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By reversing the neck and middle pickup lead hookup wires on the lever switch (3 or 5 way) you will be able to get the following pickup combinations. It is best to use 250k volume and tone controls. In the drawing below the wires from the tone are connected to the treble and middle pickup….

You can put a RC Network (resistor & capacitor) between your #2 and #3 lug of your volume potentiometer. The #1 lug is grounded. Fender used a .001 mfd capacitor. I like using a passive control and it’s quite simple to do. I like using a 150k resistor in parallel with the .001 mfd capacitor….

The easiest thing to do is reverse the hot leads on the #2 and #3 lugs on each volume control. The #1 lug is usually soldered to ground on each volume control. This will reverse the circuit to the lever switch before going to the jack. You will have independent volumes for the bridge and…

Using a 5 way lever switch can combine the bridge and middle pickup in the # 2 position and combine the neck and middle pickup in the # 4 position. The # 1 position (bridge pickup alone), the # 3 position (middle pickup alone) and # 5 position (neck pickup alone). When in the #…

There are many instruments and custom wiring circuits that determine what combination of pickups can be used. A tone circuit can have active or passive components to enhance the sound of an instrument. Natural enhancement is done by the combination of woods, hardware and amplification. Below are a few common instruments and how the selector…

3-position switch Position Pickups Tone control Neck Middle Bridge 1 2 1 On On 2 On 3 On On 5-position switch Position Pickups Tone control Neck Middle Bridge 1 2 1 On On 2 On On On 3 On 4 On On On 5 On On

There are many types of switches used for various guitars and models. The typical Centralab # 1452 lever switch is a 3-way switch used on the Fender Broadcaster, No-casters, Esquires, Telecasters and Stratocasters. Now the modern switches, such as the Mega-switch, Super-5-way, are being used to modify the wiring in standard instruments. Slide switches are…

This is typical on Gibson’s using two pickups. Normally, it can be eliminated by reversing the two wires that are connected to the # 2 & # 3 lugs on each volume potentiometer. This will allow independent volume for both the neck and bridge pickup when the toggle switch is in the center position.

An easy solution is to put a .001 mfd., 25 volt capacitor in parallel between the # 2 and # 3 lug on the volume controls. This will help retain the high end in the circuit.

It’s due to the taper of the 500 K audio taper potentiometer and the impedance of the pickup. It’s common on many old instruments and I think that might be why Gibson started using the 300 K audio taper to help eliminate the dilemma. As the volume is turned back the value of the potentiometer…