2 Humbucker Guitar -
Custom Wiring I
Funky Five Switching™
A very talented guitarist named Petros wired his guitar with this circuit. You can listen to a soundclip here
Caution: As we have stated previously on other guitar wiring pages:
1) If your guitar is under warranty, doing any kind of unauthorized work will void it.
2) This will change the appearance of your guitar.
•For these wiring diagrams, one new "caution" should be stated:
the pickups must have the ground wire separate from the "negative" wires. If they are not, then
these circuits will cause "lifting the ground" - a bad technique which causes excessive hum.
Without even counting the fifth switch (the phase switch),
this circuit will give a 2 humbucker guitar 12 tone options.

1 & 2) Neck Pickup Only - Series and parallel
3 & 4) Bridge Pickup Only - Series and parallel
• 5-8) Neck and Bridge in Parallel with each other and
5) Neck Pickup Parallel and Bridge Pickup Parallel
6) Neck Pickup Series and Bridge Pickup Parallel
7) Neck Pickup Parallel and Bridge Pickup Series
8) Neck Pickup Series and Bridge Pickup Series
• 9-12) Neck and Bridge in Series with each other and
9) Neck Pickup Parallel and Bridge Pickup Parallel
10) Neck Pickup Series and Bridge Pickup Parallel
11) Neck Pickup Parallel and Bridge Pickup Series
12) Neck Pickup Series and Bridge Pickup Series
As far as the advantages:
1) The required switches are extremely easy to obtain. (2 DPDT and 2 SPDT)
2) All of the switching positions have no dead spots.
3) The tone range is very versatile and all 12 possible arrangements are humbucking.
Perhaps the only disadvantage of this circuit is the wiring is a little complex and you must
be very precise in your work.
I have done this wiring and it looks like this:
Okay, I eliminated the volume control and the phase switch, but it still gets 12 distinct tones.
That guitar is an OLP MM1 and can be purchased for under $200. There are some great
electric guitars available (either through the Internet or your local music shop), that cost less than $200.
The rest of this article consists of the explanation of the circuit. If you want to start wiring this circuit,
then you don't need to read any further.
How It Works
You are probably familiar with the way SPDT toggle switch contacts work.
When the switch is in the
"down" position, the upper 2 terminals are connected.
Switching it "up" connects the bottom 2 terminals. (See above)
The above circuit works very well for switching 1 humbucking pickup or switching a 2 single
pickup guitar such as a Fender Telecaster™
Switches wired in this manner allow one humbucker (or two single coils) to have 4 switching
options:
1) Coil A only
2) Coil B only
3) Both coils in parallel
4) Both coils in series
In the above diagram, the circuits show how the four switching options are activated by the 2 SPDT
switches. In all four circuits, the "Coil A" switching wire actually goes to the "Coil B" switch (DEF) and
the "Coil B" pickup switching wire goes to the "Coil A" switch (ABC).
In circuit 1, "Coil A" is the active pickup. By turning the Coil A pickup switch on
(or downward), you are actually turning Coil B off and by turning the Coil B pickup
switch off (or upward), you are actually turning the Coil A pickup on.
If you have followed that explanation, you can see the opposite is occurring in circuit 2.
If you can understand those 2 switching circuits, then you will see that in circuit 3, by turning both switches
off, both pickups have actually become wired in parallel.
Following the wiring for circuit 4, (notice the wire connection between terminals 'A' and 'D'?), you can
now see how the pickups are wired in series.
If you can understand how the above circuit works, then you will understand the principles of the circuits
on this page and the next page.
Nevertheless, even if you don't understand the explanation, you still can custom wire your guitar
with the circuit on this page or on page 6.
For even more tone options, go to
Page 6 - Super Seven Switching
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