5 new sounds from your strat with one switch? Yes please!

[4pickupguy]

Just ordered one of these 10 way strat switches. Doesn’t change the appearance or ‘scar’ your guitar in any way. Looks as easy as a 5-way to wire up. It’ll be going into my MIJ strat.
It helps to have the pickup closest to the neck tapped 15% so it wont be muddy and to tame the volume spike. These will be stock pickups but they are pretty weak, so hopefully it will work out. Anyone put one of these in a strat? Thoughts?

 

[KeithDavies 100]

Barely got my head round the three options on a Telecaster...!

 

[Fiesta Red]

Don’t get me wrong…I love my Strat, and I even added a “secret weapon” to get two more settings (a push/pull potentiometer that, when engaged, turns on the bridge pickup no matter where the switch is set—enabling N/B or N/M/B combinations, besides the “normal” five settings)….so I have a total of seven settings…

But I guess I’m just too stupid to see how three more settings are going to be useful—much less noticed—especially in a loud live band mix.

 

[Ricky D.]

That’s a lot of settings. I generally get lost and can’t find what I want. But if you get even one new sound that you like and use, that’s a big win. Please let us know how it works out.

 

[tfarny]

I've done a lot of experimenting with fancy pickup switching and all my guitars are back to basics now.

3 is the right amount of settings on a switch. Anything more and it's too hard to use while standing, singing, and playing. I think that additional tones, if you want them, should be on a separate control. Also, the new tones need to be significantly different, AND be sounds you want to use. Definitely not a case of more = automatically better. For instance, having series HOOP on a separate push-pull tone control can give you a useable and different sound. Also the strat mod where you have a master tone and use the second tone to "dial in" the middle pickup in series with bridge or neck, those are pretty cool and they don't make the guitar any harder to use than it already is.

This fancy new switch of yours, go ahead and install it but maybe be prepared to eventually uninstall it. You might found a cool new sound there, however!

 

[hemingway]

As someone who owns a Strat that generally just gathers dust, I might find this interesting.

Maybe it's just my laptop speakers, but the sounds don't excite me as much as they do excite the guy in the video.

Still, maybe worth a try.

 

[jvin248]

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That ten way switch will be fun. I liked to see and hear your 4-pickup-Tele with two 5-way switches so hopefully you can give a rundown when you get your ten way installed! Perhaps even a comparison between your Tele and 10-way Strat.

I use the Armstrong Blender mod on my Strats ... it's a wiring only change, no new parts. Very economical plus I can get a range of tones between the end points of SSS and HSH.




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[Engine Swap]

During my younger days, I modded a strat to get 12 “different” sounds. Ended up only using the neck and bridge, just like always.

 

[AAT65]

3 is the right amount of settings on a switch. Anything more and it's too hard to use while standing, singing, and playing. I think that additional tones, if you want them, should be on a separate control.

I’m with you there!
My GK-3-fitted Jazzmaster for instance:

Pickup toggle - 3 positions (B, B&N, N).
Rhythm slider - 2 positions (rhythm, normal).
GK-3 controller - 3 positions (guitar only, guitar & synth/model, synth/modelling only).
And no more than one volume and tone active at any time.

 

[pixeljammer]

There are thirty-seven different combos on my Robin Wrangler! I have a map, but I never use most of them.

 

[Ringo]

I had a Strat with one of the Freeway 10 switches, it is very cool IMO. Your stock 5 pickup combinations, plus some series combinations, neck and bridge etc..and it is very easy to use, well thought out. You get 5 more pickup combinations for less than the cost of a single pickup assuming that you can install it yourself.

 

[Blues Twanger]

Don’t get me wrong…I love my Strat, and I even added a “secret weapon” to get two more settings (a push/pull potentiometer that, when engaged, turns on the bridge pickup no matter where the switch is set—enabling N/B or N/M/B combinations, besides the “normal” five settings)….so I have a total of seven settings…

But I guess I’m just too stupid to see how three more settings are going to be useful—much less noticed—especially in a loud live band mix.

To be fair there are those of us who sometimes feel the same about positions 2 and 4.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

To be fair there are those of us who sometimes feel the same about positions 2 and 4.

I have a long-time guitar buddy ( we don't play much anymore, we have diverged, musically)
that has 4 or 5 nice Strats ( Fender and ESP) who only uses positions 2 and 4 when he plays them.

I know I'm maybe being petty, but it's one of the reasons I don't like playing with him anymore, because:
- as cool as those sounds may be, they are just not good for everything; they can just sound wrong, IMO

- he just seems clueless or just doesn't care to hear what positions 1,3,5 can do, and how good they can sound.
I just love the versatility of a Strat, just bugs me that others don't appreciate its potential

 

[4pickupguy]

This is going to be familiar territory for me. I may get a tapped middle pickup if I hear potential in the series sounds.
I hope it gets mid-rangy like my tele’s series sounds.

 

[Blrfl]

I have one in one of my Strats and like it. Two or three of the five extra positions are useful. The humbucky positions don't sound like humbuckers but they do cut back on the noise.

 

[Chipss36]

My strats have 5 ways, and very traditional style wiring.

my Ibanez guitars however I experimented with for many years, I found the oak 6 way switch useful, it’s the 5 stock strat pickup selections , with neck and bridge added to the last extra position.
the 540r’s I have this set up on, also have 3 humbuckers , one full size , and two sc Strat size, I put coil cuts on push pull tone and volume switches. It’s very versatile, and not overly complex.

it did need the switch slot filed slightly longer however.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

3 pups & a 5-way switch are plenty enough for me.

 

[Fender_Player90]

I was considering this but am settling with the blender mod or half blender mod or otherwise some sortve neck on mod. I wanted series because its more output. But I love the clarity and response and brightness of single coils which is why ive never gotten a Les Paul. Ive always favored the Telecaster or Strat sound. Although id consider a Les Paul with P90s. That being said, I did do a 4 way switch in my Tele and added series and that sounds good but I think its because the Tele is even a brighter guitar to begin with than a Strat.

The only position I think worth adding on a Stratocaster is Neck+Bridge in Parallel which the Blender mod adds or any neck on mod. Neck+Bridge in Series would probably be the best series option similar to the Telecaster but ive abandoned trying to do it because there is no easy way to just add these two positions without superswitches or push/pull pots. Watching that video, it sounds like the standard 5 positions sound the best with the best alternate postion being the Neck/Bridge one.

I think the blender or half blender mod which I think im going to go with kills several birds with one stone. It for one gives you tone control over your bridge pickup. Second, you can further tame your bridge pickup blending in some neck pickup. Third, full on blender gives you Neck+Bridge. And lastly in most postions, you dont have the signal going through combined or 2 tone pots. Only one master tone and only goes through all 3 when blending. Only thing I dont care for is the all pickups on postion but dont need to use it. The half blender mod allows the second half of the switch throw to be unaffected by the blender. Again focuses on taming the bridge pickup and making it more usable...the full blender mod might be redundant in pos. 5 and 6

I think im going to do this and put a baseplate on my bridge pickup as well. That helps the bass and midrange. The master tone control helps get off some of the ice picky highs and the neck can be blended in partially at 7 to control it further and then full on to give another position. The Telecaster only has one tone control, I think the Strat only needs one as well.

I didint care for most of the sounds on the 2nd bank of this switch in the video honestly. The standard postions sounded better to me. Too muddy. Seems like adding Neck and Bridge in Parallel by a switch, blender, push-pull pot is the most common add on mod for Strats. Along with tone for the bridge pup. The blender mod would do both of these and wouldnt double up tone pots on any of the settings. Series seems like a mod better done on a Telecaster. That seems like the most common mod for that. Much less people do series on a Strat it seems like.

 

[Vocalion]

I put one in my Strat, and it’s lots of fun. Probably the most useful of the new options for me is having all three pickups on at once. It’s great for strumming.

 

[2HBStrat]

I've experimented a lot over the years, but this is what I've settled on: HSS Strat with a super switch. Positions on the switch are normal except position 4 is neck/bridge. One volume with treble bleed circuit, one no-load tone control, second volume control taps the humbucker. However, I found that in my last guitar band I played in the middle pickup about 90% of the time.