Four-way wiring on a MM pickup

[kumimajava]

I've tried to find wiring diagrams for this, but had no luck. Hoping someone here could help me out a bit.

So - in a single MM-pickup, dual coil with four wires, what would be a good way of wiring up a selector for the following 4 options:

1. north coil single
2. south coil single
3. series
4. parallel

(not necessarily in that order)

Could that be done on a single selector, or would i need multiple?

any comments welcome & appreciated

 

[eaglemachine]

You could get a blade switch to do this.

Switches

It gets complicated wiring but you could do a 3 way switch for coil selection the a 2 way switch or push/pull knob for series/parallel.

I actually putting together a similar bass right now and I decided to do a 3 way mini switch with series/south coil/parallel.

 

[Petebass]

Perhaps use a Stingray 5 wiring diagram as a starting point. It already has as standard 3 of the 4 wiring options on your list.

 

[kumimajava]

Thanks for the suggestion - to my (somewhat great) shame, I've been staring at it for a good long while, and can't figure out how to add the switching from north to south coil

Edit: apologies, i've been looking at a different diagram (one that does series/parallel/single - the Stingray does north/series/south). I'll have a look at the stingray charts now, maybe that'll make more sense

 

[mmbongo]

Perhaps use a Stingray 5 wiring diagram as a starting point. It already has as standard 3 of the 4 wiring options on your list.

Doing 3 out of 4 is simple and available on most everything with a MM pickup. Getting that 4th one changes everything. I eventually just gave up and found that series/parallel/single was the better option. Never really heard a difference between north coil/south coil switching.

 

[BassGyver]

If you want all 4 positions, the best way is to use a rotary switch (3 poles 4 positions).
Example here with a Nordstrand MM5.2 pu in my Warwick "Maple Monster" Thumb:

Or use a 4 way toggle switch (each tele pu being one of the coils of your MM pu)

 

[kumimajava]

Thanks for your response, and for the sound clip. Both very helpful

That sounds about perfect, the 4-way rotary switch. I could re-wire the bass/treble to a single stacked pot, and use the 4-way rotary switch instead of one of the current pots. No need to alter any of the woodwork

If you've wired your Nordstrand in that way, any chance I could ask you to take a pic of which "coloured" wire goes where? I know this is a total noob request but - well, that is what i am

I know different pickup makers use different colour coding, for N+/N- S+/S-, but I've not found for the Nordstrands. Working backwards from the wiring diagrams on their website, I've come up with the following:

Green & red: north. Red = +/start ; green = - / end.
Black & white: south. Black = + / start ; white =- / end

Would that be correct?

Thanks for your help!

 

[walterw]

Never really heard a difference between north coil/south coil switching.

+1

one coil by itself vs the other coil by itself will make a marginal difference.

series/single/parallel is easily doable with a 3-way DP/DT mini-toggle switch.

 

[wcriley]

one coil by itself vs the other coil by itself will make a marginal difference.

Marginal, but noticeable. More so with a wide pickup like an MM than a soapbar.

 

[Benny4P]

I always liked the late 80s Stingray 5 wiring (parallel, series and bridge coil with no dummy coil). I modded my Stingray 4HH by removing the neck pickup und reworking the selector switch to go parallel, bridge coil, series, neck coil, no coil (mute switch). I think there is a noticible sound difference between the bridge and the neck coil.

 

[RobbieK]

Personally, I'd use a rotary switch. A three-pole, four-throw (3P4T) rotary switch will only be a few bucks.

As others have said, having separate single coils is pretty useless in the real world. Yes you can hear a subtle difference when you are in your bedroom, but in a mix, or with a band...?

You should also know that the series setting will be significantly louder (usually around 6dB) than the other settings. And if you are feeding a Hi Z onboard preamp directly, the tonal difference also will be surprisingly similar. I recommend having an attenuator on the series setting. This way it is the same volume no matter where you place the switch. (Ernie Ball do this with the 3-way switch on the stingrays.) A passive attenuator placed before the preamp will also load the series setting and give you a warmer tone. A much better contrast to the other settings.

Here's how I'd wire this, using a 3P3T switch. (In reality, you'd actually use a 4P3T rotary and not use one of the poles.)

If you really still need that other single coil sound, a 3P4T switch can be wired like this, with attenuator on the series setting, but with the fourth throw selecting the other coil.

 

[kumimajava]

Thanks for all the help, everyone. A good idea on matching the output on the series, with the others - will keep that in mind