Switching options for P90/Humbucker combination

[Tortex 71]

Hey there y'all. Long-time lurker but first post so go easy on me, please?!  :D

I'm getting to the end of building an ash-bodied, maple/rosewood-necked singlecut intended to rock a little harder than my Strat, as well as giving the stability and sustain of a hardtail. The body's been hanging up in the airing cupboard for the last couple of weeks while the lacquer hardens off - and needless to say all my clothes now have that unmistakeable whiff of nitrocellulose (beats Lynx anyday, and repels moths to boot! :lol:).

Aaaanyway, going to be giving it its final polish over the next couple of days, and then into assembly. Which brings me to the electrical fit-out.

Pickups are the Manson custom Bareknuckle 2 set - aka something along the lines of a slightly underwound Mississippi Queen at the neck, and something not dissimilar to a Nailbomb in the bridge, if I've got the message right (hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong)!

I want to get the widest range of tones out of this pair as possible, and I'm using a Fender four-pole switch, so the world's pretty much my oyster as far as pickup selection is concerned, and without needing push-pull pots, extra mini-switches or any other complications. Question is, which five options to choose?

At the minute, my plan is as follows:

Position 1: Bridge pickup, conventional humbucking
Position 2: Bridge pickup, screw coil only
Position 3: Bridge pickup, both coils in parallel (hum cancelling)
Position 4: Bridge (full) and neck
Position 5: Neck only

So I seem to have a range there, each pickup on its own, to full-on, to the coil split and parallel bridge. Question is, are there any other combinations worth exploring before I cut the wires down and solder it all properly?

Will the coil tap and parallel bridge options sound sufficiently different to warrant having both? What about  neck + one coil of the bridge (either in series or parallel)? Worth having a listen to or outright sacrilege? I'll probably be too curious not to temp-connect pretty much all the possible variations and listen to 'em all prior to making a final decision, but in the meantime, any and all opinions welcome! 8)

[HTH AMPS]

parallel coils on a humbucker is a really cool, tone defo keep that - I prefer this to coil splitting.

instead of the bridge (series humbucking) + neck, why not try bridge (parallel humbucking) + neck.  the reason I say this is that I think it'll give you a sparklier tone and not as woofy as the setup you've proposed.

[Philly Q]

Is it possible to get all those options on a superswitch?

I've used them several times but I'm afraid I need a wiring diagram, I can't get my head round how the switch actually works in order to figure out different wirings for myself.

[Tortex 71]

Thanks HTH, will definitely try the neck + parallel bridge option - was wondering myself whether neck + series bridge would be a little bit wild and wooly. Will prob temp wire the two options into a mini-switch so I can A/B them.

Philly, I think it's possible to get all those out of the single switch, although it's equally possible I've screwed up somewhere! 8) Took me a while to get my head round it too. If I get a minute later I'll draw the circuit for the five options above out properly and post it here (or I'll scan the back of the cigarette packet!. Then no doubt someone will spot if I've made any mistakes.

Then I'll get into working out how it would need to be altered for the neck + parallel bridge option. Oh - speaking of which, I've assumed that the correct way to parallelise a BKP humbucker is red & white to hot, black & green to ground. Yes/no?

[Philly Q]

Oh - speaking of which, I've assumed that the correct way to parallelise a BKP humbucker is red & white to hot, black & green to ground. Yes/no?

You've lost me again with the tech stuff  :oops: :lol:, but here's a Seymour Duncan chart of the comparative colour coding.  BKP use the same as Peavey:

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

[WezV]

i cant help with the wiring because i can never remember that stuff till i really need it but dont forget to show us the guitar!!

[Tortex 71]

I sure will Wez- it's turning out pretty nice I think, although it's my first project and not a patch on the work you're doing atm.

Anyway, I've drawn up a little schematic of the super-switch connections for the five options listed above. Pic below, if anyone wants a higher quality copy let me know and I'll post up a link to a PDF or something.

Philly, hope this explains a bit - although, alternatively, if anyone spots any mistakes, don't be shy to let me know! :D

Body's polished up really nice, just got the EM shielding to go in the cavities now and then it's build-up time. Hopefully there will be noises before the weekend is out!  :D

[Philly Q]

Philly, hope this explains a bit - although, alternatively, if anyone spots any mistakes, don't be shy to let me know! :D

I wouldn't be able to spot any mistakes in a million years, but I think I can understand the diagram!  :D

I was afraid you'd do one of those horrible schematic things which always baffle me.

[Tortex 71]

Well damn you to hell, HTH, for making that neck + parallel bridge suggestion!  8) Finally got round to some initial wiring up last night, and once I'd got the action and intonation set up rough, did a bit of pickup experimentation, and played a bit, just for the hell of it.

Turns out that the neck and parallel bridge setup sounds really nice, but it can't be done with the SuperSwitch. However, I think I know a way round that, without the need to add any extra toggles or anything, so watch this space. :)

Most important tho, it plays and sounds great, well pleased. In fact, choosing the pickup switch options is going to be a hell of a nice problem to solve as I haven't found a combination I don't like yet. BKP's rule, and for a first build, I'm well pleased with the way the guitar's turning out.

I daresay I'll be doing another thread on it at some point, but in the meantime, Wez and anyone else who'd like a sneak peek, here tis. Apologies for the duvet cover!  :lol:

[WezV]

well my first certainly wasnt that nice!!   very classy

[il˙ti]

Looks nice! It's like a tele that had most of the things that sucks about it fixed.

[Philly Q]

It looks great!  :)

I have to ask, what's going on with the knobs and mini switch behind the bridge?

[Tortex 71]

Thanks guys! il˙ti, you're pretty much spot-on. My intention at the outset was to start from the Tele design and make it how I wanted it. In fact, because it was my first shot at building, I opted in the end to save some of the work by starting from a Tele kit body.

In practice though, the modifications became so extensive and elaborate that it would have been less work to start from scratch. Still, the main purpose of starting from the kit was to learn the basics while being reasonably confident of ending up with a nice guitar at the end, and that goal's definitely been achieved. Now I know what's involved, the next one will be a true scratchbuild.

Philly, the controls behind the bridge are for an onboard Zvex Fuzz Factory, although it's not actually installed at the moment. Have all the temp pickup switching in that cavity until I settle on the final options and wire it all up properly. Which is also why the vol/tone and pu selector holes are currently unoccupied.

[WezV]

should have guessed it was a fuzz factory with the matt bellamy pickups

[Tortex 71]

Matt Bellamy? Who he?  :?  :D