4-way or 5-way pickup switch?

When using two pickups in a Tele what do you like to use? This will be my first time wiring it up with the help of my dad who will be in town next week. He's pretty good with a soldering iron and I figured he could teach me of the finer points of soldering and we could do it together. I assume the four-way wiring would be a little bit easier but the five-way with the out-of-phase setting seemed like it could be a good option. What you all think about this?

I had the 5-way Superswitch in one of my Teles, and didn't like the out-of-phase-series setting at all; just too nasally and weird, could not find a practical use for it; but then I mostly play country, and rockabilly, mostly with clean tone - apparently, rock players like to use that 5th setting with high gain lead settings...

Me, I replaced the 5-way with a 4-way-switch after a while, much more useful to me.

imo, the out-of-phase setting sounds best on a guitar with separate volume controls per pup, like on a LP or 335, as you can partially dial out that nasal quality by slightly backing off either one of the vol pots. But on a single vol guitar, you are stuck with maximum nasal honk. The oop setting on my tele therefore remains unused.

I was starting to wonder about these switches as well. Is wiring the 4 way switch worth the trouble? I guess the 5 way sounds a little less useful to me at least, but is the 4 way switch worth the money?

out of phase sound best if you have two different types of pickups (ie, single coil bridge, mini-humbucker neck). With the minihum in the neck, my out of phase series sound is excellent. With high gain it's really like having a bridge humbucker! Out of phase gives you the difference between the two pickups, so having two single coils will yield little difference. I assume the most interesting tone might come from a full humbucker and a single coil rail. Hmmmm

I was starting to wonder about these switches as well. Is wiring the 4 way switch worth the trouble? I guess the 5 way sounds a little less useful to me at least, but is the 4 way switch worth the money?


I find the 4-way switch very useful - the series position gives a louder and fatter tone than the other 3 positions, so it works very well as a kind of "solo boost" without having to step on a pedal or fiddle with the volume knob.

The way it sound sexactly will depend on the pickups used; I have 4-way switches in all my guitars, and depending on pickup types, they do different things:
-) With two very similar sounding pickups (ie. a bright neck pickup and a less bright bridge pickup - like the Fender Nocaster set) you can get REALLY close to a genuine humbucker tone, with that setup I can make a Tele sound like an SG...
-) With different sounding pickups (the classic Tele set: dark neck pickup, bright bridge pickup) the 4th position simply sounds like a louder, ballsier, punchier version of the regular parallel twin-pickup setting.
-) In my main Tele I have a CC-type PU at the neck and a Nocaster at the bridge; the CC has more output, and it dominates in the 4th position, so the 4th position sounds like a very slightly louder, slightly more compressed version of the neck setting, with a bit of extre "zing" from the bridge PU mixed in.
-) In yet another Tele with a P90 at the bridge and a CC atthe nekc, the series position is least useful, as it doesn't sound very different from the regular parallel position, just slightly louder.

i agree with roman - the 4th position is a valuable addition and doesn't make things too complicated.

i have parrellel OOP and series OOP on my tele and rarely use either and i'd find a 5-way to fiddly and easy to knock.

I find the 4-way switch very useful - the series position gives a louder and fatter tone than the other 3 positions, so it works very well as a kind of "solo boost" without having to step on a pedal or fiddle with the volume knob.

The way it sound sexactly will depend on the pickups used; I have 4-way switches in all my guitars, and depending on pickup types, they do different things:
-) With two very similar sounding pickups (ie. a bright neck pickup and a less bright bridge pickup - like the Fender Nocaster set) you can get REALLY close to a genuine humbucker tone, with that setup I can make a Tele sound like an SG...
-) With different sounding pickups (the classic Tele set: dark neck pickup, bright bridge pickup) the 4th position simply sounds like a louder, ballsier, punchier version of the regular parallel twin-pickup setting.
-) In my main Tele I have a CC-type PU at the neck and a Nocaster at the bridge; the CC has more output, and it dominates in the 4th position, so the 4th position sounds like a very slightly louder, slightly more compressed version of the neck setting, with a bit of extre "zing" from the bridge PU mixed in.
-) In yet another Tele with a P90 at the bridge and a CC atthe nekc, the series position is least useful, as it doesn't sound very different from the regular parallel position, just slightly louder.

+1

I recently wired up my Squier with a 5way switch and although its nice to have options... its more than I really use or need.

Here is a sketch of how I wired mine. There are a few different ways to do it and get different combinations.

http://i334.photobucket.com/albums/m408/apolloguitars/misc/5waytele.jpg

I'm thinking about putting mine with a standard tele neck, around 7.4k DC and a broadcaster in the bridge, around 9.3k, that's why I was wondering. The bridge will have a pretty big output anyways, so anyone ever tried this combo?

I had the 5-way Superswitch in one of my Teles, and didn't like the out-of-phase-series setting at all; just too nasally and weird, could not find a practical use for it; but then I mostly play country, and rockabilly, mostly with clean tone - apparently, rock players like to use that 5th setting with high gain lead settings...

Me, I replaced the 5-way with a 4-way-switch after a while, much more useful to me.

Is the superswitch any different than a 5-way switch that comes in a three pickup Tele? I'm converting my Nashville B-bender to a two pickup Tele so it already has a 5-way switch. I don't use out-of-phase settings on it much as it stands but I thought having one choice could be useful with some distortion. I mostly play semi-clean but I also like to kick in a bunch of OD and distortion every now and then. So I have to decide if I should buy a 4-way switch or use the 5-way one that's already in there, unless I need this superswitch to make it work for the out of phase setting?

Oh yeah, I'm putting an HD Strat pickup in the neck position and a Don Mare Super Sport in the bridge. I'm not sure how they'll match up yet but that's where I'm going to start.

I agree with RomanS on the 4 way switch. That's probably what I'll do when I have Keystones installed in my CIJ 60's Custom RI.

I don't care for the OOP tone and, along with generally poor build quality, that's why I sold my Baja. I have thought about using the fifth position to add a bridge pickup "cocked wah" option. That's usually associated with Esquires, but I like it and wouldn't mind having it on the Custom.

Is the superswitch any different than a 5-way switch that comes in a three pickup Tele?


This is a superswitch, you can do series out of phase: http://www.stewmac.com/product_images/1lg/3200/Super_Switch_Detail.jpg

And this is a regular 5-way, you can only go parallel out of phase: http://www.stewmac.com/product_images/2lg/3191/Lever-action_Pickup_Switch_Detail2.jpg

Actually the regular 5-way is exactly the same as the 3-way except it has two extra notches in the "wheel".

I love the 4 way.
I have no use for the thin,out of phase sound.

JJ

Thank you everybody. I decided just to order a 4-way switch to try for now since it looks a little easier to set up. Maybe sometime I'll try that superswitch but for now I'll keep it simple.

What kind of solder do you recommend using? I have some silver bearing lead free rosin core solder that is .062" (1.6 mm). It says it is made for electronics. Will that be good for all of my guitar wiring needs?