Anyone know anything about Silvertone/Danelectro wiring?

[10guitars]

Greetings!

Not a Les Paul question, but I can't find a Silvertone forum, and I'm sure someone here will have The Knowledge.

I have a 1960s Silvertone model 1457, but there appears to be something wrong with the electrics. These guitars were wired with the pickups in series. Switch "up" gives me just the bridge pup correctly, "middle" gives me both pups, also correct I think, but switch "down" gives me the same as switch "middle" instead of just the neck pup.

Now it could be that the switch is kaput, but there may also have been some tampering to the wiring. The closest schematic I could find was the one attached, but in the diagram there appears to be a wire missing from the center lug of the lower volume pot. In my gat there's a wire going from this lug to the hot output. (And if I disconnect that wire as per the diagram I get no sound in middle or down switch positions.) The rest of the wiring looks to be OK.

The switch is not your standard Gibson type (ie with 4 lugs). It has only 3 lugs so I guess theoretically it isn't a "3-way" switch. A poor photo is attached.

Each pickup has 1 shield and 2 insulated wires.

All other Silvertone/Danelectro schematics on the web seem to be standard "Gibson" parallel wiring.

This is all getting long-winded! Can anyone cast their eye over the diagram and tell me if it's OK? I'm just not familiar enough with series wiring to know what the heck's going on here!

Many thanks!

[JasonGuitar]

Originally Posted by 10guitars

Greetings!

Not a Les Paul question, but I can't find a Silvertone forum, and I'm sure someone here will have The Knowledge.

I have a 1960s Silvertone model 1457, but there appears to be something wrong with the electrics. These guitars were wired with the pickups in series. Switch "up" gives me just the bridge pup correctly, "middle" gives me both pups, also correct I think, but switch "down" gives me the same as switch "middle" instead of just the neck pup.

Now it could be that the switch is kaput, but there may also have been some tampering to the wiring. The closest schematic I could find was the one attached, but in the diagram there appears to be a wire missing from the center lug of the lower volume pot. In my gat there's a wire going from this lug to the hot output. (And if I disconnect that wire as per the diagram I get no sound in middle or down switch positions.) The rest of the wiring looks to be OK.

The switch is not your standard Gibson type (ie with 4 lugs). It has only 3 lugs so I guess theoretically it isn't a "3-way" switch. A poor photo is attached.

Each pickup has 1 shield and 2 insulated wires.

All other Silvertone/Danelectro schematics on the web seem to be standard "Gibson" parallel wiring.

This is all getting long-winded! Can anyone cast their eye over the diagram and tell me if it's OK? I'm just not familiar enough with series wiring to know what the heck's going on here!

Many thanks!

I know this is an old post but I thought it might be helpful to those interested in this wiring that the only way this wiring works is with an on/off/on 3way switch. I can't find an actual guitar toggle that will accomplish this so I purchased an automotive type at Radio Shack which is actually closer to what the original Danos used.

[10guitars]

Thanks for that Jason. I ended up pulling the switch apart and giving it a good clean - seems to have fixed it.

[JasonGuitar]

Originally Posted by 10guitars

Thanks for that Jason. I ended up pulling the switch apart and giving it a good clean - seems to have fixed it.

You definitely need an on/off/on switch for series wiring, then you can follow the duosonic wiring if you're using a single vol and tone like me. None of the diagrams explain that the on/off/on switch is required. I just installed one the other day to my original '61 DC that I converted to a 2 pickup model. The series wiring kicks but with these guitars and is the way to go in my opinion. I played it at a show last wed night and it was awesome. Still has all the funky twang you need but with more output and all the shrillness rolled off. You can get the switch at Radio Shack for around $4. I read somewhere that this was the switch they used for the single pickup 3 tone option and because it was cheaper than an on/on/on type they just used the same switch for the 2 pu guitars, thus the series wiring was a necessity to make this switch work. Cheers!