H H Wiring options

[tomjackson]

What are the options for 2 humbuckers with 4 way wiring with a standard 5 way switch?

I'm putting Hums in my strat and it will just have a volume and tone.  I don't want any push / pulls so I just need to know what you can get from a standard 5 way strat selector.

[darkbluemurder]

There are certainly many options to wire two humbuckers with 4 conductor wires each. Personally I would approach wiring from another angle: what are the sounds I want to achieve - e.g. full bridge humbucker, full neck humbucker, both full humbuckers in parallel, inner coils parallel, outer coils parallel, series combinations etc. Then I would look to find a way to make it happen.

If you are unsure which sounds you want then the best thing would be to google "fat strat wiring" or similar searches. Also check out www.guitarnuts.com and www.blueguitar.org - two excellent resources on guitar wiring.

Good luck!
Stephan

[Frank]

Uncle Seymour has all the answers. This is my favourite - uses a 4-pole "superswitch" instead of the standard strat switch but gives you five very usable and distinct sounds.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_1v__5wss

[Transcend]

the bkp ibanez style wiring is absolutely amazing for versatility

you have ]

1. bridge humbucker
2, parrallell of inside coils of each pickup
3, both humbuckers
4, parrallell neck hum only
5, neck humbucker

both of the parrallel modes are amazing for cleans and soft lead passages and position 2 in particular works amazingly well with acoustic sims and actually sounds really convincing!

[Philly Q]

I've got a Fender wiring diagram somewhere which gives:

1. bridge humbucker
2. inner coils of both pickups, in parallel
3. both humbuckers in parallel
4. outer coil of neck humbucker
5. neck humbucker

It uses a superswitch and 2 tone controls, but it could be easily modified to one tone control.

I like this DiMarzio wiring scheme as well.  It's similar to the Fender one, but all five options are humbucking:

http://www.dimarzio.com//media/diagrams/E.pdf

[tomjackson]

Thanks for the suggestions.  Well the plan was to use the normal 5-way switch but I've now ordered a superswitch from Axesrus for £9 which is a lot cheaper than elsewhere.

Philly, that Fender one looks interesting, Is it the Blacktop wiring and do you have a copy?

the Ibanez one looks good too, I'll probably try them both and see what I prefer....

[Philly Q]

Philly, that Fender one looks interesting, Is it the Blacktop wiring and do you have a copy?

It's the Big Apple (aka Double Fat Strat) wiring.  I think the Blacktop is the same.

I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think the neck pickup needs a reversed magnet, PRS style, for position 2 to be hum-cancelling (same goes for the DiMarzio wiring, unless you have both "screw" coils facing the same way).

Here it is on the Fender support site, hope the link works:

http://support.fender.com/service_diagrams/stratocaster/011-7230A_SISD.pdf