Gibson Explorer wiring - Black Dogs 2x Volume Push/Pull 1x Tone

[Desertmouth]

I have seen the wiring diagram on tke BKP page for 2 volume and 1 pushpull tone. But I was wondering if anyone has a wiring diagram for the 2x CTS push pull volumes and then the master tone a standard CTS pot?

[Dave Sloven]

Well you would just wire up the push-pulls like the volume pots in the diagram, and instead of connecting the green and white to either side of a push-pull switch on the tone pot you would attach the green and white from each pickup to the push-pull switch on the volume pot, wired the same at the switch as in the diagram except only one pickup coil split per switch

The principle of the coil split is really simple.

You wire the switch so that in one position (switch pulled up) the green and white go to ground, and in the down position they do not.

[Desertmouth]

Well that sounds very simple. I have found a wiring diagram from Seymour Duncan that pretty much translates into this. But will it always stay in Series?

Thanks for your help

[Dave Sloven]

You have to remember that the push-pulls are a separate thing from the pot.

You can achieve the same thing with a toggle.  You just ground one set of terminals on the switch and attached the coil split wires to the middle terminal.  When you engage the switch those wires are connected to ground and that coil is removed from the signal path.

Some of the other configurations like series/parallel are easier to mess up but they are just a switch set-up as well.

The different one is the phase inversion mod, which runs the hot and ground to the switch before the pot and inverts them when engaged, thus putting the pickups out of phase with one another.

[Desertmouth]

so the phase inversion would be abit like Greeny's strange neck humbucker?

any examples of this?

[Dave Sloven]

Yes, that's what it is meant to achieve.  You can reverse phase via either pickup, the effect is only there in the middle position.

If you want to incorporate this you could wire your neck humbucker up this way and split both pickups at once from the bridge volume. For a coil split you can run both wires (green and white) to one terminal, so you can do a double coil-split by doing this either side of the switch like a mirror.  The two bottom terminals are connected to each other and to ground.  Thus when the knob is pulled up both are split.

I have found that the one pickup split the other full in the middle is not useful.  You might as well split both of them at once and incorporate a phase-reversal switch

These diagrams show how to wire the switches

https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/upload/support/1_hum_4_con_pushpull_pot_phase_reversal_with_another_hum_c8e3961.pdf

https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/upload/support/20_132fcee.pdf

[Desertmouth]

I think you have just Nailed it for me, So wired the Split pot to tone for master and then add a phase switch...

So 2 volume 1 split coil tone and a phase switch?

Thanks for this.

[Desertmouth]

[Dave Sloven]

You could do it that way (keep in mind that colour codes are different for BKPs) but what I was suggesting was

NECK VOLUME PUSH-PULL wired for phase reversal

BRIDGE VOLUME PUSH-PULL wired for coil split both pickups at once

MASTER TONE (no switching)

If you really want to have separate switches for coil split on each pickup and phase reversal what I would recommend is:

NECK VOLUME PUSH-PULL wired for coil split on neck pickup

BRIDGE VOLUME PUSH-PULL wired for coil split on bridge pickup

MASTER TONE PUSH-PULL wired for phase reversal on bridge pickup

It doesn't matter which pickup you wire for phase reversal, it only applies when the pickups are both on at once, you just need one of them to be out of phase with the other.  In an Explorer it would be easier to route the wires back from the switch on the tone pot to the bridge tone pot, because they are closer together, and also I think if you are going to have two coil split push-pulls it would be the least confusing layout to have the neck volume pot switch the neck pickup and the bridge volume pot switch the bridge pickup.

I think this is a better solution (buying a third push-pull pot) than drilling the guitar for a micro toggle.  If you can fit one push-pull into an Explorer cavity you can fit three.  Keep in mind that it will be much easier if you assemble this as much as possible on a template before dropping the harness into the guitar and connecting pickup wires, rather than trying to solder it in place. If you follow the format I have suggested only the neck pickup hot wire will need to be soldered to the actual lug on the pot.  The rest of the wires will either be soldered to the back of a pot (black and bare ground wires) or to switch terminals (green and white neck to neck vol switch, green and white bridge to bridge vol switch, red and black bridge to master tone switch).