3-way mini toggle pickup selector?

ZoldosCustom · #1 05-28-2009, 07:06 PM

I'm in the middle of a bass build right now and I have 2 pups and I am wanting to put a 3-way on/on/on 6 lug mini toggle pickup selector. My problem is that I can't find any diagrams for that config. and I am not a wiring wiz. I have done plenty of the gibson style toggles but not the mini switch. I'm sure that there has to be a way to do it, but I just don't know how. The rest of the setup would just be 2 vol and 2 tone and a selector. Any advice or diagrams would be awesome. I do have a big gibson style one on hand but I just think that it would be too bulky. Thanks.

mikeyswood · #2 05-28-2009, 07:09 PM

Each pickup lead is wired to the outside and the middle is the common:

Bridge
Common
Neck

ZoldosCustom · #3 05-28-2009, 07:35 PM

It's really just that simple? Does it matter which side of the switch you use, left vs right, since there are 6 lugs?

mikeyswood · #4 05-28-2009, 07:53 PM

Nope.

ZoldosCustom · #5 05-28-2009, 08:17 PM

Alright, I appreciate the help. Thanks again.

Son of Magni · #6 05-29-2009, 08:43 AM

That's not the way my double pole on-on-on switches work. In the center position only half of the commons are hot.

A B

C D

E F

In the center position A-C is on and D-F is on, but B-D and C-E are off. And no I don't remember if this is top or bottom view and I can't check until I get home tonight. It's really best to check it with a meter before you pick up the soldering iron.

Yvarg · #7 05-29-2009, 08:14 PM

I usually wire my three-way mini switches like it's a Gibson switch, but with each wire running through both lugs on it's side. Gimme a minute to mock it up in photoshop for you.

Edit:

I hope that helps to clear things up.

ZoldosCustom · #8 05-30-2009, 06:55 AM

Thanks a lot guys, you have been too helpful. Now I just need to finish the bass

BarkerBass · #9 08-03-2009, 01:51 PM

Hi guys I tried using this diagram with each pup on the outside lug of a DPDT and the middle lug having the hot out form it yet the middle position sounds really anaemic and thin, any idea why this might be?

ctmullins · #10 08-03-2009, 02:01 PM

Could be that in the middle position - both pickups on full - that your pickups are out of phase. Try swapping the black and white leads from one of the pickups.

BarkerBass · #11 08-03-2009, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctmullins

Could be that in the middle position - both pickups on full - that your pickups are out of phase. Try swapping the black and white leads from one of the pickups.

they pickups are single coil jazz type pickups with a single white hot and black ground leads, are you saying I should swap these round on one of the pickups and this will or might allow both singles to work and together? I'm not an electonics person just curious as to how this would work. Thanks

ctmullins · #12 08-03-2009, 03:29 PM

Yup, that's it exactly. When dealing with only one pickup, it really doesn't matter if you consider black as ground or white as ground. But when both pickups are full on, they need to be in phase with each other. If they're not, it results in a very thin sound. To fix this, just swap the white/black leads on just one of the pickups, and try again.

I have a fretless that uses a Seymour Duncan P pickup and a Fender J pickup. Turns out that their wire colors are exactly backwards from each other; when I wired both blacks to ground and whites to hot, the pickups were out of phase. Swapping one of them (don't remember which, and it doesn't matter anyway) fixed it.

BarkerBass · #13 08-04-2009, 08:39 AM

Cheers mate I'll get on this tonight and hopefully have a new lease of life for the bass. thanks again

BarkerBass · #14 08-04-2009, 09:36 AM

hmm still not working, I've tried every type of white and black combination to no avail. maybe it's the switch being an on-off-on dpdt?

is there any other way of wiring the terminals together perhaps to allow both pups?

ctmullins · #15 08-04-2009, 10:03 AM

If it were on-off-on, then you'd get absolutely nothing in the middle position.

Do the pickups sound normal by themselves? If so, then there's nothing wrong with the pickups, or the leads from the pickups to the switch.

Probably need to put a meter on the switch, and determine which lugs are connected in each of the three switch positions. See Son of Magni's post above. This is the only way to be 100% absolutely sure what the switch is doing.