Hey look I found a use for that other pole! In the “bridge” position there’s a .003μf capacitor going to the tone pot, in the other positions it’s .015μf.
For an acoustic, using a Mustang switch. L1 and L3 are the outer lugs of a linear 1meg tone pot, and the resistor values are 500k and 86k.
Yay here it is, now I just have to get everything made.
Those “G”s should say “out.” In my diagram they’re all going to the blend pot, and the JFET preamp is going to the other side of it. Actually I guess they’re going to the switch right below the blend pot, but then that is going to the blend pot.
BW = Bridge white
BB = Bridge black
BR = Bridge red
NW = Neck white
NB = Neck black
NR = Neck red
MH = Middle hot
MG = Middle ground
Neck and bridge green both go to ground. “HOT” got a little bit cut off but it goes to hot.
I diagrammed this out a couple months ago but then I lost it and had to figure it out again today. It’s basically a Tele switch in series mode, which is to say, it is a DP3T rotary/lever switch with two pickups connected in series.
I found a DP3T switch…
but I’m not sure if it’s connected like a Tele switch or a Mustang switch. I really hope it’s the former ‘cause I’m probably gonna spend $10 on it.
Oh wait. Its configuration doesn’t matter at all, does it? I hate forgetting about work I’ve already done.
GOOD, FANTASTIC.
Okay so here is something. Poplar J-bass body with two Danelectro lipstick tubes, volume blend, tone; volume being 100k, blend being a 100k spin-a-split, tone being 1meg with a .1uf capacitor, and a DPDT phase switch acting as pickup selection.
The way this has to be wired, the pickups are in series so the ground of the bridge and the hot of the neck are soldered together, going to the middle lug of the spin-a-split with the third lug going to ground. If you connect the bridge hot to hot and the neck ground to ground you get it spin-a-splitting to the bridge pickup, but if you connect them the other way it splits to the neck pickup; both coils are still in phase with each other so there’s no volume drop-off. This is why the phase switch works as a pickup selector.
It could also be done on a standard J-bass to pretty good effect, you wouldn’t even need to order the Reggie Hamilton control plate because you can just buy 250k push/pulls.
I’m dumb.
So worked up was I over trying to find a 4-pole 3-way lever/rotary switch that I didn’t realize I could just use a 2-pole one. Which, you know, opens up that rotary switch to be a true varitone; two Gretsch capacitors, an Esquire circuit, a 500k tone pot, and an open position. I can also fit one more on there though, so I might go with another capacitor, maybe like a .01uF, or a Torres midrange kit. What I could alternatively do is hook all of the capacitors up to a tone pot, and use the varitone to switch between them. It kind of seems like it wouldn’t be that useful of a mod though?
I’ll get some more input I guess.
I don’t know how to mod this Les Paul.
I mean. I have an HH Les Paul with three knobs and a switch, I’d like to have made it four knobs and a switch but you know the school where I made it is pretty much not about creativity in any sense of the word, so I couldn’t even use a slightly different headstock without them bitching. (I totally did though, fuck the system!)
So anyway this leaves me with a couple options. Switching is GOING to be designated with one or more triple shots, I just haven’t figured out the rest. The original plan was to use a 16k A8 bridge humbucker and a Charlie Christian copy in the neck, volume, blend, tone, five-way varitone (two Gretsch caps/Esquire/knob/open). But then there’s also the ORIGINAL original plan, modified from one I had years ago: two P90s, 1meg volume, 1meg tone, 50k tone, three-way on/off/on switch. It would look better with a varitone, of course, but it’s getting hard to find three-way rotary switches. Then again, it is a carved-top so I’ll need a long shaft anyway; it might be worth it to check it out. HMMM.
Regardless of what I do, it’ll turn out pretty sweet. I mean, I’m sure it will.
Fuck yeah, nerd shit!
The top switch is a (series) pickup selector and the bottom switch is for the phase of the bridge pickup. For use on a Mustang.
This is probably the neatest diagram I have ever drawn. The alternative idea would be to have blend, volume, and tone, with the latter two on push/pulls, or even separate DPDT switches.
New bass pickup?
I got an idea. I think I might put a pair of Strat pickups on the 24th harmonic of my bass; in parallel for hum-cancelling, but also so they cover the entire spread of a P90 cover.
An even better idea is to mount the two coils from one of these GFS lipstick tube humbuckers. I’d have to mount them upside-down which I think means I’d have to reverse the phase, but it’d look a bit cleaner. It’d be worth it, I think.
Who even knows!
If you had asked me two hours ago I would have told you that this wiring was impossible. Then I would have said “unless maybe…” and then I would have drawn this up after thinking for an hour or so and texted you “yeah it’s totally possible, here’s the diagram.”
LOOK WHAT I DID! Also the red and green wires should be switched, this would create weird phase issues in positions 1-3.
This is the wiring I’ve settled on for my Jazzmaster. I’m using a set of Fralin P90s (mainly because I already have them) and a GFS pickup in the middle.
Postions 1-3 are “humbucker” mode for both pickups, and positions 4-6 are just the P90s. Really it’s set up more like a pair of 3-way switches than one 6-way. Actually if I could find a 4P3T lever switch I would definitely prefer to use that and put the Esquire circuit on a varitone rotary, but I haven’t been able to.
