5 replies to this topic

[E.V.H.]

Hi to all!! Hope everyone has a great Easter and enjoysthe upcoming food,fun & family festivities. Just a few details that I wouldlike to ask some of you more knowledgeable folks: I currentley use a 5 way toggle switch in my Pacifica 311s, the thing is, I have an Alnico 2 Pro in the bridge & a Duncan Hot Rail, in the neck. My local music store tech said that this didnt matter as he would just "Jump" the unused contacts on the toggle. Now I have both pickups working but the bridge pickup seems to have lost a load of gain and also I think that the tech wired the ground to my bridgeplate and this is casuing more than a slight 60 cycle ground hum.

Anyone out there know of a suitable solution to this problem? Other than getting a 3 way toggle switch and re wireing the ground to anything other than the bridgeplate, what could I do?I have a little bit of knowledge that I have applied but this isnt doing what I want and the pickup doesnt sound near as good as it once did. Anythng that you are able to suggest would be great.

Thank you & enjoy your Easter!!
E.V.H.

[Dewy]

GuitarElectronics.com 2 Pickup Guitar Wiring Diagrams

I didn't see anything for two pickups and a 5 way switch... but poking around in here will give you more than enough information to understand what's right and wrong in your setup.

[karcey]

Your techo's term "jump" could mean a number of things. I won't attempt any kind of analysis without knowing what you've got, or even what you think you've got.
But the earthing of all the components of a guitar is pretty standard. If you're bothered by hum it's unlikely that the earthed bridge is the cause of it.
But the obvious question is "What does the techo say about it?"

[E.V.H.]

Hello and thank you for the help with the problem. I have yet to speak with the tech that did the work ontheguitar as he isonthe road until early April, guess I should have grabbed his e mail address, but I think that the hum is from the bridgepalte and I am going to attempt to re wire it myself.This may not be the smartest thing for me to do but I think I could pull it off.

The main thing that I was wondering about was if the wireing ofthe Bridge pickup- Alnico11 pro - could be effected in its Gain output stage , from being wired to a wrong port of the toggle switch? I ask this because a once beautiful/ nasty/yet controllable tone, is anything but that now.

Thanks again and I will post the results of my rewire adventures as soon as I have it finished.

Thanks to those who replied.
E.V.H.

[Dewy]

Wiring the pickups out of phase will affect the gain. Different Values on the Volume VR could affect gain.

Cold Solder joint could prevent all or some of one of the coils from making contact, increasing the hum.

But I'm with Karcey, the bridge should be grounded, so unless its POORLY grounded that's not the source of your hum.

I was also thinking... you could use some of the other "switches" to try out single coil configurations with proper wiring. Or In Phase / Out of Phase setting for the Humbuckers.

[E.V.H.]

Hello, thank you again for the link to the pickup site! Very cool. Though I didnt see anything for the particular configuration, I wasable to look at a few things thatwere very close to what I have.I will post the results of my adventure as soon as Iam done.

Thanks again.

E.V.H.