Alternate Strat 5-way Wiring

[minions]

Is there a way, with either a standard 5-way switch or a 5-way super switch to have the following options on a Strat?

1 Neck
2 Neck and Middle
3 Neck and Bridge (in series)
4 Bridge and Middle
5 Bridge

Thanks.

[Steve McGinnis]

There is a switch available on Stew-Mac that does exactly what you ask. Megaswitch Model E. I suspect you can do the same thing with a super switch but this one is a much easier solder.

[minions]

hmm... interesting. but will it allow me to wire in series? i assume you own this switch?

[cc9cii]

Possible with a super switch.

[alexpigment]

At first I was thinking "but you won't have a middle-only setting!"... and then I realized I almost never use the middle. Sounds like an interesting idea; report back on how you like it.

[minions]

This was shown to me by JohnH on GuitarNutz2 forum:



He said it uses a standard 5-way and will do what I want it to do. Any objections?

[cc9cii]

That's very clever.

EDIT: but you may be stuck with single master tone

[minions]

Originally Posted by cc9cii

EDIT: but you may be stuck with single master tone

yes, that was actually my plan, i'd rather have only one, it makes things easier.

[Steve McGinnis]

Originally Posted by minions

hmm... interesting. but will it allow me to wire in series? i assume you own this switch?

Sorry, I read your post too quickly. The Stew-Mac one does parallel.

[claudel]

It's possible to achieve close to these results with the stock 3 way switch and stock controls.

Wire the neck and bridge pickups to the 3-way the same as a Telecaster.

That will give you neck only, neck + bridge, and bridge only.

Wire the middle pickup to the middle pot for a blend.
This allows the middle in combination with any switch settings.

Wire the tone control to the output so it works with any position.

Bonus is that you get a setting with all three on...

If you use a Tele 4 way switch then you also get the series neck + bridge.

I first tried the 4-way, but the series position doesn't fly with the Suhr BPSSC I also use, so I went with the 3-way.

I don't really miss the series setting that much.
With the amp settings I use it wasn't that useful to me.

[Deaf Eddie]

With a Superswitch, it's pretty simple:



If you prefer a master tone, just tie to tone pot to the volume. If you want the traditional neck/mid tones, or the neck/bridge tones a la Jimmie Vaughan, just tie the tone pots to the SAME LUG as the prefered pickup's hots. No worries.

[qblue]

I wish I could find the schematics for the nineties Strat Ultra, which has a Tele-like position #3. This position has the bridge and the neck pickups engaged. So Fender used to make this switch and mass produced it in a production guitar. But I don't know if the position gives you series or parallel, though. I do kinda miss the middle pickup, but there are enough positions, I never get bored.

[Deaf Eddie]

You could use a half-superswitch (or a full superswitch) to get them PARALLEL at throw #3, that's easy enough. Yes, as above, you lose the mid pup only tone. The Nashville B-Bender Tele is/was wired this way (Mr. Gearhead drawing).

There's a BUNCH of different ways to do it parallel (or series, as he has requested), but unless you go with a "blender" mod, p/p, or toggle, all of them require a "non-standard" 5-way.

[5595bassman]

Hi!

There is a 1997 Japan Strat known as Hellecaster Jerry Donahue Signature that has a very peculiar switching system.

I uploaded the wiring diagram a while ago in the Photos section under Stratocaster category and also the page of the manual describing the 10 different ( 8 in fact ) choices of pick-up configuration.
http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/...ng_diagram.JPG

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/...w_it_works.JPG

But a tone pot have to be sacrificed to introduce a special rotary 2 way switch.

Have a look it might give you ideas for what you want.

Michel

[minions]

Sounds cool! Yet seems quite complicated to switch between things. That's the problem I had with the switching I had before. I had a superswitch for n, n+b, n*b, n*b (out-of-phase), and b and then 3 push-push pots to switch the middle pickup so that it was in series, in parallel, by itself, and then a phase switch for it. Plus I had two sub-mini toggles for the Duncan P-Rails I have in the bridge position to switch between the coils. It was a lot of work to wire and now it's a lot of work to fiddle around with.