The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

First off, I know there´s already a schematic posted for the Vantage X-88, which also works for the X-99 since they’re identical in matters of the electronic circuit (although I believe I’ve seen a couple of specimens with Protomatics instead of MMK45’s, but doesn’t make much of a difference here).

However, I thought since there’s so much talk around about the switching system of these models and what they really do, it would be a good idea to study the circuit and throw some light on this topic.
There’s a catalog on the gallery that describes them as “sound expander”. I’m not sure that’s a strictly accurate definition.

I had the good luck of finding an X-88 in 100% original condition, not a single solder had been altered, so I proceeded to analyze it.

I attached a schematic of the whole thing, even though there’s one available here, as well as some nice gut shots: viewtopic.php?f=26&t=8784. In the schematic I divided the 3-Way pickup selection switch in two parts, since they are two independent switches, even though they share a common shaft.

First thing to notice: there’s no such thing as phase reverse or series/parallel on this guitar. I’ve read this on many sites and I thought it was true until I finally had mine and tested it (mods can be done to achieve this but that’s not how it is in stock form).

The setup is basically the most common/modern Les Paul style: 2 Humbuckers, one physically reversed respect from the other, with independent volume and tone knobs, selectable by the “big” 3-Way switch next to the upper cut-way/horn. Middle position sets them in parallel/phase reversed. Everything is “normal” up to this point.

The thing with the small switches is quite simple. The MMK45’s on theses guitars have 3 leads: Bare=Coil Start (grounded), Red=Middle/Tap, White=Coil End.

From Bare to White you have a full humbucker, so shorting the Red one with one of the ends will mute that half of the pickup, leaving you with the other half of the pickup as a single coil. All of the four coils sound completely different.

As you can see on the gut shots, the mini-switches are wired in opposite directions. This is intentional since the pickups physically are reversed as well. By doing this, both switches will do the exact same thing from a mechanical pint of view: if you move the switch towards the neck, the coil closer to it will sound; move it towards the bridge, and the coil closer to it will sound. Middle position shorts nothing, so that’s the humbucker position. This applies to both pickups. Also, since the pickups are reversed, both switches on the same direction (with both pickups selected as well), result in parallel single coils, out in phase and hum cancelling (pole pieces revesed, as well as the wiring, just like in a humbucker, but coils in parallel instead of series); if the switches "look" in opposite directions, single coils are in parallel, in phase, and no hum cancelling occurs (pole pieces and wiring direction is the same for botch pickups, so hum is summed instead of cancelled).
There are a total of 15 combinations available using the 3 switches.

2 coils from the same pickup can only be combined as a humbucker; i.e. coils in series, reversed magnets, reversed wirings. Phase or parallel/series is almost impossible without doing some “surgery” to the pickups in order to extract the four independent leads for both coils and rewiring the rest of the circuit. The only exception would be grounding the white lead and connecting the red lead to the volume knob, which would result in a parallel-reversed-not-hum-cancelling single coil kinda nonsense, which requires rewiring the whole thing.

Some modifications like phase or series/parallel can be done since the mini switches are DPDT and only one side (SPDT) is used in stock wiring. However, this means losing at least one of the single coil sounds, so I would recommend using push pulls instead, but that’s just an opinion. Besides, “lifting” some leads from ground would be required. I’m actually taking the push-pull path as soon as the pots arrive home so I can preserve the rest of the wiring to its full stock glory.

Finally, I suggest taking a look here: viewtopic.php?f=26&t=9428
X-88’s tend to be particularly dull at lower volumes; this tool should help fixing the whole frequency response trouble.

Alright, this has been a bit longer than I expected, but I didn’t want to miss anything about this “Swiss Army Knife” of the guitar world.
Let me know if I missed anything.

Hope to have solved at least some doubts here.

Cheers!