Weird wiring idea/related to midboost

[pott]

I was thinking that those miniswitches aren't the handiest when switching pickup in a song.
The idea I came up with is the following:

Replace the tone knob by a second volume control (keep the midboost and the first volume control) and wire it to work on the neck and middle pickups only

Make the neck pickup on/off switch bypass all other pickups when I select it (this way only one switch change is needed as opposed to two, and with its own volume control it could go directly to clean sounds!). The neck pickup will be replaced by a Seymour Duncan Hot.

The main problem is, would the JE-1200 midboost work without the tone control, and would I be able to use a push/pull volume control to tap the neck pickup and split the middle and bridge pickup (which will be humbucking)?

[Newc]

Re: Weird wiring idea/related to midboost

Depends on which version of the midboost you have - usually they had the Main Volume, On/Off switch, and the Main Tone control that doubled as the Mid-Sweep/Contour knob. If you have one that has 3 knobs instead of 2, then one should be Volume, one for the Contour, and the other should be a passive Tone knob.

You should be able to replace the passive Tone knob (i.e. doesn't control the sweep) with a separate Volume and wire the neck pickup straight to the knob, toggle, and output.
You'd also have the active circuit going to the output, so you'd hafta find a way to bypass that by flipping the one switch.

[pott]

Re: Weird wiring idea/related to midboost

Another solution would be to get 3 on/on/off miniswitches. Do these exist?
This way I could have on the neck on/onbypass other pickups/off and the others be on/split/off.
Maybe I could just not bypass the other electronics but just the pickups. It may make thing easier. And I have the 3 pots version (volume, midboost, tone)

[Newc]

Re: Weird wiring idea/related to midboost

No, but you can get an on/on/on and ground the outside lug to be on/on/off. Dont get on/off/on, as the center position is permanently Off (internally set up that way), but an On/On/On can be wired any way you want.

With an On/On/On, you can easily wire it up to automatically turn everything else off when you turn the neck pickup on, and vice versa

[pott]

Re: Weird wiring idea/related to midboost

Could you tell me where to get those online please? I need to see if they'd fit the holes already in place for my miniswitches I have now. I can't seem to find any...
And thanks a bunch for the tips!

Edit: stupid me! They are on stew mac...
I won't do the wiring myself most likely. Would it really make life THAT easier to get on/on/on...?

[Newc]

Re: Weird wiring idea/related to midboost

Yes, it's tons easier because if you want the outside lug to be Off, you wire it to ground. If you want it to be On/Off/On, you wire the center to ground.
If you get an On/Off/On and want to change anything, you're S.O.L. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[pott]

Re: Weird wiring idea/related to midboost

Mhmm ok... I see...
So would it be possible then to have the neck pickup's switch with one 'on' being on with only its volume pot wired, the rest bypassed, another 'on' as being tapped or even just on normally, and the 'off' as off?

[Newc]

Re: Weird wiring idea/related to midboost

Yup. The On/On/On mini switch has three independent connections, so if you wanted Neck/Necksplit/Off, you wire the "full" lead to the outside lug, the split/tap wires to the center, and then ground the other outside lug.
You can also run the other outside lug to the other volume pot with the other pickups and mid-sweep board so that it cuts that on and off as you flip the one switch, and use your other two mini-toggles for tapping the bridge pickup and a kill switch.

It's more fun working with DPDT (6 prong) switches than regular 3-prong switches, because then you can do all kinds of crazy stuff [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[pott]

Re: Weird wiring idea/related to midboost

Ok thanks a bunch! I shall research some wiring 101 now.