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I've got a problem with the wiring on a guitar I've just ( nearly) finished.
I've used 3 two-way switches instead of a normal 5 way switch for 2 x Single and 1 X Humbucker pickups ( not tapped), with 1 x Volume and 2 x Tone pots. Apart from a dodgy switch that I've got to change, the big problem is that the Volume pot doesn't do anything ( no sound at all), and both Tone pots seem to be Volume not Tone!!!!!?????
I've tried finding wiring diagrams for this configuration but no luck. Can anyone tell me where I've done something completely stupid here??
This is a not very good drawing of how it's all wired now.

Ok, you need to figure out what you want those tone pots to do. As is, they are just wired in series, kind of in a funny way, and i can't quite tell what the volume pot is doing, the way it is wired it looks like it is just acting as a resistor. When straying from a diagram, you really need to have some understanding of what these circuits are and how they work. A potentiometer is just a variable resistor, and we can wire it up in different ways to get different functions, a volume pot is wired in such a way that when all the way "off", the signal sees no resistance to ground, and when all the way "on", there is the maximum resistance to ground. Tone controls are similar, high frequencies find it easier to travel through a capacitor than low frequencies, a tone control is wired so that when turned down, the high frequencies see less and less resistance to ground, and are bled off, the low frequencies have a hard time getting through the capacitor, and remain in the signal path.

Start with what you want your tone controls to do, i would probably use the first tone pot for the neck and middle pickups, and the second for the bridge pickup, although that may not be what you want. If you want the tone pots to act independently of each other they need to be placed before the volume pot, because as it is you are summing the signal from all the pickups before they enter the tone controls. Trace the signal path, pickup -to- switch -to- tone pot -to- volume pot -to- jack, or your variation of that.

If you have a multimeter, it is worth your time to use it to check out what the pots do, it all starts to make more sense that way.

Let us know what you want from it and someone can maybe even sketch up a quick diagram for you. Hope this helps, sorry if it is long winded or unhelpful, i understand this stuff well enough to get it to work for me, but find it very hard to explain.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

Ah-Ha!!!! Thanks Jordan, I think I know where I went wrong now. My first mistake was taking any notice of the guy who drew me out a rough diagram to start with, I don't think he knew quite so much as he said he did

The woodwork side of things are no problem, it's the electrics I need to study a bit more! I know, in principle, how pots work and what they do, it was just which way round to wire them that I fell down on.
If I still have problems I'll come back on this one.

I'll have to get a decent book on the subject, any ideas or suggestions for a good one?

There'll be a pic posted soon of it all finished

Oh yeah, thanks for the reply on wires in the other thread too, I thought that'd be the case but just wanted to double check.
Cheers.

Here is a link to the seymour duncan website wiring diagrams. This one is for three single coils, 1 volume, 2 tone, and 3 on/off switches. Just substitute the humbucker for one of the singles.


http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wi ... ffswitches

Thanks Mark, That's EXACTLY what I needed It's going on my favourites!

Nice couple on your website, be good when you've got a few more pics.
A big cheers.

Thanks Steve, I need to get some more pictures on there. I like the Seymour Duncan website there are a lot of wiring diagrams on there. It helps me out alot.

I think I'll be visiting that site a lot too!
Cheers.

Cool, i'm glad Mark got to you first, and with a nicer diagram than the hand drawn one i was about to post. Good luck with the wiring, after you do a couple of them and see that there are very few variations in basic guitar circuits, it all starts to make some sense.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

Update on this!!!! All wired in now, everything works, BUT-------I get a sort of hum/buzz noise when I touch the strings/switches/anything
I've checked the grounds with a meter, it all seems to connect ok, except for one strange thing. There's a contact with the strings, switches, jackplate and poles on the HB, but not on either of the Singles, but all the wires seem fine.
What am I doing wrong NOW?????
Any suggestions welcome, I think the neighbours deserve a break from the bad language.

Ignore last post-------Fixed it!!!!! Don't know exactly what I did, poked and prodded a bit more and it worked.
I'll post a pic soon.

Woo hoo, it's nice when things actually work.



In the biz we call that "suspicious proximity", something is touching something it shouldn't, but it is hard to tell what. Usually a little hair of stranded wire gets just close enough to something to drive you out of your mind!

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

It does that all right!!! Next step was going to be the big fixing stick
Pics on new thread.