Mustang HB/Single Wiring Help

[eelz]

Hey all, nice to join the forum after popping in over the course of the last few years.

Picked up a ‘65 Mustang that’s been previously modded out to the point where I don’t have any qualms about tinkering with it further.

I’ve put a Lollar Firebird in the neck position and a Tele bridge. It sounds killer, however when I follow the standard Mustang wiring schematic, the three way switches are both just on/off/off.

I’m not looking for a zillion tonal options, but I am curious what’s possible. It’s also likely that the current wiring is wrong due to human error (me, I’m the human).

Currently the Firebird is: hot wire as shown, ground wire as shown, bare wire to ground, north/south taped off.

How would you modify the attached diagram to get the most out of a HB neck / single coil bridge Mustang with three-way switches? I'd love to know what my options are without utilizing the red/white conductors.

Thanks in advance.

[eelz]

Any tips on this?

[ThePearDream]

Welcome!

I happen to be a fan of the scheme below, which allows for both series/parallel and in/out of phase options, as well as an all off option. With your pickups, you would want to make sure the tele bridge has a separate ground for the base plate. Both pickups would have their shield/cover grounds wired to the back of the volume pot, and their other grounds wired to the switches, as shown



Another one I've done, is wiring one switch as a pickup selector, N/N+B/B and then the other as a tone switch of some sort. I've done a 3way strangle, there are diagrams out there for "dark mode" switching or something like that.

If none of those ideas tickle you, take a look through Shadoweclipse13's Master Schematic Page!, which has a bunch of cool custom wiring schemes using slide switches.

[eelz]

Thanks for your advice!

Note that I’ve got a humbucker in the neck - it’s a four conductor with braided shielding and north/south ends taped off, currently.

Would the inclusion of a humbucker require revision to the schematic you’ve provided?

[ThePearDream]

Thanks for your advice!

Note that I’ve got a humbucker in the neck - it’s a four conductor with braided shielding and north/south ends taped off, currently.

Would the inclusion of a humbucker require revision to the schematic you’ve provided?

I'm not 100% sure, since I haven't wired one like that before. But I believe, that as long as you have separate wires for the coil ends and shield ground, you should have no issue with the reversing polarity of the entire humbucker, relative to the bridge pickup. If I'm wrong, hopefully someone else will chime in.

[eelz]

I’ve taken a bunch of stabs at this wiring and haven’t gotten anything other than on/off/kill yet.

Any other guidance re: getting the most out of a humbucker/single coil configuration with Mustang switches would be awesome!

[Futuron]

Seems like there's something coming into contact with a ground connection that shouldn't be ?