Three Live Wire active singles, five-way blade, volume and tone

Parts and values

“Example part” means any part with the same value and lugs will do; the source does not name a brand. “Generic” stands in for an unspecified pickup: check your own pickup's lead colours before you solder.

Specific to this wiring

• Source heading: 'This wiring works for all Live Wires HSS sets'. The drawing shows three single-coil Live Wires, and the board follows the drawing.
• Source note at the volume casing: 'Bare wires from ALL pickups get soldered here'.
• Source note at the red splice: 'All red pickup wires join here'. The red lead of the right-hand battery clip (labelled 'Red') also runs into this splice.
• The two 9-volt batteries are drawn in series: the left clip's red lead and the right clip's black lead meet at a sleeved joint between the batteries.
• Jack labels on the source: 'Tip (hot output)', 'Sleeve (ground). The inner, circular portion of the jack', 'Ring (battery ground)', 'OUTPUT JACK(stereo)'.
• The blade lugs are not numbered on the source. The pickup-side row is mapped by the labelled whites (bridge top, middle second, neck third, common at the bottom). The black jumper from that common lands on the top lug of the second row, which is mapped to the second pole's common (T8).
• The tone takes its signal from the volume input lug, and the .047 cap runs from the tone's middle lug to the tone casing.
• The sheet prints 100k for the pots and gives no taper.

Connections

In soldering order: grounds first, then the switch, the pickups and the signal path.

What each position does

Not simulated: this circuit is drawn for reference only.

• Active Live Wire pickups and their battery supply are not simulated (engine limit: active); the board is wiring topology only.
• The sheet prints 100k with no taper; the audio taper of the catalog part is an assumption.

Before you solder

• Identify every lead on your pickups against the source's colours.
• Source heading: 'This wiring works for all Live Wires HSS sets'. The drawing shows three single-coil Live Wires, and the board follows the drawing.
• Source note at the volume casing: 'Bare wires from ALL pickups get soldered here'.
• Source note at the red splice: 'All red pickup wires join here'. The red lead of the right-hand battery clip (labelled 'Red') also runs into this splice.
• The two 9-volt batteries are drawn in series: the left clip's red lead and the right clip's black lead meet at a sleeved joint between the batteries.
• Jack labels on the source: 'Tip (hot output)', 'Sleeve (ground). The inner, circular portion of the jack', 'Ring (battery ground)', 'OUTPUT JACK(stereo)'.
• The blade lugs are not numbered on the source. The pickup-side row is mapped by the labelled whites (bridge top, middle second, neck third, common at the bottom). The black jumper from that common lands on the top lug of the second row, which is mapped to the second pole's common (T8).
• The tone takes its signal from the volume input lug, and the .047 cap runs from the tone's middle lug to the tone casing.
• The sheet prints 100k for the pots and gives no taper.
• Use a small amount of solder, heat both surfaces, and hold the joint still as it cools. Lead-free solder may have a matte finish.

Ticks are kept in this browser only, as a reminder. They are not a check of your joints. New to soldering? Read the soldering cheat sheet.

Check before plugging in

• With no plug in the jack, the battery negative should read open to ground; with a stereo plug inserted, the ring should connect it to the sleeve.
• The joined red leads should read the battery positive (the two batteries in series) against ground with a plug inserted.

Measure across the output jack with a multimeter on its resistance range. No exact readings are given where the source does not specify the pickups.