How to Wire a Peavey Guitar With a Three-Way Switch
- 1). Remove the strings in order to access the pickups. This will allow you to remove the pickups and replace them if necessary. If you are not removing or replacing the pickups, skip this step and move on to Step 2.
- 2). Remove the switch plate, which may be a separate cavity close to the neck or may reside in the control cavity. Set the plate aside and keep the screws with it to make sure you do not lose any while it is off. Some Peavey guitars have Les Paul-style switches near the neck, while others have switches in the control cavity, close to the pots.
- 3). Solder the hot lead, which is responsible for send the audio signal, from the neck pickup to the top terminal of the three-way switch. When the switch is in this position, only the neck pickup will work. The switch has three positions, neck, bridge or both. You can turn off the volume of one of the pickups and use that switch position for silent operation, also known as a "kill switch."
- 4). Solder the bridge pickup lead to the bottom tab on the three-way switch. This will allow for bridge position playing. Rhythm guitar is usually played in this position as it has a clean, clear, bell-like sound due to its position in relation to the strings. The bridge pickup can also be used for clean channel or thinner-sounding lead work.
- 5). Solder the output wire from the middle position of the three-way switch to the output jack. You will need to feed the wire through the small hole to the volume jack. This will allow you to control the gain of the signal that will then go to your output jack. In some cases, you will wire the switch directly to the output jack, but only for guitars that do not have volume controls.
- 6). Wire the grounds for the both pickups to the back of the volume pot in the control cavity. This will allow for quieter operation and will reduce noise overall. All the metal on the guitar needs to be grounded to help reduce excess noise, including the bridge.
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