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Help with wiring ideas

#3
I don't know if what you want can reasonably be done. The series/parallel mod is common enough. But the addition of the on/off switches will cause problems. I think. Here's why:

Let's say you have the pickups in series. In order for there to be an off switch on 1 pickup, it'd have to switch between that pickup, and a straight piece of wire, basically a short across the pickup. Otherwise, if you just disconnected that pickup with the switch, there'd be no output at all, because the pickups are in series. Ok, so you do that with both pickups, each on/off switch switches between the pickup being in the circuit, and a straight piece of wire being in the circuit. Ok, now, let's think about parallel mode. If you switch 1 pickup off, there's essentially 3 circuits in parallel. The other pickup, the input to the amp (high impedance) and a straight piece of wire. I think the current will flow between the pickup and the straight piece of wire, and there'd be no real output.

But that's just how I saw it. Sorry if my explanation sucks.

But the second setup is easy enough. I'll draw it up later.
 
#6
TrooperFarva said:
I don't know if what you want can reasonably be done. The series/parallel mod is common enough. But the addition of the on/off switches will cause problems. I think. Here's why:

Let's say you have the pickups in series. In order for there to be an off switch on 1 pickup, it'd have to switch between that pickup, and a straight piece of wire, basically a short across the pickup. Otherwise, if you just disconnected that pickup with the switch, there'd be no output at all, because the pickups are in series. Ok, so you do that with both pickups, each on/off switch switches between the pickup being in the circuit, and a straight piece of wire being in the circuit. Ok, now, let's think about parallel mode. If you switch 1 pickup off, there's essentially 3 circuits in parallel. The other pickup, the input to the amp (high impedance) and a straight piece of wire. I think the current will flow between the pickup and the straight piece of wire, and there'd be no real output.

But that's just how I saw it. Sorry if my explanation sucks.

But the second setup is easy enough. I'll draw it up later.
Click to expand...


What he said. Actually, I answered the questions backwards.

Edit: let's straighten this thread out. Setup one has a conflict I can't momentarily wrap my brain around. I believe Setup 2 would be no problem.
 
#9
I was starting to see the conflict in the original setup 1, well it was more of a situation....with there being a switch for each pup and a series / parallel, I think this would happen right?

in parallel, everything would work, and I could swith either pup on or off

in series however, it would only work with both pups on...turning off one, would kill both right?

Your conflict may be in the wiring?, that's where I'm not sure
 
#10
Introvox said:
I was starting to see the conflict in the original setup 1, well it was more of a situation....with there being a switch for each pup and a series / parallel, I think this would happen right?

in parallel, everything would work, and I could swith either pup on or off

in series however, it would only work with both pups on...turning off one, would kill both right?

Your conflict may be in the wiring?, that's where I'm not sure
Click to expand...

I'm sorry I'll have to get back to you on this. I have unexpected company.
 
#12
what you guys are saying is confusing me/its hard to follow the conversation

but if what you want is two pickups and three switches with

Switch 1: neck pickup on/off
switch 2: bridge pickup on/off
switch 3: series/parallel

the jaguar does that and fender has a schematic of it online hold on...

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

just ignore the part in the upper left corner. that switch turns on the preamp, just have the green and yellow wires that go up there connected, ignore the battery wires, and make sure the ground is connected to the ground on the input/output jack
 
#13
Introvox said:
I was starting to see the conflict in the original setup 1, well it was more of a situation....with there being a switch for each pup and a series / parallel, I think this would happen right?

in parallel, everything would work, and I could swith either pup on or off

in series however, it would only work with both pups on...turning off one, would kill both right?

Your conflict may be in the wiring?, that's where I'm not sure
Click to expand...

Well, it depends. If the on/off switches went between the pickup and a Short Circuit, it'd work in Series, but not in Parallel. If the on/off switches went between the pickup and an Open Circuit (basically nothing, there'd be a gap), it'd work in Parallel, but not in Series.

So for it to work, the circuit would have to use Open Circuits in Parallel mode, and Short Circuits in Series mode, and it'd be a lot more complex and a few pots and switches could handle.

So for the current proposed idea, you just wire the pickups in parallel to each other. Wire the hot side to the first terminal on the Volume pot, the output to the second, and ground to the 3rd. Wire the ground of the pickups to ground. Now, put a switch on the hot side of each pickup. Output (to the volume pot) on the middle terminal, pickup on 1 end, nothing on the other. This will remove the pickup from the circuit, so each pickup will have the requested on/off switch, and they're wired to 1 volume control.

Please, someone who knows this stuff, check this over, cuz I'm probably wrong.
 
#14
Sir Edward V said:
what you guys are saying is confusing me/its hard to follow the conversation

but if what you want is two pickups and three switches with

Switch 1: neck pickup on/off
switch 2: bridge pickup on/off
switch 3: series/parallel

the jaguar does that and fender has a schematic of it online hold on...

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

just ignore the part in the upper left corner. that switch turns on the preamp, just have the green and yellow wires that go up there connected, ignore the battery wires, and make sure the ground is connected to the ground on the input/output jack
Click to expand...

after re-reading i thought i should note that with this you have a volume pot and a tone pot

but you might need more room than you already have, aka need to route
 
#15
Sir Edward V said:
after re-reading i thought i should note that with this you have a volume pot and a tone pot

but you might need more room than you already have, aka need to route
Click to expand...

You could use pots with built in switches, so you'd have 2 push/pull pots, and then 1 switch.

For that, you could use the Fender Jaguar schematic. My only gripe with the schematic is that in series mode, it's neck pickup, both, or nothing. There's no bridge pickup only in series mode. Now, admittedly, when theres only 1 pickup connected to the output, there's no sound difference in series or parallel, because from a circuit standpoint, they're the same, but realistically, if you're in series mode, and you only want the bridge pickup, which is a fair request, to get it, you have to swap more than 1 switch, which sucks. Again, I might be wrong.
 
#16
TrooperFarva said:
You could use pots with built in switches, so you'd have 2 push/pull pots, and then 1 switch.

For that, you could use the Fender Jaguar schematic. My only gripe with the schematic is that in series mode, it's neck pickup, both, or nothing. There's no bridge pickup only in series mode. Now, admittedly, when theres only 1 pickup connected to the output, there's no sound difference in series or parallel, because from a circuit standpoint, they're the same, but realistically, if you're in series mode, and you only want the bridge pickup, which is a fair request, to get it, you have to swap more than 1 switch, which sucks. Again, I might be wrong.
Click to expand...

the push pull pot idea is interesting, but you are wrong, the bridge pickup alone works in either case, but maybe you dont know which switch controls what, the top one is neck pup, middle is bridge, bottom is series parallel
 
#17
All you propose is possible. But much of it is redundant, tonally detrimental and beyond reason in my head. What, exactly, do you want to control?

I do better when you just say, "I want the guitar to do this!"

Help me help you.

..I will do my best.

Sid
 
#18
Sir Edward V said:
the push pull pot idea is interesting, but you are wrong, the bridge pickup alone works in either case, but maybe you dont know which switch controls what, the top one is neck pup, middle is bridge, bottom is series parallel
Click to expand...

I know what switch controls what, it's right there in the diagram. Go through the iterations of the switches. With both pickup switches to the left (off) there is no output, which is correct. With both pickups switches to the right (on) the series/parallel switch does in fact switch between series and parallel. When the Neck pickup switch is on, and the Bridge pickup switch is off, regardless of the position of the Series/Parallel switch, the only output is the Neck. So those are all good.

But when the Neck pickup switch is off, and the Bridge pickup switch is on, there's a problem. When the Series/Parallel switch is to the left (Parallel), the only output is the Bridge pickup, which is right. But when the Series/Parallel switch is to the right (Series), the output is both pickups in series, not the bridge pickup by itself, as it should be. Look at it. Switching to series connects the ground side of the bridge pickup to the hot side of the neck pickup, and the ground side of the neck pickup is permanently wired to ground. Take a look again.
 

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