How does 4 way series wiring work?

[GTG_Gopher]

Probably a rookie question, but..

Looking at the Seymour Duncan wiring diagram, I can't figure out how that setup actually wires the two pickups in series.

I can how the bridge, neck, and parallel positions work wiring wise, but not the series. It looks like in position four, the white wire is effectively an empy lug on the other set of switch contacts...

Thanks!

https://www.seymourduncan.com/images/wiring-diagrams/Tele_2S_4B_1V_1T.jpg

 

[bgmacaw]

This video should help explain it...

 

[moosie]

Probably a rookie question, but..

Looking at the Seymour Duncan wiring diagram, I can't figure out how that setup actually wires the two pickups in series.

I can how the bridge, neck, and parallel positions work wiring wise, but not the series. It looks like in position four, the white wire is effectively an empy lug on the other set of switch contacts...

Thanks!

https://www.seymourduncan.com/images/wiring-diagrams/Tele_2S_4B_1V_1T.jpg

Did you see my explanation, posted just yesterday? Or is confusion from that what prompted the question?

One pole manages bridge hot, and the other pole manages neck common. Bridge common is hardwired to ground. Neck hot is hardwired to volume pot input (aka HOT).

In bridge position, neck common is lifted, turning off Neck. Noisy, though, the way Duncan draws it (see my other post).

In series position, you can see the wire jumping the two poles. That connects bridge hot to neck common. That's what series is, like a choo-choo train, one car (pickup) hooked to the ass-end of the other.

 

[GTG_Gopher]

Did you see my explanation, posted just yesterday? Or is confusion from that what prompted the question?

One pole manages bridge hot, and the other pole manages neck common. Bridge common is hardwired to ground. Neck hot is hardwired to volume pot input (aka HOT).

In bridge position, neck common is lifted, turning off Neck. Noisy, though, the way Duncan draws it (see my other post).

In series position, you can see the wire jumping the two poles. That connects bridge hot to neck common. That's what series is, like a choo-choo train, one car (pickup) hooked to the ass-end of the other.

Didn't see your post yet, got some reading to do here today! So my confusion is entirely home grown! I'll have to read up, hopefully that clears it up here.

 

[Tuxedo Poly]

formatting fail

 

[sjtalon]

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/preferred-4-way-switch-diagram.1059576/page-2#post-10374418

 

[Dacious]

The Gibson PAF and Gretsch Filtertron are both basically two single coil pickups arranged in series.

Like two AA batteries nose to tail for three volts, you get the coil impedances summed. If they're rwrp to each other they become humbucking.

So if both are 6kohm that's 12kohm with lotsa magnet to produce big output.

I love my five way which has serial in phase and out of phase.

 

[GTG_Gopher]

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/preferred-4-way-switch-diagram.1059576/page-2#post-10374418

Thank you, beat me to the punch on this.

See the thread in the quote for a good explanation on how to wire the 4 way switch...

 

[sjtalon]

Ubetcha, Cool biz.

I just put it on here for future searchers on the subject.................to steer them towards more info/threads.

 

[karsten harazim]

This video should help explain it...

hi, new to this forum and to rewiring my guitar…
i established the 4way switch mod exactly as explained but at my squier affinity neck pickup i cannot find any cover grounding, when i remove the cover i cannot find any jumper or connection to be cut for the cover to be grounded or solder a cable onto. my multimeter says it is not grounded? now, even without the switch/pickups connected, when i turn the tone it produces alot of noise. any suggestions to get that going? thx, karsten pod

 

[moosie]

hi, new to this forum and to rewiring my guitar…
i established the 4way switch mod exactly as explained but at my squier affinity neck pickup i cannot find any cover grounding, when i remove the cover i cannot find any jumper or connection to be cut for the cover to be grounded or solder a cable onto. my multimeter says it is not grounded? now, even without the switch/pickups connected, when i turn the tone it produces alot of noise. any suggestions to get that going? thx, karsten podView attachment 851041 View attachment 851042 View attachment 851043 View attachment 851044

So, your neck cover just came right off, no wire, no blob of solder holding it on? Can we see a pic of the cover?

Here's the same issue, solved, from 2010: https://www.tdpri.com/threads/affinity-tele-neck-pickup-4-way-switch.212927/

If no success, check and see if the cover is in fact metal. Some are plated plastic (ex. Keystones), in which case grounding won't be necessary (or possible).

 

[karsten harazim]

hi, new to this forum and to rewiring my guitar. did the 4way switch mod exactly as explained but at my squier affinity neck pickup i cannot find any cover grounding… it humms terribly when i plug into the amp with or without cover, anyone can help?

So, your neck cover just came right off, no wire, no blob of solder holding it on? Can we see a pic of the cover?

Here's the same issue, solved, from 2010: https://www.tdpri.com/threads/affinity-tele-neck-pickup-4-way-switch.212927/

If no success, check and see if the cover is in fact metal. Some are plated plastic (ex. Keystones), in which case grounding won't be necessary (or possible).

no traces of soldering or torn jumper etc… guess i will give the sanding and soldering ground to it a try.

soldered ground cable to the cover and to the top of volume pot, still noise

due to the issue that noise happens when switch / picks are not connected at all i may have messed something up with the pots / capacitor although i have no idea what?

 

[moosie]

due to the issue that noise happens when switch / picks are not connected at all i may have messed something up with the pots / capacitor although i have no idea what?

Yep. Very unlikely there's anything wrong with your pots, caps, etc. Noise like this is a grounding issue. Something that should be grounded, is not.

Use a meter and check for continuity between every item that should be grounded, to the collar of the output jack. Also, make sure you don't have any ungrounded shield material (in other words, anything metal, no matter how small) in the cavities. If you've shielded, make doubly sure all that is grounded. Check each piece of foil, don't assume continuity between two touching pieces.

If the neck cover is off, leave it off for now, until you get the noise sorted.

Also, the standard 4-way diagram is noisy in position 1 (bridge). You can add a small jumper wire to fix that.

 

[moosie]

Check out this post, it has pics of the diagram with the anti-noise jumper labeled. That will only fix noise in bridge position, so isn't your entire solution, but it's easy to do, and it will help.

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/preferred-4-way-switch-diagram.1059576/#post-10361292