Hi All,

I have a wiring question which I hope someone can assist me with

I want to be able to do the following with my SRV strat

all positions 1-2-3-4 as per standard

BUT pos 5 to have bridge and mid in series

I know I will probably need a super switch (will they fit in SRV, as I dont want to cut wood)

but I am prepared to sacrifice tone controls if this can be done with a normal 2 pole 5 way switch

Thanks in advance Geetarzandan

Well, when you're done, its going to be position 2 and 4 that are in series, you cant do it to one pickup, it's always two running together in series, or parallel, unless its a humbucker, then you can change it to run in parallel instead of series. Anyway;
what type of pickups are you using? Are they true single coils, or are the a stacked humbucker, like a noiseless single coil, i.e; Vintage noiseless, Area 58's, SCN's, etc.?

Do you want to use a push pull pot, or install a mini-toggle?

Ive done this mod 50 times.

Oh, if its a noiseless single coil, is it 4 conductor wire, or 3 (im sure its probably 4), but who knows.

Private message me with it, and your email, and i'll walk you through it.

Actually, you can wire it just for the middle/bridge to be in series if you want.
It's really easy. As long as you have some form of a DP/DT switch

Is the middle pickup reverse wound/reverse polarity? (if its a true single coil; does the hum go away in the 2 and 4 position?)

Currently, I have a Fat 50's CS set wired with a push/pull pot to flick the middle pickup in series.

The problem is no sound in middle pos when flicking switch when in series

I love the in series sound, and hate the push pull fluffing around, and the no sound when flicking whilst in series is annoying aswell.

(Sorry should have given more info when initially posting)

I don't really want to give up the parallel 2-4 pos sounds cause I love them aswell

Yes

Well, this is easy; if already have it setup with series wiring; it wont work on the middle pickup, you probably wont hear any sound on the middle pickup it all. You have to put the 5 way switch to middle/bridge for it to work. I dont know if you know how it works, you probably do, so this will be for those who dont, so please, just bear with me.

When you have a guitar with more than 1 single coild, the sepertate coils will be wired to each other in either series, or parallel.

Basically, when you put your pickup selector to the in between positions; neck/middle, middle/bridge, the standard wiring has them in parallel. A humbucker is two single coils, wired together in series, out of phase.
When you have two pickups in parallel; the output of each pickup is sent out seperate, and they go out as such.
When two pickups are in series, the output of one pickup, runs through the other pickup, then they go out.
So lets say you have 2 single coils, rated at 5 ohms. When you run them in series, the output is equal to the sum of the two pickups. SO in this case, it would be 10 ohms.

When you have two in parallel, again at 5 ohms, the output is equal to 1/4 the sum of the two pickups, so in this case, it would be 2.5 ohms.

The strange thing that i never really tried to figure out why, is when you have a way of runnnig 3 pickups on a strat, it actaully drops the output even more, once you add the 3rd pickup.


DOes it work when you put it in middle/bridge position? If you have the switch, put it in regular parallel, play them then hit the switch, and listen and see if it gets louder, and less scooped.

Some people get confused, especially if they every played an American Deluxe with the S1 switching, because it DOES make a different tone in the middle only, or bridge only, etc. But this isnt due to series/parallel, when you put them on one pickup, and hit the switch, its doing something else,, most likely is its changing the capacitor. Your guitar is probably fine. Like i said, when you have series/parallel wiring, and you put it in the middle and put it to series, you should hear anything, because of how it works. ITs not broken, actually this means its probably working, its just that you need two pickups to have a series or parallel tone come out. Except for humbucker again, thats why i asked if it was a noiseless single coil, because these are actually humbuckers, just with the 2 seperate coils stacked on ontop of the other, insead of side by side.

Please, let me know if it worked.

Hi geetarzandan,

I believe that this will give you what you want, with the stock 5-way switch, and tone control. It is a crude drawing, maybe one of the other guys can make up a slick drawing, and hopefully confirm or deny if this will work as I see it. Positions 1 through 4 are normal, position 5 is neck and bridge in series (instead of neck only), tone control for neck and mid. You could easily switch one tone control to the bridge from the mid or from the neck.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

I dont think he needs to rewire anything up. If im reading his post correctly; he already has a series/parallel switch, but he's trying to use it on a single pickup. He said when he puts in on the middle pickup, where 'most, not all though' people wire up for series switching, and turns on the series switch, he gets no sound. This would be what normally happens if he tries to use only the pickup the series/parallel switch is connected to. I told him to put it in the neck/bridge position, then turn on the switch. Just waiting to see the resut.
I think what happens is; a lot of strat players get their first experience in series/parallel wiring on Am Dlx's w/ the S1 switch. on those, if you have it just the neck, middle, or bridge, you will get a different tone when you turn it on, but its just because it changes the capasitor. They dont realize that series/parallel only works when using 2 pickups.

BTW, very good point you made about the Vibro King, at least you read, and understood what I was trying to say.

Oh, OK. I thought that he wanted to do it with only the 5-way or super switch. Carry on.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

Me too at first, i was too quick on the gun, while waiting to hear back from the questions i asked,i reread it, and saw he already had it. I was committing the same sin I was talking against; not reading the post close enough to see what he was really saying.

STill havent heard if it works though.

Hi Shimmilou

thank you for your response, this type of diagram is great (atleast I think I can understand it)

but this has neck and bridge in series

what I really want is

pos1=neck
pos2=neck+mid parallel
pos3=mid
pos4=bridge+mid parallel
pos5=bridge+mid in series

preferably 1tone for neck +mid and 1 tone for bridge

I want to be rid of the push/pull switch and have the guitar to look stock

thanks geetarzandan

Okay,I just want to get everything straight. So when you put it on the middle/bridge position, and turn on the series button, or whatever you have, it doesnt go from parallel into series? Am I correct?

Standard position 1 is bridge, is that what you mean? I am not really clear what you want. Do you want positions 1 through 4 as normal, and position 5 as the bridge and mid in series, or do you want position 1 as the bridge and mid in series with positions 2 through 5 as normal?

Also, if you want one of the tone controls on two pups, you will need a super-switch anyway, so this won't work with the 5-way switch. The super-switch will fit in place of the 5-way with no modification needed.

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.