5 way Switch

[dbrun002]

Hey everybody, i'm thinking of adding a middle pickup to my tele but was wondering, is there anyway i can get the switch to have this configuration:

1. Neck
2. Neck and Middle
3. Neck and Bridge
4. Middle and Bridge
5. Bridge

I like the way a tele sounds in between but the strat's very middle position just doesn't seem that different to me. Is there any way I can wire my guitar like this?

[Bearer]

I'd say wire it like a strat then add a push/pull pot to turn on either the bridge or neck pickup. The way you can do the tele sound plus the magical "all three combo". While you're in there, you might consider a treble bleed mod on said volume pot.

[MulliganChebichev]

Possible on an CRL 5 way superswitch (single or double wafer), not sure about the conventional 5 way switch though.

A bridge switch like Bearer also work well, I have one on my Strat and use it quite frequently.

[Alpino_321]

The James Burton Tele and the Nashville B-Bender Tele both have that configuration. Here are the wiring diagrams for those:

http://www.fender.com/support/diagra...108602APg2.pdf

http://www.fender.com/support/diagra...108342CPg2.pdf

[blacklinefish]

I did this with a Fender Super Switch. You only need 1/2 of the switch, though, so you can hack it apart, rebuild it, and not have to carve out the control cavity to fit it there.

[Deaf Eddie]

1. Neck
2. Neck and Middle
3. Neck and Bridge
4. Middle and Bridge
5. Bridge

Is there any way I can wire my guitar like this?

Not with a "stock" Strat-style 5-way - you'd need the Superswitch, either single or dual wafer as described above.

However, you can get CLOSE with the regular Strat 5-way, by swapping the neck and mid hot leads on the switch. This would give you:

1 - mid
2 - neck+mid
3 - neck
4 - bridge+neck
5 - bridge

[carlton]

Yes. The Stew Mac Megaswitch E Model. Item # 3484. Check out the sample wiring configuartions on the web site.

[Deaf Eddie]

Yes. The Stew Mac Megaswitch E Model.

Oh yeah, or the Mega-E. I always forget about that one...

[dbrun002]

sorry for asking this a while ago, i've actually changed my mind and will just going with the standard wiring, but thanks for the help guys

[Kirk A]

If anyone has "hacked out" some of the parts, such as described in the following quote, would you care to donate the remains to me? I've cover postage.

Here's why... In my project Tele that I recently described in the Introduction forum, I mentioned having two complete circuits, including 500K volume and tone pots and cap for the humbucking HSH 5-way combinations, and separate 250K volume and tone pots and cap for a pure single coil channel. (How? CTS concentric stacked 500K/250K pots.)

Now, iIf I can hack my Super switch, and add a third wafer (on the opposite side) with a modified "driveshaft", then I could have 5-way switching for the single coil channel as well as the 5-way HSH switching for the humbucking channel. (The channel selection is on a separate mini-toggle, and presently that will exclusively switch only the S pickup, not necessarily the additional splits from the H pickups.)

That would make it a 10-way switch. I'll call it the Fender Super Duper Switch.

Seriously, if any of you guys have spare parts from tearing one of these down, I'll gladly take them and pay the postage.

Thank you,
Kirk A.

Originally Posted by blacklinefish

I did this with a Fender Super Switch. You only need 1/2 of the switch, though, so you can hack it apart, rebuild it, and not have to carve out the control cavity to fit it there.

[udimet720]

Kirk,

Maybe I'm not entirely understanding what you are after. But, these controls are getting complicated.

The double wafer super switch will have 4 poles. Each pole has a connection for each of the 5 switch positions. With this, you can assign each of your 3 pickups to one of the poles and specify it for any of the 5 switch positions. If you want to add single coil, you might be better off adding mini-toggle (3pDT) for the 2 hb's. You can get a 3 pole mini toggle. This will let you tap each of the hb's in half (to net single coils). The third pole on the mini-toggle can move your output from the 500k pots to 250K pots.

If I have understood your intention correctly about adding a 3rd wafer, your are still going to have only 5 positions on your switch. Not really a 10 position switch. If this is the case, the same net result can be had by switching the inputs to the wafers instead of adding more wafers. Does that make sense?

I would say you should diagram out all of the switches if you haven't already. And see what combinations you actually want/need. You may end up with redundant positions which you could eliminate with a revised selection of switches.

[Kirk A]

The spare parts that I have sought are for a separate circuit. With my existing Fender Super Switch, I have a 4-pole 5-way switch wired with five different humbucking combinations of HSH Seymour Duncan pickups. With an additional on-on mini-toggle between the volume and tone on the control plate, I can select between two independent circuits -- one 250K single coil circuit and one 500K humbucking circuit. Separate pots. Separate caps. Fully isolated.

At the present time, the 5-way switch's positions are all dedicated to humbucking coil-tapping. My sixth way is simply the one single coil, in isolation, in the middle pickup position -- selected by the mini-toggle.

Now, when I acquire the necessary spare parts, I can extend the Fender Super Switch with an additional wafer (2 poles) on the opposite side of the existing two wafers. This will easily fit within the width needed and will provide an electrically isolated switch, using a common selector handle. (Remember, the two circuits are selected with a separate mini-toggle.)

So, then, instead of having only one single coil to choose from, I could implement the typical Strat selection of single coil combinations, using the single coil and coil taps from the bridge and neck humbuckers.

Two parallel guitars. One 5-way humbucking with 500K pots and an 0.022uF cap, and another 5-way single coil with 250K pots and an 0.047uF cap. That's what I call a 10-way switch, or the Fender Super Duper Switch.

You're absolutely right, the switch has only 5 positions. But with the extra wafer, and associated hardware, you can create a parallel switch on the common handle. And since my guitar already has the stacked, concentric 500K/250K CTS pots, I am prepared for the parallel guitar. Or what I am dubbing as the All Purpose Model 1.

So, if you've got those spare parts, contact me. Otherwise, I'll have to scrap some new equipment. Thanks!

Kirk A.

[udimet720]

Kirk,

Thanks for the explanation. I understand what you are going for now! Sounds like a very interesting project.
Sorry to say that I don't have any spare parts to contribute.

[Kirk A]

Shown below is the finished switch, cobbled up from two Super Switches. This will be my concluding post for this thread. Follow-ups will be posted to my project thread, "hybrid Nashville Thinline HSH 10-way" within the Tele Home Depot forum.

-Kirk A