scab Posted August 6, 2006 Report Share Posted August 6, 2006 If you had 2 humbuckers could you have a 3-way switch on each to turn off each coil??? like if you put one on the neck and on the first position would turn one half on and if you had it in the middle both coils would be on and if you had it in the other one it would turn on the other half?? I think that would be cool if you could do that.. Thanks for your input.. Scab P.S. If I have copper shielding in my guitar should I ground it to the back of the volume pot?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted August 6, 2006 Report Share Posted August 6, 2006 Yes, you could do that, but there's no intrinsic benefit of one of the "halves" over the other, so you don't really need access to both of them. You can get a 5-way superswitch and accomplish more things, in a more 'ergonomic' way. Some people prefer having individual control over their humbuckers when splitting them, but not for the purposes of using each coil. In other words, they'll have "humbucker" and "single coil" as 2 modes (not 3) activated with a push-pull pot or something like that. As for the copper shielding-- ideally you will remove your pots and switches while shielding (or completely re-solder while you're at the shielding job, creating a star ground) and they'll already be in contact with the copper foil, so no need to add an additional wire from the back of the pot to the shielding. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikhailgtrski Posted August 6, 2006 Report Share Posted August 6, 2006 Actually (depending on the guitar + pickups) there is a bit of a difference between the two coils. For example, the outside coil on a bridge humbucker is a little thinner sounding than the inside coil. But it all depends on what you want to do with it. I tend to use the humbuckers 90% of the time, even though I have all the coil splitting options. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scab Posted August 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2006 Hey Greg, Thanks for your input.. Um, I didn't know that their was a particular coil in the humbuckers that was considered "Single Coil"... I asked the question about the sheilding ground because I have everything in my Ibanez RG wired up with 2 humbuckers 1 vol. 1 tone and a 5-way switch and everything works but on some of the selectors on the 5-way it buzzes and i didn't know if its a grounding problem... Um... I have everything grounded to the volume pot, then I have a ground running from the volume to the trem claw.. everything that's grounded to the vol. pot is: both hum bucks, the tone pot, volume pot (to itself) output jack, & 5 way.. I also have a ground runnin from the tone to the tone's casing... Usually the buzzing occurs if the tone is turned up.. If the tone is turned all the way down it doesn't buzz.. Thanks, Any other input is welcome.. Scab Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted August 7, 2006 Report Share Posted August 7, 2006 Scab, A humbucker is just 2 single-coils, side by each, reverse-wound and reverse-polarity so that they cancel (buck) the hum. Mikhail is absolutely right that there is SOME minor difference between the two coils, but in my opinion not enough that one should bother having them selectable separately. Regarding the hum: If you're already handy with a soldering iron, I would set up a star ground. It sounds like you're getting a ground loop somewhere along the way, which can happen when one "over-grounds" everything. A nice star ground takes care of all that. If you google for Star grounding, you should find some info, but the main principle of it is that instead of grounding pots to each other, the tailpiece to one pot, etc., ALL grounds go to one central spot. I use a tabbed "O" ring for mine. This means that the lug on the volume pot that is normally just bent back to touch the pot casing is ALSO desoldered, and a wire is attached to it which terminates at the "star" as well. The shielding foil is essentially "one unit" for lack of a better term, but it "adds" the pots to itself when the pots come into contact with it, so that the pots are essentially just an extension of the shielding, too. This gets sent to the "star" as well. Once all grounds terminate at the star, ONE wire goes to ground at the ouput jack. The star itself is wrapped in electrical tape so that it doesn't touch the copper foil. If that doesn't make sense, there are better sites (ie. guitarnuts.com) to make sense of it all. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scab Posted August 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2006 Ok, So if I ground everything to the back of the vol. pot will it be fine... These would be all the wires being connected and grounded: 1) Bridge Pickup 2) Neck Pickup 3) 5-way Switch 4) Tone Pot 5) Vol. Pot 6) Trem Claw (grounding the strings) and finally last but not least 7) output jack Just to let you know this ^^^ is how I have everything right now.. The only problem I'm getting is when I have certian selections selected on the switch it buzzes.. And sometimes when I turn my tone all the way down it goes away.. I don't really know if I'm doing this right beings it is my first build... scab P.S. here is the link of my wiring diagram: http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/schem...ay-w-split.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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