I need some help with the wiring for S2 Push/Pull Tone (Coil Tap) Knobs.

[Jerrydpi]

I have a SE McCarty 594, and when I pull either tone knob up, the volume drops, and I understand that is normal when one splits the Humbucker.

I also have a S2 McCarty 594 that has a 920D Wiring Harness, and on the Bridge Tone Knob, whether the knob is up or down, there is no difference in volume, but the tone does change correctly when turning it in both the up or down position.

On the Neck Tone Knob, if the knob is up, it's louder than when down, but the tone does change correctly when turning it in both the up or down position.


How do I attach Images to my Thread, so that I can show how it's wired?

 

[Prs Mods too]

I'm not going to gripe about how ridiculous it is that we have to use a photo sharing site to post pictures here.

So yeah, you need to use a third party site to post pics here. According to the kids Imgur is all the rage these days.

 

[Jerrydpi]

I have a SE McCarty 594, and when I pull either tone knob up, the volume drops, and I understand that is normal when one splits the Humbucker.

I also have a S2 McCarty 594 that has a 920D Wiring Harness, and on the Bridge Tone Knob, whether the knob is up or down, there is no difference in volume, but the tone does change correctly when turning it in both the up or down position.

On the Neck Tone Knob, if the knob is up, it's louder than when down, but the tone does change correctly when turning it in both the up or down position.

Attached is a photo of how the tone and volume pots are wired, so are they wired incorrectly?

 

[Jerrydpi]

Let's try it this way

Let's address one issue at a time, and I believe making the Neck Tone pot working correctly will be the easiest to do.

As I stated, regardless of if the pot shaft is in or pulled out, the tone works correctly when turning.

If I'm correct in that when a Humbucker is put in a split mode (shaft pulled out), the volume should decrease (it does that on my SE McCarty 594), but on the S2, when the shaft is pulled out, the volume gets louder.

So if this is backwards, how do I reverse that wiring wise (it's the pot on the top left in my photo)?

 

[Jerrydpi]

Also. if you look at the Neck Volume Pot shown on the bottom left of the photo, is shows the white wire from the 3-way switch, and the black wire going to the tone control, are both attached to the center connector on the pot (identical to the way the Bridge Volume Pot is wired as well).

Should they both be going to the same connector, or should one of them be connected to the 3rd connector that has nothing attached to it?


If needed, here are the pickup color codes for reference:

For 4 Conductor:

Black = Hot
Green/Bare = Ground
Red/White solder together and tape off or use for coil tapping

Pole piece/screw side:

Black = start
White = finish

Slug side:

Green = start
Red = finish

 

[Jerrydpi]

Bump.

 

[frankencat]

As far as the coil splits, the wiring looks like you have it setup so that the coil shuts off (is shorted to ground) when the switch is down but you want it to engage when the switch is up. The easiest way to do this is to wire the middle lug of the switch to ground and the pickup split wires to the lug closest to the pot. In your pic above, for the upper left one just move both wires down one lug. Hope this makes sense.

 

[Jerrydpi]

Hello frankencat, thanks for chiming in here!

First of all, I'm not sure if it showed clearly on the photo of the Neck Tone Pot in the photo, but the red/white wires were connected to the middle left connector, and when I connected the wires to the bottom left connector, pushing in or pulling out the shaft now does nothing to the overall volume.

When you say to wire the middle lug of the switch to ground, what do you mean?

 

[Jerrydpi]

To further my confusion, I contacted 920D this afternoon, and they gave me this info (as well as
sending me the attached photos with the correct terminals marked):

Red Bridge Hot (Black)
Green Neck Hot (Black)
Blue Bridge Series Link (Red & White)
Purple Neck Series Link (Red & White)

Once I had this info, I contacted Planet Tone, and I told them:
When I wire it that way, here's what happens:
1) When I pull up or push down the bridge tone knob, there is no
difference in volume.
2) When I pull the neck tone knob up, it's a lot louder, and pushing
it back down makes the volume less loud.

Any ideas of what's causing that Jose?


And Jose's response tonight was:
Your harness is not wired right, meaning, they are assignments aren't
universal.

I do recommend you see a tech.

I'll look at the diagram tomorrow and offer any insight.

 

[Jerrydpi]

As far as the coil splits, the wiring looks like you have it setup so that the coil shuts off (is shorted to ground) when the switch is down but you want it to engage when the switch is up. The easiest way to do this is to wire the middle lug of the switch to ground and the pickup split wires to the lug closest to the pot. In your pic above, for the upper left one just move both wires down one lug. Hope this makes sense.

It does now

As the existing wire that’s grounding/bridging the lugs looks almost like a paperclip, what’s the best material to bridge the proper lugs with, as well as grounding them to the side of the metal case?

 

[Jerrydpi]

Technical question

As the push/pull pot has a ground wire already soldered to the back of it, why will the (2) adjacent lugs that will be soldered together also have to be grounded to the metal case of the pot as well?

 

[Jerrydpi]

UPDATE: 07/23/24

I cut the wire between the lugs on the top of the pot, left the red/white wires connected to a middle lug, and I bridged the bottom two lugs.

And now EVERYTHING works perfectly!

Thanks to all!