Intense wiring project for HSS Strat

[person056]

Hey, I have an idea for how I want to wire an HSS strat but I don't know a whole bunch about how to flesh out the wiring. Here's what I'm trying to do...

 

I want to do something similar to the S-1 switch that comes on the Dlx. Strats with some modifications to the pickup selection. First of all, I want a toggle switch that split coils the humbucker (switching between humbucker and the coil closest to the bridge) which I suppose could work with just a simple two way toggle switch before the pickup gets wired into anything else.

 

For the S-1 switch, I would want the following configuration on the 5-way selector with + being series wiring and / being parallel

 

Up position:

 

N

N+M

M

M+B

B

 

Down Position

 

N+M

N+M+B

N+B

N+M/B

N/M/B

 

And lastly, I want two TBX tone controls, Tone 1 affecting the Neck and Middle pup and Tone 2 for the Bridge pup

 

If I had more of an idea for what parts to use and how to use them, I could attempt to draw up a wiring diagram and see if anyone here would proof read it. Or if someone is just crazy enough and could do wiring diagram in segments (i.e. a few steps per diagram or a diagram per component) then that would be crazy helpful. But for now, first I would need to know what parts to get.

 

Fender uses this 4 pole 5 way switch with two rows of 12 "hooks" on it and of course the S-1 switch. I bet I would still have to use their so-called Super Switch but I wonder if the S-1 switch is actually the right part I'd need or if there's a different pot for the volume that clicks down and pops back up like the S-1 switch but essentially just switches which between the two wiring configurations.

 

Thank you very much for anyone that can help.

[Mr.Grumpy]

The TBX tone control uses a special, custom designed pot, but it's available for purchase on-line from various retailers or on-line, about $12 a piece and I think that includes the cap and fixed resistor too. Presumably the S-1 push pot is available from the same people, and the blade-style 5-position superswitch from many different guitar suppliers too, Stewart-McDonald will have them for sure.

[WRGKMC]

I have a Strat wired to do most of that with three simple toggle switches plus I have all the reverse phasing options with those switches. Having a split humbucker would be super simple as well.

 

Doing this with rotary or toggle rotary switch is a whole different animal. Its not that the actual switching is difficult, but figuring out all the rotary contacts to do this is a major pain in the ass. You basically have to build a binary matrix of all the contact combinations on a multi leveled chart. If its a 5 position switch, you have to draw up a matrix for each row of contacts then use that matrix to wire it up. Its thinking on a three dimensional level due to the multiple sets of contacts. Once you have the rows of the single sets of contacts you then have to figure all the possibilities uding jumpers between levels.

 

If there is a diagram provided by the switch manufacturer it makes it a whole lot easier. In my case I have to have the switch in hand with a meter and "Think" the switching through and build my own matrix chart. Rotary switches are specialized items and even with your standard Strat switch you have maybe 20 different manufacturers and many of them are wired differently to get the same results.

 

This is why you need manufacturer specific switching charts before you can even begin to create a wiring chart. I could point you to a page that does all of this with DPDT switches and even write one up in seconds off the top of my mind, but visualizing how rotary needs to be wired for all those combinations require you build a model on paper, then test it against the actual switch. Maybe someone who has worked with those switches long enough may know them inside and out, but its pretty much a Rubik's Cube when it comes to all the possibilities of wiring the contacts up and you don't have color coding to help you.

 

I do know Stuart McDonald provides wiring charts with their switches when you buy them, but you still have to adapt them to your situation.

[person056]

So with the equipment I had listed, I could do this with a Superswitch and an S-1 switch? The S-1 switch from Fender, I know works like this:

 

If you picture a square with three contacts on each side, when the switch is not engaged, the contacts active are the ones in the center of each 3 and the one on the right of each. When the switch is engaged, the active contacts are the ones in the center, and the one to the left of each.

 

There's a link attached with the diagram for the 5-way Super Switch from StewMac.

 

Say I used a simple two way toggle switch and wired the humbucker through it so that one position is full bucker and the other is one coil.

 

Would I really need the S-1 switch if I use the 5-way Super Switch or could I just use say a push/pull pot or another two way toggle switch to select between two configurations on the 5-way?

[WRGKMC]

The switch your describing may be a DPDT switch. There are several versions of that switch for different jobs. You have one off one, On/On/Off, On/On/On, and others. You can also have an SPDT switch that looks exactly the same except instead of having a center position, you only have two positions. These can be On/Off or On/On as well. They make these different switches for different jobs.

 

With a regular 5 way switch and two push pull switches you could do everything you mentioned. You could split the humbucker with the one push pull and you could also turn either the bridge or neck pickup on with the second push pull. This would allow you to get all 7 pickup combinations in combination with the 5 way including the neck and bridge or all three pickups on at once.

 

For example, the push pull turns on the neck pup. You select the bridge with the 5 way and you have the two outer pups on. Move the 5 way to the second position and you have all 5 pickups on. Then you can simple change the humbucker to a single or dual with the second push pull.

 

I would try the HB as a single first though. Many suck for tone as a single coil. H have maybe 25 humbuckers in my parts cab of various types. Out of the whole batch, I may have one or two have that strong enough coils to sound good as singles. You do have to figure out which coil to short too. Strat type guitars usually have a North South North magnet config, (or a south north south) where the center pickup is revers magnet polarity and reverse wound so you have hum canceling in the 2 & 5 positions. The single coil of the Humbucker may be out of phase with the others or non hum canceling.

 

I usually find a Humbucker sounds allot better with a series parallel switch. You can do that with a push pull switch easily enough if the split coil doesn't sound good.

[person056]

I think I have enough information here to draw up a couple possible wiring diagrams. I'll post them here as soon as I finish them. Thanks for all your help so far.

[person056]

So I think I have a good rough draft sketched out. I tried to make it as legible as possible. The only thing I didn't do yet was wire in the tone pots since I'm mostly concerned with everything else right now. Let me know if there's anything that looks like it won't work.

 

Thanks!

[person056]

The specs for the Super Switch were posted before. The S-1 switch is essentially 4 single-pull-double-throws.

[person056]

Here, this is what I have after wiring the humbucker through a tone pot and into a dpdt on-on switch to have it either send as a single coil or a humbucker and then into another dpdt on-on switch to either turn it on in any position or send it normally through to the S-1 switch for processing. The first tone pot acts as a master tone control. Both tones will be TBX Tone Controls.

 

I may or may not blow up a hypothetical guitar, wiring one in such a way. You discern....please.

[onelife]

From what I understand, the S-1 is a 4PDT switch and the 5 way superswitch is a 4P5T.

 

The possibilities available with the superswitch alone are staggering - I use them in my strats so I can get unusual pickup combinations and my own preference for the tone controls setup.