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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Pawn Shop Mustang Wiring Mod

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Hey all,

Can anyone tell me if the stock Mustang Special wiring harness can be modified to change the inside split of each humbucker to a parallel circuit? This would yield the possibility of split/series/parallel for each pickup and seems a bit more versatile than double splits.

I've looked at a bunch of other diagrams for this arrangement but they all use three (well, six) post switches rather than the Stang's 4.

image

Without spending a lot of time, I would opine that the switch architecture is not right.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Someone on a forum somewhere mentioned that they had done it with their Mustang switch so I believe it's possible.

Here is the diagram to achieve it with a toggle switch, which has different internal architecture, but might still be a helpful reference (to someone other than me, anyway.)

image

Update. I found this quote on a guitar wiring site, referring to the type of switch shown above:

"Diagram D shows the middle position of a highly specialized type of DPDT center-on switch. Here the common terminals connect as shown in the diagram.
Some refer to this as a "DPDT on/on/on switch" but as you can see, the switch in Diagram C could be referred to in the same way. The biggest use of this switch is for wiring humbuckers in series / coil-cut / parallel. This is the only way you can get all 3 options in one switch."

So apparently it is not possible with the stock switch after all.
image

Last edited: Mar 29, 2018 14:46:03

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 13:22:11

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 13:22:04

Wow! Thank you. I'll give this a shot.

Unless... bonus round: Can you devise a way to do it so that the middle position remains series HB with the split occurring at the top and parallel HB occurring at the bottom? That would be on the top pickup. I'd love to have it so that the split coils are at the extremities and the middle is standard series HB for the sake of intuitiveness. I am a beggar trying to be a chooser now, I know.

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 13:20:46

It's not necessary. I just wanted to preserve the stock position of the humbucker since that's what I'm used to but like Bruce Lee said, "Be like water..."

I'll grow accustomed to this arrangement and it'll be great! If it works.

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 13:23:56

Well, I don't know if what I did is what you said to do but I did something and got a result! I think what I've achieved is:

Down: regular humbucker
Middle: out-of phase humbucker (not sure if parallel or series)
Up: parallel humbucker

Does this drawing show what you intended?
image
image

Last edited: Mar 30, 2018 21:08:02

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 13:26:18

By god I think I'm getting the hang of this. I believe I have determined what it is I've wired up and it's not what I wanted but it's getting there.

The attached charts show the current scheme and what I believe the results are.

image
image

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 13:26:43

Roger that. I missed your last post before I posted those charts but I just came back on to update my post to say I think I need to swap red and black so thank you for confirming that!

It's really the north coil I want to split to but I'm hesitant to push my luck at this point! Home stretch here. I'm taking this opportunity to level my frets or I'd slap it back together right now and test it.

That crazy thin out of phase sound is tempting. Maybe some day I'll get a pull pot switch to make it an option.

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 13:26:51

Well, it's all back together and running strong. I've discovered that parallel wiring in the HB is so similar to the single coil split sound that it's probably not even worth it to switch to the north coil split. The edge the single coil has on the parallel HB is that it's just a little more biting so in that sense it's probably better that it's the south one, actually.

Thanks a lot for you help on this. It's been a great learning experience!

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 13:27:32

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