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This seems to be a seldom covered topic. It's hard to even find info on what the actual switching positions are for a gibson 3 pickup guitar. I think most people assume that it selects bridge/mid/neck but it doesn't. That's impossible to wire with the standard gibson 3-way switch.

I'm talking about the switching on guitars contained within the spoilered izee bom:
I found this diagram:

Gibson Les Paul Custom - Standard 3 Pickup Schematic
This is the standard circuit for the 3 Pickup Les Paul and SG Custom used by Gibson since the 1950s. This circuit gives either the bridge pickup, neck pickup or the bridge pickup and middle together - with the switch in the middle position. The middle pickup is out of phase with the bridge pickup and gives a thin hollow sound when used with the bridge pickup. Note the arrangement with the capacitor which puts the pot in front of the capacitor before earth rather than the standard circuit more commonly used on the rest of the Gibson range which puts the capacitor before the tone pot

seems kind of ridiculous that they added an entire extra pickup just to have some weird out of phase position in the middle position.

does anyone know more about the switching in these guitars? are they all the same as the above LP custom diagram? do they use a special switch?

i think different guitars had different wiring, i can't for the life of me remember which is which though. i know les pauls were different from firebirds.

Some of them are set up for Bridge/all-three/Mid+Neck.

The third PUP was always sort of a marketing ploy. It was unusual for a guitar to really make use of it in a functional way. The strat is the obvious exception.

the guy who modded my les paul sig put the middle pickup on a push/pull pot to turn it on/off and the 3 way switch works as normal. it has 3 volumes and one tone knob and actually works pretty well. i think i remember reading on offset that non-reverse firebirds had a similar setup where each pickup had it's own volume but i can't find the thread.

finboy wrote:the middle pickup on a push/pull pot to turn it on/off and the 3 way switch works as normal.

that is a cool mod. so can you put it in the middle and turn it on so they're all on? I actually started asking these questions in a non-reverse firebird* thread over there. but I came over here for answers.



* fuckin non-reverse firebirds. *shakes head* they look total shite. reverse firebirds have such a more graceful shape.

Agreed about firebirds.

Stacey had an Epi SG custom. The middle pickup was always on. It were a terrible guitar!

mage wrote:

finboy wrote:the middle pickup on a push/pull pot to turn it on/off and the 3 way switch works as normal.

that is a cool mod. so can you put it in the middle and turn it on so they're all on? I actually started asking these questions in a non-reverse firebird* thread over there. but I came over here for answers.



* fuckin non-reverse firebirds. *shakes head* they look total shite. reverse firebirds have such a more graceful shape.

i love non reverse firebirdts, they looks like something you would find in a dumpster, shame about the prices now a days.

pretty much when the pot is down, the three way acts like it would on a les paul, bridge/both/neck
when you pull he pot out it is bridge and middle/all three/neck and middle.

if you don't want the middle, i think you could just do it with volume knobs and if you just want bridge/bridge and neck/neck just turn the middle pickup volume all the way down.

My friend has an epi firebird 3 pup model. I'm pretty sure the switch works normally - but one of the pots controlls the middle pickup I think.

As stated above, the reason that there isn't that much out there is because Gibson is crazy inconsistent!

I have seen many that have a normally functioning 3-way (neck and bridge pups only effected) and then one of the knobs is a volume for the middle so you can blend it into any setting. Not sure if its in series or parallel with the 3 way though....

for stratocasters i've always wanted to add a switch that would bypass the 5 way switch and have all three pickups on at the same time.
plus having other switching options (i.e. neck+bridge)

you may find this post of mine useful:
http://www.shortscale.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24563

cobascis wrote:My friend has an epi firebird 3 pup model. I'm pretty sure the switch works normally - but one of the pots controlls the middle pickup I think.

analogsystem wrote:As stated above, the reason that there isn't that much out there is because Gibson is crazy inconsistent!

I have seen many that have a normally functioning 3-way (neck and bridge pups only effected) and then one of the knobs is a volume for the middle so you can blend it into any setting. Not sure if its in series or parallel with the 3 way though....

that's an interesting way to do it. bridge and neck in parallel going in series with the middle could be really cool. especially with p90s.

if you got a counter wound middle p90 you could decrease buzz by blending the middle pick-up