Super-Psycho-Advanced wiring

[Newc]

Ok, I've been working on this for almost a month now. I've got a Jackson Special 5-way switch (same as a MegaSwitch from StewMac) and am *this close* to figuring out a way to utilise all 4 groups of the switch, but I've hit an enormous snag:

How to get the pickups wired to each group the way I want without bleed-over.


Here's what I've done so far:

I figured that I would need a central point to put all the pickup wires (red, white, black, green) so that I can route their signals to any Group on the switch.

So, after going through various options I decided to wire each pickup's wires to individual brass tabs, and then from there I could route wires to the individual switch groups.

I'm using 2 push/pull pots to select between groups 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, and a mini-toggle that selects between the push/pulls (otherwise 2 groups would always be on).

Here's how I had the 5-way wired up:




Each group was color-coded - red, green, black, white. There's one wire on each tab of each group. I had to add up to 2 more to some tabs to get the options I wanted.

I'm doing this with a Warbird Warrior and 3 Custom Duncans with 4 conductors each.

So, after mapping out what I want each position in each group to do, I set about wiring them all up.

I've got 3 of the 4 groups wired up and there's just no way in hell I'm going to be able to get them stuffed into the cavity

Additionally, there's massive bleedover. With the way I have things sorted, the reds and whites are all separated so I can do series/split on various positions, as well as having "bridge+neck" positions. To do this, I need to jump two pickups together, but unfortunately that means that option will be made on any switch position using either pickup's black.


So it looks like it's back to the drawing board


Maybe I'm going backwards in this? If I jump the switch terminals together instead of the brass tabs.....


Then again I'm left with 10lbs of wire in a 5lb sack regarding the control cavity



I love this switch, but I kinda hate it right now, too

[Newc]

Tried jumping the terminals, but got double-connections where I didn't want them.

[guitarbumb]

that is rather full on, im struggling to follow what your doing.

[Learn Guitars]

Holy shit..That switch needs a haircut. HAHAHHAA... Good luck there Newc. Those rotaries have a ton of potential. I look forward to your final results.

[bobafer]

It looks like its trying to kill the photographer... like it jumps out of the guitar screaming or something....

[nor]

Dude - you soooooo need one of these.

[Newc]

Holy shit..That switch needs a haircut. HAHAHHAA... Good luck there Newc. Those rotaries have a ton of potential. I look forward to your final results.

Yeah they are, but that's not a rotary. That's a 5-way blade found in many older Jacksons

Can also be found at StewMac as a MegaSwitch. Same thing, different name.

But I've got a 6-way rotary on another guitar. 2-hums and 6 different sounds. Gonna poke around with that thing to see what it can do with a couple of push-pulls once I get this thing squared away

[Newc]

Dude - you soooooo need one of these.

I looked at that before. Unless they've changed it, you have to tell them how you want it programmed before they ship it - no user-programming other than the presets. Maybe it's just me, but I'm thinking my options would be rather limited, or the final cost would be astronomical because I'd want "everything"

[Bengal65]

Newc, talk about Mission Control You almost need a terminal block. I wonder if they make a small terminal block that would fit in the cavity? That might help sort out the wiring.

[Newc]

that is rather full on, im struggling to follow what your doing.

It's rather simple in theory:

The 5-way blade switch has 4 independent groups.
Each group has 5 independent switching options. Meaning, if I want the "classic Strat" switching:
1 Bridge
2 Bridge+Middle
3 Middle
4 Middle+Neck
5 Neck

I have to wire each of the 5 connections manually for that. A typical Strat 5-way is really a 3-way with bridges that connect the 1+2 and 2+3, which is why you can only get those connections at 2 and 4.

I have 2 push pull pots and a 2-way mini toggle.
The push-pulls select between 2 groups, and the mini-toggle selects between the 2 push-pulls (so that I only have one group of 5 switching options active).

I'm wiring the switch for 4 separate types of switching:

Both push-pulls down, mini-toggle Up
Group 1 - Standard "Strat-style"
1 Bridge1 (since it has 2 pickups in the bridge)
2 Bridge1 split
3 Bridge2
4 Bridge2 split
5 Neck

Volume push-pull Up, mini-toggle Up
Group 2 - Standard "Strat-style" splits #2
1 Bridge1 split
2 Bridge 1 split + Bridge 2 split (inverted for "quack")
3 Bridge 2 split
4 Bridge 2 split + Neck split (inverted for "quack")
5 Neck split

Mini-toggle Down, Tone push-pull down
Group 3 (possible connections)
1 Bridge 1 + Red (one coil) from Bridge 2 (3-coil pickup)
2 Bridge 1 + White (other coil) from Bridge 2 (3-coil pickup)
3 Bridge 2 + Red of Neck
4 Bridge 2 + White of Neck
5 Neck + Red of Bridge 2 (3-coil pickup)

Mini-toggle Down, Tone push-pull Up
Group 4 (possible connections)
1 Bridge 1 split + Red (or White) of Bridge 2 (no quack)
2 Bridge 1 Red + Bridge 2 Red (or White) (no quack)
3 Bridge 1 + Bridge 2
4 Bridge 2 + Neck
5 Bridge 1 + Neck

However, the problem is that in order to get all those, the same wires from one Group are jumped to another Group, and that joined connection seems to be bleeding back to the source, so that anywhere I have 2 pickups connected, those 2 pickups are connected on any Group and any switch option where either of those 2 pickups are joined (i.e. Group 1 option 1 comes out the same as Group 4 option 3 + option 5 - all 3 pickups on at once).

The only thing I have not tried is wiring the pickups directly to one Group, then jumping from that Group to another Group. I've used central contact points (brass tabs) on each pickup wire and wires coming off those tabs going to each Group (as seen in the photo), and got bleed-over, and I've tried jumping switch contacts from the central contact points (brass tabs). The only thing I haven't tried is wiring the pickups straight to the switch and then jumping from those contacts to the other groups. Maybe the switch's internal grounding thing will take care of the bleeding.

However, I won't be able to get the Bridge 1 + Red of Bridge 2 connection, as the red+white of Bridge 2 will be joined at another switch point.

Make sense?

[Newc]

Newc, talk about Mission Control You almost need a terminal block. I wonder if they make a small terminal block that would fit in the cavity? That might help sort out the wiring.

I was actually looking at those in a catalog at work the other night

Unfortunately, I didn't find one small enough for a San Dimas-style route (Ontario MAYBE), so then hit upon the idea of soldering each pickup's wire to small brass tabs and running leads from the tabs to the switch contacts. That worked, with no loss of signal according to my meter, but I got bleed-over on mutual connections.

Wrapping the tabs in electrical tape kept them from bumping each other, so I know it wasn't that.