Wiring lil 59 bridge in series/parallel using 250k dpdt cst push/pull pot.. I have some questions

[Tomzacksnack]

This is a picture of the current wiring. I am a little confused as to what’s safe to leave vs take off. I ordered a 250k dpdt push/pull top that I intend to swap with the current tone pot. Can anybody offer any insight, I’ve looked at several wiring schematics and I’m a little nervous as I don’t want to solder the wrong pieces and completely discourage myself from trying anything like this in the future.

 

[Tomzacksnack]

 

[MAS Tequila]

250K with a humbucker, I hope you like dark and muddy.

 

[gonzo]

you need a 500k pot with that pickup.

 

[Tomzacksnack]

you need a 500k pot with that pickup.

250K with a humbucker, I hope you like dark and muddy.

I’ve been reading older posts and people are kind of split of 500k and 250k w/ this one. It currently had a 250k pot on it and I liked the way it sounded. Is it really a humbucker though?

 

[gonzo]

yes.
i have one.
500k is what i use,
anything less is not going to give you the most out of the pickup.


why not go to the duncan site and do some research?

 

[pipthepilot]

This is a picture of the current wiring. I am a little confused as to what’s safe to leave vs take off. I ordered a 250k dpdt push/pull top that I intend to swap with the current tone pot. Can anybody offer any insight, I’ve looked at several wiring schematics and I’m a little nervous as I don’t want to solder the wrong pieces and completely discourage myself from trying anything like this in the future.

Can you be a bit more specific on what you're trying to achieve?

If all you are doing is swapping the tone pot for one with a push pull, you just need to replace the wires like for like. As you can see, you have a wire coming from the the Vol pot to the 1st lug of the tone pot, the 3rd lug of the tone pot is empty and the middle lug (wiper) goes to the cap and the other end of the cap is to ground.

If you're worried about how to solder the dpdt switch, thats really straight forward too. You just need to add a wire from one of the common solder pads on the switch and ground it to the back of the pot. Then take the red and white wire that's taped up on the PU wire and solder them together on one of the solder pads next to the ground wire. They're both attached together as they form the link between the HB coils but when the switch connects them to ground, the second coil is shorted out and you get the single coil tone.

If the pot you're getting is one of the CTS ones with black plastic case, you will need to solder the end of the cap to the side of the pot. Or you can bridge the cap across and solder it to the back of the volume pot, both achieve the same.

As for the pot resistance, typically humbuckers use 500k and single coils 250K but this doesn't have to be the case and as you said, you like the tone and thats the important thing. I assume you want to use the push/pull to split the coils? If so, you're going to have to find a compromise between the full humbucker and single coils anyway. IMHO the cap is going to make the biggest difference so you might want to try a 0.033uF or 0.022uF cap with the 250k pot.

Never be put off of experimenting with your guitar electrics in the future, there's not too much damage you can do. A couple of pots and a cap hopefully won't break the bank for you if you have to replace them and if you run into problems, people here can help point you in the right direct. I recommend everyone should have a go at experimenting with different value caps and pots and settle on what you like the sound of.

 

[Tuxedo Poly]

To change the tone pot I would leave the capacitor and fit a new one grounded on the volume pot.
Something like this

 

[Tomzacksnack]

yes.
i have one.
500k is what i use,
anything less is not going to give you the most out of the pickup.


why not go to the duncan site and do some research?

I’ll try the 500k, if it’s anything better then the 250k, then that would be a plus. Is it normal for it to come wired by a 250k (from whoever owned it before me). I saw that 250k pot in there and assumed this is what it needs ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Tomzacksnack]

To change the tone pot I would leave the capacitor and fit a new one grounded on the volume pot.
Something like this
View attachment 1101034

This is amazing! I think I’m gonna try the 500k pot just to see if it’s any better different. I have a stupid question. Will using the 500k pot effect the tone of the neck pickup at all? Is there any way to get around that

 

[robt57]

you need a 500k pot with that pickup.

Or it will only be ok/alive in paralell coils mode, agree..

 

[Tomzacksnack]

Can you be a bit more specific on what you're trying to achieve?

If all you are doing is swapping the tone pot for one with a push pull, you just need to replace the wires like for like. As you can see, you have a wire coming from the the Vol pot to the 1st lug of the tone pot, the 3rd lug of the tone pot is empty and the middle lug (wiper) goes to the cap and the other end of the cap is to ground.

If you're worried about how to solder the dpdt switch, thats really straight forward too. You just need to add a wire from one of the common solder pads on the switch and ground it to the back of the pot. Then take the red and white wire that's taped up on the PU wire and solder them together on one of the solder pads next to the ground wire. They're both attached together as they form the link between the HB coils but when the switch connects them to ground, the second coil is shorted out and you get the single coil tone.

If the pot you're getting is one of the CTS ones with black plastic case, you will need to solder the end of the cap to the side of the pot. Or you can bridge the cap across and solder it to the back of the volume pot, both achieve the same.

As for the pot resistance, typically humbuckers use 500k and single coils 250K but this doesn't have to be the case and as you said, you like the tone and thats the important thing. I assume you want to use the push/pull to split the coils? If so, you're going to have to find a compromise between the full humbucker and single coils anyway. IMHO the cap is going to make the biggest difference so you might want to try a 0.033uF or 0.022uF cap with the 250k pot.

Never be put off of experimenting with your guitar electrics in the future, there's not too much damage you can do. A couple of pots and a cap hopefully won't break the bank for you if you have to replace them and if you run into problems, people here can help point you in the right direct. I recommend everyone should have a go at experimenting with different value caps and pots and settle on what you like the sound of.

Can you be a bit more specific on what you're trying to achieve?

If all you are doing is swapping the tone pot for one with a push pull, you just need to replace the wires like for like. As you can see, you have a wire coming from the the Vol pot to the 1st lug of the tone pot, the 3rd lug of the tone pot is empty and the middle lug (wiper) goes to the cap and the other end of the cap is to ground.

If you're worried about how to solder the dpdt switch, thats really straight forward too. You just need to add a wire from one of the common solder pads on the switch and ground it to the back of the pot. Then take the red and white wire that's taped up on the PU wire and solder them together on one of the solder pads next to the ground wire. They're both attached together as they form the link between the HB coils but when the switch connects them to ground, the second coil is shorted out and you get the single coil tone.

If the pot you're getting is one of the CTS ones with black plastic case, you will need to solder the end of the cap to the side of the pot. Or you can bridge the cap across and solder it to the back of the volume pot, both achieve the same.

As for the pot resistance, typically humbuckers use 500k and single coils 250K but this doesn't have to be the case and as you said, you like the tone and thats the important thing. I assume you want to use the push/pull to split the coils? If so, you're going to have to find a compromise between the full humbucker and single coils anyway. IMHO the cap is going to make the biggest difference so you might want to try a 0.033uF or 0.022uF cap with the 250k pot.

Never be put off of experimenting with your guitar electrics in the future, there's not too much damage you can do. A couple of pots and a cap hopefully won't break the bank for you if you have to replace them and if you run into problems, people here can help point you in the right direct. I recommend everyone should have a go at experimenting with different value caps and pots and settle on what you like the sound of.

I wanted to wire it in series/parallel, I don’t wanna split the coils; I like the way you broke it down though, it’s nice to have the picture showing the wiring but I feel like it’s easier for me having that step by step. Would the process be much different for wiring it in series/parallel?

 

[Tomzacksnack]

you need a 500k pot with that pickup.

Will having a 500k pot mess with the neck pickup at all?

 

[bobio]

Sorry this is not helpful, but I am glad I don't have to worry about that

I have been using Toneshaper electronics for years and they take all of the fiddling out of wiring.
I have a 5-Way, two humbucker kit in my Stratele It uses 500k pots and drops down to 250k in the single coil positions.
I have a Seymour Duncan 59 in the neck and a Seymour Duncan Little 59 in the bridge.




P.S. Stratele = Strat Shaped Tele

 

[pipthepilot]

This is amazing! I think I’m gonna try the 500k pot just to see if it’s any better different. I have a stupid question. Will using the 500k pot effect the tone of the neck pickup at all? Is there any way to get around that

Yes, it will affect the neck pickup but you can get around this by adding a 470k resistor from the hot wire of the neck pickup to ground. Effectively, this creates a voltage divider with the resistor and the pot so the Neck PU sees the 500k as a 250k pot.

But as mentioned above, don't get too hung on on what resistance value should go with which pickup type. All pickups are different, some single coils sound great with 500k. In fact, many of the best sounding vintage Teles from the 60s are often found to have pots well in access of 300k, due to large manufacturing tolerances at that time.

Would the process be much different for wiring it in series/parallel?

The connection to the pot lugs is the same but the DPST wiring is quite a bit different.

First off, add a piece of hookup wire (blue in the diagram below) to the lug on the blade switch where the black wire from the Bridge PU is connected. Don't remove the PU wire, just add a new wire sharing the same lug.

Now attach the Red PU wire to the first common lug/tab on the DPDT switch and attach the white wire to the second common lug/tab.

Take the new wire (blue) you attached to the blade switch and solder the other end to one of the lug/tab on the DPDT switch, the same side as the red wire.

On the remain empty lug of the Red side, add a link wire (orange below) to the second common lug where the white wire is attached.

Finally, on the white side, add a wire that goes to ground and you should be done.

If you're using a CTS push pull, they have a black PCB on the side that looks something like this.

Note, I said above not to remove the black wire from the blade switch but you can if it's easier to reach the SPDT switch, just solder it to the same pad as the blue wire. From a circuit perspective, it doesn't matter which end of the blue wire the black wire is attached to.

Or if using a switch with vertical lugs, it should look like this.

 

[Mike Caffrey]

59 in the bridge definitely needs a 500k pot. It's fatness will make it murky and uneven otherwise.

 

[Tomzacksnack]

To change the tone pot I would leave the capacitor and fit a new one grounded on the volume pot.
Something like this
View attachment 1101034

can you help me out with the neck pickup cover? I know I have to sever the little connection and add a wire to lift the ground, but there’s not much space in between those 2, what would be the best place to add the 3rd wire? Here’s a picture

 

[Tomzacksnack]

I’m gonna give it a crack tomorrow, can anyone help me out with the neck pickup cover? I know I have to sever the little connection and add a wire to lift the ground, but there’s not much space in between those 2, what would be the best place to add the 3rd wire?

 

[pipthepilot]

I’m gonna give it a crack tomorrow, can anyone help me out with the neck pickup cover? I know I have to sever the little connection and add a wire to lift the ground, but there’s not much space in between those 2, what would be the best place to add the 3rd wire?

You can attach the extra wire to one of the cover tabs at the back

 

[Tuxedo Poly]

The neck pickup doesn't need modifying unless you are switching the two pickups in series together. The diagram above is to switch the Little 59 coils from series to parallel.

If you want to do it anyway there are two ways it's usually done.
Fender are currently using the outer cover lug like the lower image. The yellow wire is the cover ground.