Wiring question series/parallel

[0175westwood29]

Ive got a very heavy modded jazz bass!

 

 

Its lovely but the pickup wiring was only ever temp but im not sure how to go about the wiring i want?

 

the pickups are an avedissian t bird in the bridge and dimarzio will power in the neck, however these can both be split which i want to put on switches however wiring wise id love to put in a series parallel switch aswell.

 

Any wiring gurus out there able to help?

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by 0175westwood29

[NickA]

If you split the pickups you'll probably get a load of noise pickup.

 

Look at an HH stingray and you'll see there are only certain combinations of coils possible (5), that's to make sure there is always some humbucking going on.

 

Anyway, think what combinations of the four coils you want; that's 24 without series / parallel combinations, but only 5 if you want to minimise hum... and even those won't work perfectly because the two pickups aren't the same.

 

Sort out some combinations and I'll see what can be done with switches and knobs!

[Pea Turgh]

I have no answers.  But I do have questions- is that a metal fretboard?!

[0175westwood29]

19 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

I have no answers.  But I do have questions- is that a metal fretboard?!

 

indeed it’s a aluminium neck from baguley 

[0175westwood29]

31 minutes ago, NickA said:

If you split the pickups you'll probably get a load of noise pickup.

 

Look at an HH stingray and you'll see there are only certain combinations of coils possible (5), that's to make sure there is always some humbucking going on.

 

Anyway, think what combinations of the four coils you want; that's 24 without series / parallel combinations, but only 5 if you want to minimise hum... and even those won't work perfectly because the two pickups aren't the same.

 

Sort out some combinations and I'll see what can be done with switches and knobs!

Ok yeh I hadn’t thought about that tbh

 

however I’m guessing actually combo would be 

 

both pickups series

both pickups parallel

neck split and bridge series

Neck and bridge split series 

 

 

[itu]

Do some trials with an amp, and use a rotary switch for the best sounds. Single or parallel tend to sound pretty close to each other.

[NickA]

Series or parallel the coils in either or both pickups is an option ( that's two switches) series or parallel the two pickups ( one more switch) also ok.  Put volume knobs after the switches for each pickup, then in parallel mode you can blend the pickups.

 

I guess if for each pickup you have a choice of series, parallel or single then series or parallel the two pickups, then some combinations may be a bit noisy ....then again so it is on a standard jazz bass if you don't use both pickups.  And changing the switch positions will change the volume.

 

This'll keep me busy during boring teams meetings.

 

 

 

 

[ahpook]

Apart from changing from a pickup selector to jazz wiring, would this do the job ?

 

[0175westwood29]

9 minutes ago, ahpook said:

Apart from changing from a pickup selector to jazz wiring, would this do the job ?

 

Where would tone come into that ? 

[NickA]

That circuit will do some combinations ( not series and parallel of individual pickups though) and should be hum free as it single coils both pickups.

 

You want tone as well?! There's no pleasing some people 😂.

 

Before the volume pot, put a pot in series with a cap with the cap connected to ground.  Trouble with passive tone controls is that they depend on the impedance of the pickups, which will be different with every combination.

[0175westwood29]

13 minutes ago, NickA said:

That circuit will do some combinations ( not series and parallel of individual pickups though) and should be hum free as it single coils both pickups.

 

You want tone as well?! There's no pleasing some people 😂.

 

Before the volume pot, put a pot in series with a cap with the cap connected to ground.  Trouble with passive tone controls is that they depend on the impedance of the pickups, which will be different with every combination.

Tbh I always have gone at max so guess I could just put a cap in the circuit somewhere rather than a pot 

[BigRedX]

IME you never know what switching options you want/need until you try them. If this was my bass and I didn't already like any the of the sounds I was getting out of the current wiring, I'd look at a temporary switch arrangement that would allow me to try out every single option. Then I'd make a note of the one(s) I liked and build a permanent switch arrangement to accommodate just those.

[0175westwood29]

51 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

IME you never know what switching options you want/need until you try them. If this was my bass and I didn't already like any the of the sounds I was getting out of the current wiring, I'd look at a temporary switch arrangement that would allow me to try out every single option. Then I'd make a note of the one(s) I liked and build a permanent switch arrangement to accommodate just those.

It’s a really rough wiring job at the min basically in the jazz setup, I think these be best in parallel I’ll probs leave it both in parallel but want options for recording tbh 

[NancyJohnson]

17 hours ago, 0175westwood29 said:

Where would tone come into that ? 

 

Tone?  From your hands, bonny lad.

[BigRedX]

Or your amp...

[0175westwood29]

19 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

 

Tone?  From your hands, bonny lad.

 

19 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Or your amp...

🙄 tone control in the circuit boys my tone comes from many fuzz pedals 

[0175westwood29]

 

so I’m thinking of going with this just combined two circuits? Parallel series neck and bridge no split coils, and a tone bypass? 
 

im gonna put in a 0.03uf cap aswell

 

any advice is welcome tho 

[BigRedX]

I think before you start changing things what don't you like about the sounds your are currently getting?

[0175westwood29]

36 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

I think before you start changing things what don't you like about the sounds your are currently getting?

its basically two humbucker wired in the same way as a jazz bass looking for options for recording, i have both pickups on full all the time atm and like that sound so i dont need dual volume pots for blending, bypassing the tone is for fun.

 

also atm its all done with electrical wago connectors so also not ideal!

 

Andy

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, 0175westwood29 said:

its basically two humbucker wired in the same way as a jazz bass looking for options for recording, i have both pickups on full all the time atm and like that sound so i dont need dual volume pots for blending, bypassing the tone is for fun.

 

also atm its all done with electrical wago connectors so also not ideal!

 

Andy

 

In that case I'd wire it with both pickups wired in parallel, one volume control, a tone control and a switch to bypass the tone and leave it at that. From experience once I have a sound/configuration I like I never touch the controls again, as 99% of the time IMO any changes just make the sound lees good.

[0175westwood29]

So quickly changed things a bit now have two switches for the individual pickups to go between series and parallel humbuckers, the pickups are both wired from the switches into the single volume pot so I’m gonna go with the are in parallel……….

 

it sounds killer 

 

also I lowered the will power into the body more. 
 

I swear the pickguard doesn’t look this bad in person but I don’t really care