"Regular" switch vs. "Super" switch

After fruitless searching, I gotta ask:

What makes a "super switch" so super?

What little I've gathered is that it 'lets you do different stuff', but that's not real illuminating, so what gives, y'all? What can the one do that the other can't?

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2011/Sep/Introducing_Fenders_5_Way_Super_Switch.aspx


http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2011/Oct/Exploring_Fenders_5_Way_Super_Switch.aspx

Basically you can get pickup combinations or combinations of coils from humbuckers that you can't do with a std 5 way switch.

Stewart Mcdonald has some good info about the Superswitches too, the switches have more terminals than std switches.

You can get neck and bridge on a Strat , which you can't do with std wiring, split humbuckers to single coil , and other things like series wiring, out of phase .

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Components:_Switches_and_knobs/Super_Switch.html?tab=Instructions#details

Another variation
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Components:_Switches_and_knobs/Megaswitches.html

Personally I like the Deaf Eddie rotary switch in place of one of the tone pots on a Strat, you can get a lot of cool pickup combinations and your guitar looks stock, and you still can use the stock switch for your regular pickup modes.

http://www.deaf-eddie.net/switches.html

A super is four 5-way switches ganged together. (or 4 pole 5 throw).
A standard 5-way switch is actually a 3-way 2-pole. Those in between positions (2 and 4) are not not independent poles but rather just stops that share two adjacent poles.

In other words the in between positions simply connect 1 & 3 or 5 & 3. Whereas the super switch has five independent poles and is four switches working together.

Clear as mud, right?
S Mac

What macatt said. Four separate switches in one. You can get into all sorts of trouble with different wiring combos.

Thanks for the responses, y'all!

A super is four 5-way switches ganged together. (or 4 pole 5 throw).
A standard 5-way switch is actually a 3-way 2-pole. Those in between positions (2 and 4) are not not independent poles but rather just stops that share two adjacent poles.

In other words the in between positions simply connect 1 & 3 or 5 & 3. Whereas the super switch has five independent poles and is four switches working together.

Clear as mud, right?
S Mac
Lucky for me, this mud has a smooth, readable texture...so: 4-pole/5-throw? Each 'throw' is a circuit? Each 'pole' is a component?
(ex: 3/2 = 2 pups/3 circuits (patterns)

Also: is MOSTLY useful for coil-splitters? Not so much for std tele equip?

Reading the links from Premier Guitar (thx, sjtalon). TTYL

Also: is MOSTLY useful for coil-splitters? Not so much for std tele equip?

Reading the links from Premier Guitar (thx, sjtalon). TTYL

You are welcome.

Not only coil split.

Tele single coil Series, out of phase, things can be done with tone caps, i.e. dark curcuits, taking pots out (bybass).

Nashville Tele's are a 3 pup so a lot can be done there as well.

So in the Fender world, they're mostly used in strat HSS guitars. What the switch does in those guitars is shorts the mid point of the hum to ground when the middle-hum (position 2) is selected, so you get the middle and the coil closest to the middle. Unless you're like me and turn the hum around backwards (physically) and end up with a perfect "Sweet Home Alabama" sound.

In one of my other guitar....with 2 hums, the positions are neck, outer_coils, both, inner_coils, bridge.

There are plenty of other switching options available.

On a Strat I use a super-switch for something stealthy. The pickup selections are the same, but it allows you to use only one tone control at a time. When you're in position 4 (neck + middle pickups) the stock wiring would have both tone controls active so you have to turn both knobs if you wanted it brighter.

The Eric Johnson signature model is wired with a different solution to this little problem; it simply has one tone control on the neck pickup and one on the bridge pickup, with none on the middle pickup.

So in the Fender world, they're mostly used in strat HSS guitars. What the switch does in those guitars is shorts the mid point of the hum to ground when the middle-hum (position 2) is selected, so you get the middle and the coil closest to the middle. Unless you're like me and turn the hum around backwards (physically) and end up with a perfect "Sweet Home Alabama" sound.

In one of my other guitar....with 2 hums, the positions are neck, outer_coils, both, inner_coils, bridge.

There are plenty of other switching options available.

You can get the HSS to auto split with a standard switch, too.


Some examples of the super switch possibilities: my Tele has two pickups and I use the switch to add positions for half out of phase and neck pickup with cap.

Someone recently used one for a three pickup Tele to replace the usual Strat 4 position to be outside pickups instead.

I recently worked on an idea for two humbuckers to connect inside or outside coils in series.

TONS of possibilities.

so: 4-pole/5-throw? Each 'throw' is a circuit? Each 'pole' is a component? (ex: 3/2 = 2 pups/3 circuits (patterns)

Any responses on this one?

The PG stuff went pretty much straight from poles and throws to stages, inputs and outputs - without drawing ANY parallels.

Current guess: each "throw" is a switch position that accesses the circuit completed by the switch in that position; each "stage" defines the connections available for the corresponding circuit.

I'm trying to find a sensible way of visualizing this stuff: am I getting closer? Or not?

Any responses on this one?

The PG stuff went pretty much straight from poles and throws to stages, inputs and outputs - without drawing ANY parallels.

Current guess: each "throw" is a switch position that accesses the circuit completed by the switch in that position; each "stage" defines the connections available for the corresponding circuit.

I'm trying to find a sensible way of visualizing this stuff: am I getting closer? Or not?

Yeah that makes sense. Each throw is a switch position, so that makes five on a typical super switch.

I think of the poles as splitters. You have an input and five outputs, or vice versa, times four. The switch position defines which of those inputs are active at any particular time. Since there are four poles, you can combine up to four inputs in a single position, or use a free pole to swap wires for out of phase, change tone cap value, etc.

Pole is which terminals are connected at a given lever postion. There is always a common or in this case 2 commons PER SIDE of the disc. The commons are ALWAYS in contact with the wiper. The wiper moves to each lug (terminal) or lugs, as you move the lever.


Throw would be the lever positions, that being 5 or 5 WAY, 5 stops of a super switch.


Garret and I double-ed.

Check out this 3 way and it illustrates the description of the wiper and lugs I have above. The part of the wiper with the larger ear on it in contact all the way on the right would be the contact to a switchable lug or terminal.

looking on the left side of the disc, is the common.


http://www.themusiczoo.com/PDGImages/ORIG_3_WAY_SWITCH_VNT_STRAT_TELE_0992041000_576.jp g

Be sure to check out phostenix' site for a bunch of super switch ideas!

I had this same issue with my strat: http://www.tdpri.com/forum/stratocaster-discussion-forum/310272-*super*-switch-strats.html