HSS: two single coils and a humbucker, five-way, volume, push-pull split tone, resistor mod

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

• Title: 1 HUMBUCKER + 2 SINGLE COILS. Subtitle: 1 VOL / 1 TONE / 5-WAY BLADE / 1 PUSH-PULL COIL SPLIT (VOL). The drawing labels the push-pull pot 'Push-Pull Tone 500k' and the plain pot 'Volume 500k', and Tonerider's own link label for this sheet reads '1 Humbucker / 2 Single Coils / 1 Vol / 1 Tone / 5-Way Import Blade / Push-Pull Coil Split (Tone) / Resistor Mod'. This diagram follows the drawing: the push-pull is the tone.
• Legend printed on the sheet: Switch Positions UP: Split (Slug Coil); DOWN: Humbucker.
• Departure 1 (resistor values): the two green resistors' labels are a few pixels of blur and cannot be read; no sharper copy exists on Tonerider's site. Both labels are the same length (about three characters) and begin with a narrow stroke like a '1'. This diagram uses 10k for both, the catalog value that best fits that shape. This is a best reading of an illegible sheet, not a printed value; an earlier reading suggested 10k and 100k, and 15k cannot be ruled out. Check with Tonerider before building.
• The resistors: one runs from the blade's neck lug and one from its mid lug, each to the solder spot at the top of the volume casing (ground), so each loads its single coil. The engine does not model the loading.
• Departure 2 (treble bleed value): a circled part labelled 'treble bleed' is drawn across the volume's input and output lugs with no value printed. The catalog's 150k resistor + 1nF capacitor treble bleed is used as a stand-in.
• Departure 3 (added ground): the sheet runs the humbucker's green and bare, and a short link from the push-pull's up pad, to the tone casing, but draws no wire from the tone casing to ground. As drawn, the humbucker has no ground return and is silent in positions 1 and 2. This diagram adds a short link (w24) from the tone's outer lug, which the sheet already wires to the volume's grounded lug, to the tone casing.
• The label 'From Bridge Ground' is printed below the humbucker cable, but no wire is drawn to it, so no bridge ground is shown.
• The humbucker's black and white run together to the middle pad of the push-pull column nearest the pot's lugs. The pad of that column nearest the pot is linked to the tone casing; the far pad is empty. The other column is empty.
• Tone: the .022µf capacitor runs from the volume's input lug to the push-pull tone's middle lug; the tone's outer lug nearest the volume has a black wire to the volume's grounded lug, and its third lug is empty.
• The volume's bottom lug is linked to the casing; the jack sleeve leaves from the lower volume solder spot. A twisted grey/white lead runs from the volume's middle lug to the jack tip.
• The import blade is drawn as one row of eight lugs. Only four are wired: from the top, humbucker red, mid yellow, neck white, and a black to the volume (the common). They are mapped by what they do onto the standard five-way contacts.
• The pots are drawn tilted; their lugs are named as if viewed from the back with the lugs down.
• Capacitor Value Guide printed on the sheet: 0.022µf - Good all-rounder, bright and clean. Used in many modern production instruments. 0.047µf - More treble roll-off, with a warm and full tone especially with overdrive and gain. 0.1µf - Used in 50s and early 60s instruments - Most high end roll off, can be "wah" like.

Connections

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

What each position does

Checked with the Tinkercaster wiring engine against the switching the source describes.

• The resistor values are a best reading of illegible labels (10k each), not printed values.
• The resistors load the neck and mid pickups; the engine does not model pickup loading, so their effect on level and tone is not simulated.
• The treble bleed's value is not printed; a 150k / 1nF stand-in is used.
• One ground link (w24) is not on the sheet; without it the humbucker has no ground return.
• The capacitor-before-pot tone is not named as a tone control by the engine; the capacitor and pot are wired as drawn.
• Which humbucker coil remains when split ('Slug Coil') is not modelled.
• Pot tapers are not printed; pots are simulated with a linear track.
• Hum cancelling and phase describe the generic pickup models, not a measurement of Tonerider pickups.

Before you solder

• Identify every lead on your pickups against the source's colours.
• Title: 1 HUMBUCKER + 2 SINGLE COILS. Subtitle: 1 VOL / 1 TONE / 5-WAY BLADE / 1 PUSH-PULL COIL SPLIT (VOL). The drawing labels the push-pull pot 'Push-Pull Tone 500k' and the plain pot 'Volume 500k', and Tonerider's own link label for this sheet reads '1 Humbucker / 2 Single Coils / 1 Vol / 1 Tone / 5-Way Import Blade / Push-Pull Coil Split (Tone) / Resistor Mod'. This diagram follows the drawing: the push-pull is the tone.
• Legend printed on the sheet: Switch Positions UP: Split (Slug Coil); DOWN: Humbucker.
• Departure 1 (resistor values): the two green resistors' labels are a few pixels of blur and cannot be read; no sharper copy exists on Tonerider's site. Both labels are the same length (about three characters) and begin with a narrow stroke like a '1'. This diagram uses 10k for both, the catalog value that best fits that shape. This is a best reading of an illegible sheet, not a printed value; an earlier reading suggested 10k and 100k, and 15k cannot be ruled out. Check with Tonerider before building.
• The resistors: one runs from the blade's neck lug and one from its mid lug, each to the solder spot at the top of the volume casing (ground), so each loads its single coil. The engine does not model the loading.
• Departure 2 (treble bleed value): a circled part labelled 'treble bleed' is drawn across the volume's input and output lugs with no value printed. The catalog's 150k resistor + 1nF capacitor treble bleed is used as a stand-in.
• Departure 3 (added ground): the sheet runs the humbucker's green and bare, and a short link from the push-pull's up pad, to the tone casing, but draws no wire from the tone casing to ground. As drawn, the humbucker has no ground return and is silent in positions 1 and 2. This diagram adds a short link (w24) from the tone's outer lug, which the sheet already wires to the volume's grounded lug, to the tone casing.
• The label 'From Bridge Ground' is printed below the humbucker cable, but no wire is drawn to it, so no bridge ground is shown.
• The humbucker's black and white run together to the middle pad of the push-pull column nearest the pot's lugs. The pad of that column nearest the pot is linked to the tone casing; the far pad is empty. The other column is empty.
• Tone: the .022µf capacitor runs from the volume's input lug to the push-pull tone's middle lug; the tone's outer lug nearest the volume has a black wire to the volume's grounded lug, and its third lug is empty.
• The volume's bottom lug is linked to the casing; the jack sleeve leaves from the lower volume solder spot. A twisted grey/white lead runs from the volume's middle lug to the jack tip.
• The import blade is drawn as one row of eight lugs. Only four are wired: from the top, humbucker red, mid yellow, neck white, and a black to the volume (the common). They are mapped by what they do onto the standard five-way contacts.
• The pots are drawn tilted; their lugs are named as if viewed from the back with the lugs down.
• Capacitor Value Guide printed on the sheet: 0.022µf - Good all-rounder, bright and clean. Used in many modern production instruments. 0.047µf - More treble roll-off, with a warm and full tone especially with overdrive and gain. 0.1µf - Used in 50s and early 60s instruments - Most high end roll off, can be "wah" like.
• 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

• Positions 1 and 2, knob down: the meter reads the full humbucker; knob up: the humbucker's black and white read ground and the reading drops to one coil.
• Positions 4 and 5: the neck reading is lowered by the resistor from the neck lug to ground; positions 2 to 4: the same for the mid.
• The tone casing should read ground (through the added link w24).

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.