HHH wiring diagram question

[rickwh1973]

I am a newbie to guitar wiring and my project is to replace the stock pickups in my 90s RG470 (V8-S1-V7).

Decided to go with:
Bridge: EMG H4
Mid: Dimarzio Chopper
Neck: EMG H4A

I know I need to replace the stock 5 way switch if I want to use the Chopper as a full humbucker in Pos #3 (and i do), so I orderd a new 5-way super switch and am planning to use the HHH diagram from guitarelectronics.com (link removed to allow post)


I think that will give me exactly what I want!

But I'm confused as to the "why" this works. Specifically... Why is the Middle pickup's North-start wire connected to the 2nd and 4th lugs on the upper left "pole"/set of lugs on the switch?

The diagram says that the South part of the Middle humbucker will be active here and THAT wire is connected on the 2nd and 4th lugs on the lower right pole. Isn't that enough... So why the extra connection from the Middle North-start?

Thanks for any help that you can give to help a newbie out!

[Vim Fuego]

You're right, The south wire switches on the middle pickup on here and you could leave the north wire off, however that would effectively leave an unconnected wire in the circuit which would introduce noise. What has been done is connect both the middle north and south wires to the output. This means the north coil is shorted out (it effectively has a wire across it) so the north coil is switched off but not disconnected so no noise should be introduced.
Jim

[rickwh1973]

Thanks so much that makes sense!

So, as a rule of thumb, is it fair to say that...

Any pickup that is involved in a particular switching position needs to have both of its coils in the circuit... Even if the coil is disabled/shorted out to make it act as a single coil?

So in positions 1,3,5 when the pickups are by themselves as full humbuckers, the North-start wire IS using both coils and therefore will not introduce noise?

Thanks again!

[Vim Fuego]

Yup, you can coil tap a humbucker by either connecting the middle (where the north and south coils are connected together) to either ground, which in this circuit leaves the north coil active or the output/hot which leaves the south coil active. As you circuit has 2 humbuckers, when they're both connected and coil tapped you'll want to select north coil for one and south coil for the other. Therefore one pickup will have a coil shorted to ground the other shorted to output/hot.
Jim

[rickwh1973]

Awesome! Thanks so much. I can't wait to get my parts in the mail so I can get started!

Thanks again!

[Dеmon]

would you please to make a picture of wiring, rickwh1973?

[rickwh1973]

Here is the planned wiring diagram I'm planning to use:

www guitarelectronics com/product/WDUHSH5L1102

Are you asking me for a pic of my wiring AFTER I'm done? If so I'll have to see how that goes.. :-) It may not be pretty... Like I said I'm a newbie...

[Dеmon]

Yes, wiring diagram.
I used push/pull to separate coils in middle hamb.
but dimarzio p/p is not good. Ibanez potenziometr is much more better.

[rickwh1973]

Update:

got my 4pole 5-way switch in and wired up and everything is good to go. got the chopper in and is full humbucker in Pos 3.

Still waiting for my bridge EMG H4a from "musicians friend dot com" i have no idea when I'm gonna see that. Called and they said they were waiting to get them from EMG. But that was 2+ weeks ago. Website keeps being updated each day saying it will be there "today"...

I'm gonna give it a few more days and then ask for a refund.

Rick

[rickwh1973]

FINALLY got my EMG H4a neck pickup in the mail this week... Got it wired up last night. still need to restring and all but it worked well.

I even decided to do a custom wiring for position 4 which I'd probably never use in the default config (half mid, half neck)...

so I modified the wiring to make position 4 be full neck and full bridge

Pos 1 Full Bridge humbucker
Pos 2 Half Bridge, half middle
Pos 3 Full middile humbucker
Pos 4 Full Bridge, full neck humbucker
Pos 5 Full Neck humbucker

Thanks again to all for your help!

Rick

[DaniJem]

this thread is interesting. I have a project in mind also with 3 humbs HHH.

I take note.