Jazzmaster wiring help

[adamarcuragi]

I'm hoping that someone can help me find an answer.

I'm building a custom Jazzmaster with three pickups. I want to have the wiring be a little different than anything I can find on the internet:

When the upper circuit is not engaged the three way toggle switch would act as a simple selector between neck, middle and bridge position pickups. The volume and tone pots would act the same way you'd expect them to.

When the upper circuit is engaged I'd like the rollers to act as separate volume controls for the neck and bridge pickups (wired in series) while having the lower tone control still engaged the same as in the lower control wiring.

I'm wondering if it is possible because of the nature of a three way switch as well as the added complication of wanting to turn the upper pots into a set of series volume pots. Any help?

Thank you all,

Adam

[Logrinn]

I'm a little confused about the pickups being in series and having separate volumes for them. I can't really see how that's possible.
A volume per defintion needs to be in series with a pickup on the way to the output. If you then connect another pickup and volume in series to the first set of pickup/volume, wouldn't either volume turn down both pickups?

[mynameisjonas]

I'm a little confused about the pickups being in series and having separate volumes for them. I can't really see how that's possible.
A volume per defintion needs to be in series with a pickup on the way to the output. If you then connect another pickup and volume in series to the first set of pickup/volume, wouldn't either volume turn down both pickups?

It is possible, but you have to wire things a bit different than a normal volume control. Here's a quick doodle of a possible solution:

[Logrinn]

Hmm ... I still don't get it.

If you turn down the left pickup/volume and just want to use the right one in the picture, how is that going to work?
That right pot only have it's "out" going to ground, there's not a signal going out there.

[mynameisjonas]

Here's the signal path with both pots fully CW:


With the left pot fully CCW:


With the right pot fully CCW:


With both pots fully CCW:


Sorry for the crappy drawing

[Logrinn]

Excellent!

[adamarcuragi]

Fabulous. Thank you.

I'm assuming that the pots are both being treated as volume pots, correct?

What a great community. Thank you again.

[adamarcuragi]

I'm a little confused about the pickups being in series and having separate volumes for them. I can't really see how that's possible.
A volume per defintion needs to be in series with a pickup on the way to the output. If you then connect another pickup and volume in series to the first set of pickup/volume, wouldn't either volume turn down both pickups?

I'm sorry if my description is a bit confusing. I'm sure I've got all my verbiage mixed up. But I am essentially trying to isolate the pickups in the lower controls so that they're only on one at a time with each one having the lower volume and tone pots to themselves.

The upper controls would be the volumes for each of the pickups (neck and bridge Jazzmaster pickups) but wired in series (as opposed to the Jazzmaster's traditional parallel wiring) so that if both of the upper pots were at 100% the volumes of both pickups would be all the way up. If either pot were all the way off, then that pickup would be all the way off.

But being the ambitious and naive wiring dilettante that I am, I'm also hoping that the tone pot from the lower control will also help to sculpt the tone when the upper controls are engaged.

I should really figure out how to draw my idea out and upload it.

I appreciate any help and feedback from you guys. Thanks for chiming in even if it is to tell me I have confused you all.

[adamarcuragi]

Here's the signal path with both pots fully CW:


With the left pot fully CCW:


With the right pot fully CCW:


With both pots fully CCW:


Sorry for the crappy drawing

Do not apologize for the drawing. It is fantastic. Thank you.

Now how would one make that the upper control circuit's pots whilst still retaining the services of the lower tone pot? I'm imagining that this is somehow tied to the upper posts of the three way switch, but would that involve sending the hot wire from the pickups to separate places?

This is genuinely fun. I could keep at this all day but I don't want to intrude on anyone's time or generosity. This answer is a gift in and of itself.


Thanks again.


P.S. Boy, howdy do I love talking about gear.

[mynameisjonas]

I’m sure all of it is doable. I haven’t sat down and figured it out yet, but I imagine one hurdle will be switching between the two modes. There are a lot of signal paths that need to be re-routed. Also, if you want the 3-way switch to work as you describe, it can’t be one of the usual toggle switches you find in 2-pickup guitars, it needs to be a DP3T ON-ON-ON type.

I’ll see if I can draw something up later today.

[mynameisjonas]

Ok, here we go. Now, there might be a better way of doing it, but this was the best I could come up with right now: