Pup wiring configurations. . .

[thearabianmage]

I was reading DVM's post about his 'Full Boat' wiring modification, and it really got me thinking about how switching out my normal pots for push-pulls can give me the opportunity for extra tonal variations.

So I went to a friend's house today and he had an old strat copy that sold to me for. . . £7.50!!! Oh yes. Can not go wrong there. And it was only because one of the two screws at the front of the saddles was missing and they never bothered replacing it so it never got played. Get in!

So it has 3 singlecoil pups and 2 volume/1 tone so I'm thinking about switching the bridge pup to a humbucker and adding another tone pot - 1 v/t for the neck and middle pups and 1 v/t for the bridge. I was also gonna get all push-pulls to experiment with different wiring configurations. So I was wondering a few things:

1 - I need to be boned up on a few terms and jargon. . . Everytime I that I have tried looking these terms up, some clever little clog just confuses the Tao out of me, so maybe speaking to a human being will help.

In wiring, what is a series - parallel - out of phase - in phase - how do I wire a hum-cancelling config?

2 - With this guitar and its 3 pups and eventual 4 push-pull pots, how can I wire it to achieve the maximum in tonal variation? I'm talking as much as possible (series, parallel, out of phase, anything and everything) I know it's only a cheapo but I really want as much practice with anything as possible!

And if you could explain in lamens while dropping jargon in (and explaining it as you go) I would be very very grateful! Cheers everybody!

[thearabianmage]

Oh, and how can you tell how many conductors your pickups have?

[Rabies]

Google is your friend. Just type in what you want to know...within about 5 clicks...you'll find all you need to know. :AOK:

[marnold]

In wiring, what is a series - parallel - out of phase - in phase - how do I wire a hum-cancelling config?

These aren't technical definitions, but will give you the end result:
Series = Pickup output is added to each other (e.g. 8K pickup and another 8K pickup = 16K output). This is how the two coils in a humbucker are wired together.
Parallel = Pickup output is 1/4 the total of both pickups together (e.g. from the above example, the output would now be 4K). This is the usual Strat neck-middle, middle-bridge wiring.
Out of phase = gives a thin, nasal sound that can be really annoying or really cool sounding, the latter especially if your name is Brian May or Peter Green.

Here's a couple other references:
http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/serpar.php
http://www.1728.com/guitar.htm

The single coil pickups will be hum canceling if the middle pickup is reverse wound and reverse polarity of the other two single coils. Then the two "notch" positions on a Strat will buck hum. A single coil with a humbucker will not be hum canceling.

The only way to get hum canceling in every position is to have all the pickups cancel hum, either by using all humbuckers or using hum-free pickups like my Dimarzio Area 61s.

[thearabianmage]

The single coil pickups will be hum canceling if the middle pickup is reverse wound and reverse polarity of the other two single coils. Then the two "notch" positions on a Strat will buck hum. A single coil with a humbucker will not be hum canceling.

The only way to get hum canceling in every position is to have all the pickups cancel hum, either by using all humbuckers or using hum-free pickups like my Dimarzio Area 61s.

Very interesting, thanks!

Is it possible to take the middle pup and reverse-wind it myself or would it be better to just buy one? What are your Area 61's like (that is such a cool name for a pup!)

[thearabianmage]

Google is your friend. Just type in what you want to know...within about 5 clicks...you'll find all you need to know. :AOK:

I tried, I really did! Maybe I just didn't go to the right places. I've been on Wikipedia and that was even worse! I'd might as well learn Cantonese!

[marnold]

Is it possible to take the middle pup and reverse-wind it myself or would it be better to just buy one? What are your Area 61's like (that is such a cool name for a pup!)
Most Strat sets have a RW/RP middle pickup. In a Tele set the neck pickup is RW/RP so the middle position will cancel hum. As I mentioned, the Area 61s don't need to be RW/RP since they all cancel hum. Basically the Area series of pickups from Dimarzio are stacked humbuckers. There is a weak second coil underneath the main coil with just enough windings to cancel the hum, but not enough to majorly affect the tone. Dimarzio's site is all-flash so I can't link directly to them.

Here are my reviews of them and some clips:
http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=6002
http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=6952

[markb]

This (http://www.deaf-eddie.net/drawings/drawings.html) might help, Joe. Check out Eddie's Fat-o-caster switches while you're there.

[thearabianmage]

This (http://www.deaf-eddie.net/drawings/drawings.html) might help, Joe. Check out Eddie's Fat-o-caster switches while you're there.

Mate, I've only had a quick look at that site, but it's bookmarked already, cheers for that!

I was checking out this configuration -

http://www.deaf-eddie.net/drawings/strat-all-series.jpg

Does anyone know how I could add a mini-toggle kill-switch into that? I think that would be pretty sweet. . .

---Edit---
I've looked at that site a bit more and it is pretty awesome (understatement). There are some sweet configs there! The Fat Strat 5-tone-2-volume!! Uhh. . . *drool*