Changing single-coil phase on a superswitch?

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HarlowTheFish
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Changing single-coil phase on a superswitch?

Post by HarlowTheFish » Mon Jul 19, 2021 9:20 am

Having a bit of a wiring issue (still unsure if it's a bug or a feature, to be honest) where the middle single-coil on my parts 'stang is out of phase with the bridge JM pickup. It's supposed to go B->B+M->B+N->M+N->N, which it's doing, but the middle single is out of phase with the bridge pickup. It's a cool sound and all, but it's super low output and pretty hard to use without a ton of gain -- I'd be down to have this as a switchable position, or maybe wire it in series (still OOP) but as it is, it doesn't blend well with everything else.

I'm using a 5-way superswitch, and I have a whole section of the switch unused, but I'm not super familiar with drawing up diagrams for anything more complicated than 3-way toggle -> volume -> tone.

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alexpigment
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Re: Changing single-coil phase on a superswitch?

Post by alexpigment » Mon Jul 19, 2021 6:49 pm

Wiring up a dedicated phase switch is pretty easy, but incorporating that into a superswitch is a bit out of my depth. I read this a few times to see if you were really wanting this to be a switchable setting or if you just wanted to fix the issue in the short term. If the latter, just swap where you're connecting the hot and ground wires from the neck pickup, which will put it in phase with the other pickup.

For what it's worth, on one of my JMs I have the rhythm toggle switch wired up as a phase switch, and it's very cool with lots of gain. The pinch harmonics jump out of the guitar, and if you roll back the tone a bit, you get some Randy Rhoads-ish tones a la early Ozzy.

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HarlowTheFish
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Re: Changing single-coil phase on a superswitch?

Post by HarlowTheFish » Mon Jul 19, 2021 7:15 pm

alexpigment wrote:
Mon Jul 19, 2021 6:49 pm
Wiring up a dedicated phase switch is pretty easy, but incorporating that into a superswitch is a bit out of my depth. I read this a few times to see if you were really wanting this to be a switchable setting or if you just wanted to fix the issue in the short term. If the latter, just swap where you're connecting the hot and ground wires from the neck pickup, which will put it in phase with the other pickup.

For what it's worth, on one of my JMs I have the rhythm toggle switch wired up as a phase switch, and it's very cool with lots of gain. The pinch harmonics jump out of the guitar, and if you roll back the tone a bit, you get some Randy Rhoads-ish tones a la early Ozzy.
That'd be a pretty easy solution, but as is, the middle pickup is in phase with the neck, but not the bridge (it's a JM set which is in phase when the neck and bridge are on). I'm actually really digging the OOP, it's just that the output is way too low, so I'm probably just gonna go in and rewire it to get N+M still OOP but in series in position 2, just so it's not such a huge jump from literally every other position.

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alexpigment
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Re: Changing single-coil phase on a superswitch?

Post by alexpigment » Mon Jul 19, 2021 7:32 pm

Ah - that was the detail I was missing (my fault on not catching that). Just to make sure though, the bridge + neck are in phase, correct? If so, it doesn't make sense that the bridge and middle are out of phase but the middle and neck are in phase. That leads me to think there's a wiring issue if the bridge+neck are in phase.

Also, just to be clear, we're talking about actual out of phase, not Strat positions 2/4 "out of phase" (i.e. in phase but quacky).

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Re: Changing single-coil phase on a superswitch?

Post by HarlowTheFish » Mon Jul 19, 2021 9:45 pm

alexpigment wrote:
Mon Jul 19, 2021 7:32 pm
Ah - that was the detail I was missing (my fault on not catching that). Just to make sure though, the bridge + neck are in phase, correct? If so, it doesn't make sense that the bridge and middle are out of phase but the middle and neck are in phase. That leads me to think there's a wiring issue if the bridge+neck are in phase.

Also, just to be clear, we're talking about actual out of phase, not Strat positions 2/4 "out of phase" (i.e. in phase but quacky).
Yup, they're electrically out of phase.

I think the issue is it's a mixed set -- Brandonwound Noiseless JM set in the neck and bridge, and a Wilde L280S in the middle. The neck and bridge are in phase with each other in position 3, which checks out as they're a single set, and the L280S is in phase with the neck in position 4, but not the bridge in position 2. 4 has the fake-OOP Strat thing, 2 has the Mustang proper-OOP thing.

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Embenny
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Re: Changing single-coil phase on a superswitch?

Post by Embenny » Tue Jul 20, 2021 6:51 am

If the middle and neck are in phase, and the bridge and neck are in phase, then it's a wiring error on the superswitch that's putting putting bridge and middle out of phase. Simple as that.

You've got to check your schematic and find where you went wrong. You're using the right lead as the "hot" on each pickup, but something went awry on the switch itself.

Was this a preexisting schematic you were following?
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

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Re: Changing single-coil phase on a superswitch?

Post by HarlowTheFish » Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:36 am

mbene085 wrote:
Tue Jul 20, 2021 6:51 am
If the middle and neck are in phase, and the bridge and neck are in phase, then it's a wiring error on the superswitch that's putting putting bridge and middle out of phase. Simple as that.

You've got to check your schematic and find where you went wrong. You're using the right lead as the "hot" on each pickup, but something went awry on the switch itself.

Was this a preexisting schematic you were following?
I was using the Dimarzio schematic to get the setup I wanted (using their superswitch, with 3 single-coils -- mine aren't, but they're 2-conductor, so it works out the same -- for B, B+M, B+N, M+N, N).

I have to crack it open anyway for some other stuff, so I'll take the opportunity to redo the switch wiring. It's just weird that literally every other position works as intended, but not B+M, and I literally redid it 3 times to make sure it was exactly the same as the wiring diagram on the Dimarzio site.

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