Extra wires needed for Coil Split on SG?

[slashisgod]

Hi guys,

I went for some push/pull pots for my tone pots on my SG, with the plan to coil tap them. 
The particular pots were chosen by BK for me, so should all be good.

I'm currently going through the schematic, trying to install them, however, I'm a little confused...

Here's the one I'm using:
https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/downloads/schematics/general/humbuckers/2_hum__2_vol__2_push_pull_tone_coilsplit__3_way_toggle.pdf

One of the points on the tone pot (not the coil split part) says it's 'usually soldered to rear of volume pot'. However, there doesn't seem to be a wire already in here to do so. Does this mean that an extra wire is required to do so?

Apologies if this is a trivial question, but it's something I've not done before!

I've installed many pickups before but never done a coil split.

Thanks for anything you can offer!
James

[Dave Sloven]

You have to add a wire.  Running from that lug to the back of the coil pot.

Here is a photo of my Explorer harness, it has a lot of wires.  The big looping ones to the pots are the bypass on the volume pots (that's what the switch operates); the one that runs low through the middle between the push-push master tone and bridge volume is similar to what you need.

Note the military spec shielded wire.

It's worth going with good wire.



 

[slashisgod]

ahhhh, I see!!

I had no idea.  Thank you for that!
Yes, yours looks particularly good, as quality goes.

Where did you get it from? Any hardware store generally good?

[Dave Sloven]

I had that made by a fellow named Tim Mason who owns a business called SCS Customs in Mogo, NSW, Australia.

He's had some health problems recently (apparently) and has been a bit quiet on ebay but you can see his stuff on FB. https://www.facebook.com/groups/SCSCustomShop/

Members of the group get a discount on orders.

He doesn't have anything for sale on ebay at the moment but usually he has a range of harnesses available and can make custom SG harnesses very easily. 

http://www.ebay.com.au/usr/south-coast-sound-custom-shop

All of my guitars have harnesses made by him.  My SG Standard has his usual '50s style SG harness, the Explorer and SG Junior both have custom harnesses.  There is nothing especially custom about the Junior harness, it was just that it wasn't a regular production item (that one has modern style with a treble bleed and a russian poly cap, but no switching).  The Explorer has a bypass for both volume pots that still allows the selector switch to work (the tone pot is not bypassed). The two custom harnesses both have that white mil-spec wiring; the SG harness has cloth wiring.

Of course none of this is very practical unless you live in Australia but hopefully it gives you some useful ideas.

[slashisgod]

Hi there,

Thanks so much for the help!  I've got some wire and pretty much managed to get it all wired up.  not checked it yet, but that's because I have one more question, which I'm hoping you might be able to help me with...

Out of the two humbuckers, I've actually only changed one of them so far, so only one is doing the coil split - the other is 2 conductor, so cannot be done right now.

However, I did get TWO push/pull Tone Pots so when I do get another 4 Conductor pickup I can do it on that one too. Also, the pots are 500K, so thought it would be nice to benefit from that too.

The problem is, I'm a little confused as to how to wire the push/pull pot that isn't using the coil split.

On the original Gibson Tone pot, the middle tong is bent and soldered to the pot itself and one of the other tongs runs through the Capacitor to the volume pot.  I'm not sure what to do on this push/pull pot?  I don't really want to bend the middle tong because, if I want to coil split this at a later date, the schematic I have (via Bare Knuckle), says I need to use that one for the Capacitor.

So, any ideas what I should do?!

Apologies for the trivial questions.  This is a little new to me, despite installing many pickups before, but the coil splitting is a little more advanced.

thanks in advance for anything you can help with!

[Dave Sloven]

First of all, I assume you are using the following schematic and have had no problems doing so with the bridge pickup.

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/downloads/schematics/general/humbuckers/2_hum__2_vol__2_push_pull_tone_coilsplit__3_way_toggle.pdf

Considering the neck, I would not worry about bending the tang over and soldering it to the pot.  Just run the hot to the capacitor and tone as you did with the other one and simply run a wire from the ground tang to ground.  This could simply be a wire from there to the back of the volume pot, where you have soldered the braided earth on Gibson pickup lead.  If you avoid pulling that push pull up until you have it all wired properly with a new neck pickup you should be right.  The poles on the switch only kick in when you pull it up as far as I can tell.  That's what I would try first, anyway.

[slashisgod]

Yep, that's the schematic I used.
It's actually the neck pickup that I'm coil splitting...

Done all that and seems to work fine, nice one.  So the bridge is fine.

However, it now seems that the Neck pickup (with the coil split) seems to be only in the split position, regardless of where the push/pull is.

Could you imagine what the problem could be, without looking at it?  Or I could take a picture, but might not be too clear!

[Dave Sloven]

To be honest all I could do is refer you back to the schematic.

I don't have a coil split in my own guitar to look at.  Mine is wired for a bypass

You've either wired something incorrectly, or gotten some solder where it shouldn't be