Toggle switch wiring

[kellar]

Anyone with experience wiring toggle switches please help me out here. I have a les paul, typical 3 way toggle switch. 3 prongs on one side, two on the other. I have a black insulated wire with a brown wire, white wire, and loose copper wire on the inside. Can someone please give me a detailed description of how to go about doing this? I normally use the braided wire to wire the toggle switch but it has a short in it and the black wire was all I could find.

[kellar]

Anyone want to help me out here? I have a new pair of mules but can't get the wiring figured out. How do I wire the toggle switch? I have a wire with a white wire in it, brown wire, and copper wire. The brown wire goes to one outside lug and the white wire to the other. They are then soldered to the appropriate volume pot, middle lug. That much i know. Does it matter which colored wire goes to which?? Then I have just the copper wire left. Do I take half to the middle lug and the other half to the other side to ground it and then just hook it up to the input jack?? I tried that and it didn't work. How do I do this???

[Philly Q]

Sorry, just to clear something up, was this wire you're using originally in the guitar?  It sounds like it has two conductors and the copper wire is a shield.  

You really need three conductors - two to connect the outer lugs of the switch to the two volume controls, and one to connect the two middle lugs of the switch (bent together and soldered) to the jack socket.  The copper shield could then be used to connect the ground lug of the switch (the fatter one in the middle) to ground on the back of a pot or on the jack.  

Since you don't have a third conductor, your copper shield could be used to take the signal from the middle lug(s) of the switch to the "hot" connection of the jack.  But then:

1. There's no wire grounding the body of the switch itself.
2. You'd need an extra wire to connect the ground lug of the jack (to the back of a pot)
3. If the bare copper wire comes into contact with the back of a pot (or pretty much anything really), it'll short out the signal.  So you need to cover all the exposed copper wire with some heat-shrink tubing or tape or something.

I think you'd be best off with some new wire.  

There's an excellent thread here, where Jonesy76 used vintage-style braided wire to rewire his 335:

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10301&highlight=

And here's a Seymour Duncan diagram:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_2v_2t_3w

[kellar]

No, the wire is not the original. I ordered an upgrade kit which came with the typical silver braided wire that was supposed to be used to wire the toggle switch to the jack. Unfortunately, I accidentally cut the wire too short (wasn't paying attention and cut the wrong wire). I attempted to soder it together and wrap it in electrical tape but it didn't work. The wire is shot.
So, as a replacement I bought the only wire that my local guitar shop had. There are actually two black wires that I separated. One has the brown, white, and loose copper wires in it. The other has a blue, red, and loose copper wire in it. Is it possible that I can pull the blue or red wire out of the other one and use it?
Anyway, thanks so much for the reply and your help. I just want to get this thing hooked up.

[Philly Q]

You could actually use all 4 coloured wires and the copper shields (is it like speaker cable, with the two black sleeves joined down the middle, that you can easily cut or pull apart?).

You could have, say:

- red and blue going from the outer lugs of the switch to the volume pots,
- white from the middle lugs of the switch to the "hot" lug of the jack,
- brown from the ground lug of the switch to ground,
- copper shields from both wires all twisted together and also connected to ground (not essential, but this shields the other 4 wires on their journey from the switch cavity to the control cavity).
- and of course there needs to be a ground wire somewhere connected to the ground lug of the jack.

That's basically the same as a modern Gibson, they use a length of regular 4-conductor shielded pickup wire to make all the switch connections.

[kellar]

Wow, that was exactly what I needed to know. I really appreciate the help. I'll let you know how it goes. If this doesn't work, then I know that my pots are probably fried from soldering them a thousand times. Thanks a lot!

[kellar]

I finally got everything wired and the new mules in and it sounds like I got a new guitar. It was quite frustrating but I can honestly say I know just about everything about wiring my guitar now. Thanks a ton for your help!

[Philly Q]

Excellent, glad it worked!!  :D