Today I had to diagnose and correct a problem with a guitar with a circuit with a push-pull tone pot. The middle pickup only worked when the tone pot was in the raised position, and was silent when down, so this needed some investigation.

Due to the fact everything was working in theory, the solution should be relatively simple, and required only to make sure everything was attached, primarily all connections to do with the middle pickup itself. Within moments of opening the cavity it was obvious the problem was that one of the middle pickup wires had become detached, and simply needed reconnecting. Seconds later, the guitar was in full flow once more, on every setting.

The switching is quite interesting on this guitar – it operates in a similar fashion to most HHH guitars, only all of the coils are split when the tone pot is lifted, and this provides a rich set of tonal options from powerful rock to delicate and brittle single coil tones. Check out the wiring diagram below!