Deciphering Modern 4 Position 3 Pole Rotary for XII Wiring

[jonathanrichman]

Hi All,
Longtime lurker and fan here...posting my very first inquiry

and maybe it's a doozy or maybe it's not.
Want to first thank theworkoffire and the older brother for this schematic which I'd like to use to wire up my electric xii with a new alpha 4 position 3 pole rotary switch, as he recommended in a few threads.



Here's what the modern alpha 4 position 3 pole rotary looks like:



The problem is...

I'm unsure what's what on the actual switch. I'm admittedly not an electronics genius haha.

But looking and trying to make the best sense out of the switch that I can, did I get the labeling of the terminals correct below?



If it is, then I'll have no problem following the schematic.
And in case I'm not, I'm posting a blank copy of the pic below if anyone would be so kind to correct me, I'd be oh so very thankful !



I appreciate the help in advance, not just for me, but will definitely be especially helpful for anyone else building or making a variation of the electric xii. I've unfortunately found nothing definitive on the interwebs thus far to help decipher these more modern (and much easier to find) switches!

[Shadoweclipse13]

I've never wired one of these myself, but with my basic understanding of how switches and electronics work (basic being the operative word, haha), that does look correct. It looks as though the 3 center terminals correspond to 1 pole each and are situated in the middle of each of that pole's 4 lugs. I'd probably wait to start soldering until someone who's actually wired one of these bad boys before chimes in, but it looks like you've got the gist of the switch...

[jonathanrichman]

Thanks. It's honestly the only way I could decipher the darn thing! Any other way I tried to read it didn't make sense, but then again, first time wiring something with this many lugs! haha.
We await a wiring guru to give us their 2 cents

[planningtojazz]

Thanks for posting this I was unsure about this until just now

[Shadoweclipse13]

I would also say to check continuity readings while you're waiting for a true pro. Put it in position 1 and check what terminals there's continuity between, then move switch positions and check the rest. Just studying with a voltmeter DEFINITELY helps in understanding electrical and electronic components. I did residential appliance service for 6 years and trust me, just checking things out helps out TONS in understanding.

[jonathanrichman]

Thanks for the tip. I just checked with the voltmeter and thank goodness I did. I think my initial labeling was dead wrong. Here were my findings with original labeling.



Position 1: A has continuity with the 4th lug of C, B has continuity with the 4th lug of A and C has continuity with 4th lug of B
Position 2: Continuity between the 1st lug in A B + C
Position 3: Continuity between the 2nd lug in A B + C
Position 4: There is continuity with the 3rd lug (as I had labeled in my photo) in A B + C

This leads me to believe despite my diagram making sense at the time that I mucked it up.

According to the voltmeter this makes sense:



When labeled this way...

Position 1: has continuity with 1st lug in A B + C
Position 2: continuity between 2nd lug in A B + C
Position 3: continuity between 3rd lug in A B + C
Position 4: continuity between 4th lug in A B + C

Did I just solve the mystery????

Again to reiterate, I will be following this schematic, with Position 1 being Neck (rotary turned all the way left if installed on guitar and looking down at the switch when playing the guitar) , 2 being Parallel, 3 being Series and 4 being Bridge (rotary turned all the way right if installed and looking down at the switch)



Someone please stop me if they believe I'm dead wrong! I'm about to start warming up the old soldering iron haha.

Thanks again for your help in advance.

[jonathanrichman]

Just confirming that the method outlined in the last post worked perfectly!
Thanks to Shadoweclipse for pointing me in the right direction with the multimeter. Was very fulfilling to find my own solution by testing!

[Shadoweclipse13]

Just confirming that the method outlined in the last post worked perfectly!
Thanks to Shadoweclipse for pointing me in the right direction with the multimeter. Was very fulfilling to find my own solution by testing!

Haha, you're welcome. Suggesting to someone to do it yourself is kinda the "lazy" helpful answer, but it sure does feel good to figure things out for yourself

So I take it you wired it up already then?

[FIREBOT]

I can't see the image of this schematic( damn you photobucket...). Does anyone have this and can repost it?

[JVG]

I’d also be interested, as I’m halfway through an Electric XII project.

My supplementary question is: does the switch need to be 3-pole, or can it be 2-pole? I bought one of each because I wasn’t sure.

Most of the images/links from old threads on this topic are broken, or use the old style rotary switches that don’t seem to be available any more.

This one, from the Pickguardian site, pops up in searches, but doesn’t show where the bridge ground wire goes. Can i just send the ground wires from both pickups to the back of a pot, and ground the pot to the rotary?

https://www.pickguardian.com/portfolioe ... replica-2/

Cheers!
J.