ASK-HBS – Partial Split Resistor/Trim Pot Location

Question

Hello, Your site is a wealth of information and I really appreciate it. I have a question I hope you can help me with.

I’d like to try the Fralin Partial Split Resistor/Trim Pot mod on my guitar.

I have an HSS config with Vol/Tone/Tone and a 5-way Super Switch.

Where would you place the resistor, considering that I’m splitting the Humbucker in Position #2 and combining it with the middle single-coil?

Would you recommend installing a push-pull in one of the tone positions instead of splitting the pickup with a Super Switch?

Thanks,

Franklin

San Francisco, CA

Answer

Hello Franklin, thank you for the great questions.

First, let’s discuss how you split the humbucker. Using a Super Switch is fine. Since you already have it installed there’s no added cost, but it isn’t as versatile as the push-pull pot. The push-pull allows you to choose between a normal or split humbucker in the first and and second positions, giving you two more tones than you have now.

As for the wiring, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out. I’m not sure how the guitar is wired or what kind of humbucker it has, but it doesn’t really matter. These steps below should help you.

1. Look at the Super Switch in the cavity and determine which wires are for the single-coils and which are the humbucker.
2. The single-coils will have two wires, and you should see the HOT wire going to the switch and the GROUND going to the back of the volume pot (usually).
3. Both single-coils and the humbucker should have wires going to the same part of the switch (separately).
4. The humbucker should also have a wire going to the back of the volume pot, leaving two wires that go to another part of the switch.
5. In the switch area, you should see another GROUND wire leading to
6. the back of the volume pot (or another ground).
   Disconnect the GROUND wire from the switch and insert your Fralin Partial Split Resistor/Trim Pot between the switch and GROUND wire.

Hopefully, this gets your guitar working. Let us know if you have any more questions or if this answer doesn’t work.

Thanks for reading Humbucker Soup!