How would you wire this up?

[dewey decibel]

Instead of asking a bunch of little questions and getting confused I'm just going to throw it all out there;

The guitar is a Duo Sonic body, and I want a Firebird in the neck and vintage style Strat PU in the bridge, wired up with a single volume, single tone, and 3 way toggle. I want the neck PU to see a 500k volume pot and the bridge to see 250k. Not a problem if you use a 500k pot and strap a resistor to the bridge PU, but here's where it gets complicated; I'd also like to tap the coils on the Firebird PU.

Initially I was going to get a 500k push/pull pot for tapping the coils. Then I started thinking about that tapped coil of the Firebird sounding better with a lower resistance pot (which I don't even really know is true yet) and was considering strapping a resistor from the split coil lead to the 500k push/pull pot. I think this will work and not cause any problems but am not sure.

But then I realized these guitars have those little slide switches. I was going to make a new guard (sans sliders) but was thinking maybe it would be better to split the coils at the slider switch and then wire up to the 3 way as usual? I could then add a resistor off the tapped coil just as easy if needed.

That's where I'm at, any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

 

[dewey decibel]

Anybody?

 

[Lolaviola]

I would wire the pickups to the slide switches, and then to a dual pot.
http://cgi.ebay.com/FENDER-250K-500...445?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item5632fa79d5
It should be simple to make one of the positions a coil-tap for the neck pickup, if that is what you mean by "split the coils".

 

[walterw]

half a firebird pickup, under that cover, is gonna be pretty weak. i wouldn't bother with that.

 

[sixstringslut]

You are probably going to end up with a hotter Bridge p/u to keep up with the HB at the neck, so a 500k should be fine there.

I'm with Walt on spliting those HBs, it will not be pleasant. Maybe out of phase in middle position for a bit of wildness?

It's all trial and error, get the iron out and tell what you discovered.

I, myself would put HB at the the bridge and maybe a tele neck or Gretsch hi-lo tron at neck pos. IMO

just a thought

 

[philthedill]

I avoid giving my personal opinion as its just that...however, there is a site I have often used and the guy is so helpful, you can email him with questions and he actually responds.
http://www.deaf-eddie.net/guitars/5-tone.html

philthedill

 

[dewey decibel]

I would wire the pickups to the slide switches, and then to a dual pot.
http://cgi.ebay.com/FENDER-250K-500...445?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item5632fa79d5
It should be simple to make one of the positions a coil-tap for the neck pickup, if that is what you mean by "split the coils".

Thanks, edited the OP for clarity.

half a firebird pickup, under that cover, is gonna be pretty weak. i wouldn't bother with that.

You are probably going to end up with a hotter Bridge p/u to keep up with the HB at the neck, so a 500k should be fine there.

I'm with Walt on spliting those HBs, it will not be pleasant. Maybe out of phase in middle position for a bit of wildness?

It's all trial and error, get the iron out and tell what you discovered.

I, myself would put HB at the the bridge and maybe a tele neck or Gretsch hi-lo tron at neck pos. IMO

just a thought

From what I understand a Firebird PU is like two Melody Maker PUs wired in series. And I know a lot of people don't like those underpowered Melody Maker PUs, but I think they're really cool for some stuff.

I'm mostly a neck PU position player, and mostly a clean player (along with the occasional fuzz excursion). I know most guys go to the bridge PU for the overdriven stuff, but I'm the opposite. This guitar is for a very specific purpose; funk and sweet soul music. A lot of the music I'm into was made on cheap guitars with pickups made by DeArmond, Teisco, etc. Goal is to have a neck PU that is spanky yet warm, between a single coil and bucker. I want a treble PU that is bright yet weak, I don't want it to be the beefy, muscular Strat bridge PU a lot of people want, a stock vintage Tele bridge PU would be good. But I do need the two to balance.

Right now I think I'm going to buy a Kent Armstrong Firebird neck (which has an output around 6.1k) and a '60s wound Strat PU (thinking around 6.8k) for the bridge, maybe add a bassplate. I know output in ohms isn't everything, but that is making sense to me.

 

[walterw]

From what I understand a Firebird PU is like two Melody Maker PUs wired in series.

I don't think so. The MM pickup is at least close to strat-sized, while each coil of a mini-bucker is way smaller.

 

[dewey decibel]

Ok, here's what I have so far:

Decided to go with a Mustang slider for the coil split, 500k volume and 250k tone pots. Also did '50s wiring. Also did the 470k resistor across the Strat pickup so it sees closer to 250k. So how does this look?

I'm really not sure about the slider, I still don't really understand how it works. It's an on/off/on switch, and I tried to have it wired humbucking/off (kill)/split. Does this look ok?

I don't think so. The MM pickup is at least close to strat-sized, while each coil of a mini-bucker is way smaller.

You're right, probably not actual Melody Makers but they look like them. They'll be about 3k each I guess which is pretty weak, but like I said I like some weak PUs. Guess I'm just curious.

 

[walterw]

you've got the volume pot wrong.

the output from the switch goes to the clockwise lug of the volume pot, and the center lug of the volume pot goes to the jack. (counter-clockwise gets grounded)

"'50s" wiring just means that you connect the tone pot to the volume pot's center lug with the output, instead of to the clockwise lug with the pickups.

 

[dewey decibel]

you've got the volume pot wrong.

the output from the switch goes to the clockwise lug of the volume pot, and the center lug of the volume pot goes to the jack. (counter-clockwise gets grounded)

"'50s" wiring just means that you connect the tone pot to the volume pot's center lug with the output, instead of to the clockwise lug with the pickups.

Hmmmmm, not sure what I was trying to do there. That's what I get doing this while working 3rd shift. Here's the revised version:

Mainly concerned about the on/off/on switch and the 470k resistor to ground.

Thanks for all the help btw.

 

[walterw]

man, 3rd shift must be kicking your ass!

you've got the strat pickup shorted out entirely! hot to switch, ground to ground, run the resistor between the same switch lug the pickup gets and ground. (edit: like you had it before)

(edit again: now the slider switch is wrong, too. i'd go back to your previous diagram, and just scratch out the one wire from the toggle switch to the tone pot and draw it to the volume pot like it should be.)

 

[dewey decibel]

man, 3rd shift must be kicking your ass!

you've got the strat pickup shorted out entirely! hot to switch, ground to ground, run the resistor between the same switch lug the pickup gets and ground. (edit: like you had it before)

(edit again: now the slider switch is wrong, too. i'd go back to your previous diagram, and just scratch out the one wire from the toggle switch to the tone pot and draw it to the volume pot like it should be.)

That's why I originally did this in pencil, but it wasn't dark enough to show up in a pic. Thanks again!