A question for the wiring experts!

Serratus

I have plans for the next guitar, but I'm not sure of how to achieve the wiring I want.

My next build will have one bridge humbucker, and one volume pot. Instead of a tone pot I want to have a PRS style rotary switch with some options for the one pickup.

I've found this wiring diagram: http://www.guitarelectronics.com/product/WD1H5R10_00/Guitar-Wiring-Diagram-1-Humbucker1-Volume1-ToneSouth-Coil-Treble-Cut.html

This is exactly the sort of thing I had in mind, but would it be possible to have a cap wired in to position 2 or 4 to give that position a different sound? Otherwise I think the two different tapped positions and the parallel position could sound very similar.  

Or has anyone else found any other wiring diagrams with similar options?

Thanks

GuitarMonkey

You could use the spare fourth pole of the rotary switch to connect capacitor/resistor combinations to cut upper frequencies if you wanted.

ICBM

If the humbucker is close to the bridge you may be surprised how different the two coils sound from each other and the parallel setting. I would wire it as shown first and try it.

GuitarMonkey

Indeed. It's easy to overcomplicate things.

Serratus

True, but the thing I've got reservations about with this exact wiring is that all the sounds are basically different combinations of thinning out the humbucker, whereas it would be nice if at least one of the sounds gave it less treble instead of less bass!

It'd be ideal if I could have, for example, full series humbucker, single coil, parallel, and then two positions using a cap, maybe one full series humbucker and one tapped. I guess the other option would be to have the rotary switch and a tone pot separately......

ICBM

You could do that, yes - either with a preset or with a tone pot that's only active in some positions. Just use the fourth pole, as GuitarMonkey said.

If you were going to use a preset I would be inclined to fit a trimmer as well as the cap so you could adjust the effect, it's quite difficult to pick one that works perfectly with every set-up without a lot of trial and error.

Serratus

Sounds good! How would I use the fourth pole to do that? So that it only worked when the switch is in a certain position?

I guess for a trimmer I could set up a mini pot in the cavity as a tone pot and then experiment with how much treble cut I want to use.

ICBM

Serratus said:

Sounds good! How would I use the fourth pole to do that? So that it only worked when the switch is in a certain position?

Yes, just use it as an on switch for the cap network when the switch is in whichever position you want to cut treble from.

Serratus

Any ideas how I would actually wire that up? Thanks

GuitarMonkey

Connect the signal wire from the volume pot/jack to the centre tag of the fourth pole of your switch. Then connect whatever cap & resistor you like from any or all positions on the outside of the switch to earth. You can user different values at each position or link tags if you want the same value.

When the switch is in a particular position, treble will be shunted to earth via the cap/resistor.