My assumption is that they are using different resistors to keep the volume level the same between the different switch settings. But this is just a guess, and I have not had one of these basses to try out.

But there's an awful lot of wires going to the preamp than you would find normally. In a more standard setup there would be two wires from the switch to the preamp.

If only the bass industry was like muscle cars, embracing the whole modding hobby/business...

What you're saying sounds logical. I guess the fact that there is 5 positions and only 4 wires is because the series H position is not equalized, or rather the other 4 positions are equalized to it. There is no wire coming from the back of the switch to the resistors (towards the bass knob) which is the H only position.