Switching

[Infsub]

Hi everyone.
I am looking to wire up a bridge humbucker and neck single coil.
I want the five way Strat style selector switch to give me position 1 bridge humbucker,
2. North coil of bridge humbucker, 3 humbucker and neck,
4. North coil and neck,
5. Neck only.

I found a Seymour Duncan diagram for this but the 5 way switch shown has 12 lugs on either side.

How can I achieve the desired switching with the standard strat/ all parts 5 way selector?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[JimC]

I'm not sure you can. The standard Strat switch is a very limited thing, because it's really a 3 way single pole switch with a couple of intermediate positions interposed. Consequently you can't do nearly as much with it as you could even with a standard 5 way switch. You could wire it as 3 single coil pickups, but the humbucker components would be in parallel not series and you'd have two separate single coil bridge settings, so not very useful. I fear you either need the big super switch, or else wire it with a 3 position telecaster switch and a separate coil tap switch, maybe on a pot. I might be wrong, I've seen some very ingenious lateral thinking wiring, but I fear not.

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Hi Jim.
Yeah I was originally thinking swapping the 5 way for 3 way and then a toggle switch in place of a pot. That is just a case of taking the two soldered humbucker wires through a switch to earth if I am correct.

[Simon Barden]

Be aware that the more complicated switches are deeper than the standard kit ones and can also be quite wide. So measure the depth of your cavity and compare that to the dimensions of any prospective switch.

If SD could do it with a simpler switch, they'd do it. You may get away with a switch with less connections, but you've a limited choices of switches available, so unless you go custom, then you've got to choose

Also be aware that not all pickups have the same polarities, so whilst the north coil may be slugs on one make of pickups, they could well be screws on another. I know they should all be the same, but they aren't. It's quite easy to get two makes of humbucker to be out of phase if both connected as the manufacturers' standard diagrams. That may also be the case with matching a single coil to the correct coil of a humbucker for humbucking operation with both pickups selected. So the diagram will certainly work for SD pickups, but you may have to do some wire swapping on the humbucker if using other makes.

Probably easiest to test the wiring before fitting into the guitar by tapping the coils top see which combinations you get.

[Simon Barden]

You may find it slightly easier using a 3-way switch and a push/pull pot to split the humbucker coil. You’ll still get all your combinations.

[WeirdBits]

This post has the general type of layout you want and is achieved using an Oak Grigsby 5 way 2 pole switch. It’s still a big switch, but smaller than it’s more common huge Superswitch brother.

The layout (the 1st one) is for a neck humbucker and single coil bridge with the order of your positions a little different, but the same would apply for a bridge hum and sc neck. Easy to mod the layout match what you want if you can get that type of switch and if it will fit into your build.

Simon’s suggestion of a 3-way switch plus a push/pull is arguably the best/easiest alternative to get what you want.

[Infsub]

Thanks guys
I have an Ibanez I wired with the push pull and it works well.
So I guess I will stick with that instead of unnecessarily complicating things as usual.

[Simon Barden]

There are almost always different ways to do the same thing, none of them necessarily better, but some are easier and cheaper to implement than others.

But if you want a guitar to work in a certain way, then there's no reason not to do that, but you do need to consider switch size against control cavity size. You may have to make a few enlargements to do exactly what you want. But you may not. Measuere and check, then decide which options are feasible. Wiring changes are still about the cheapest way to improve/increase the sounds from your guitar.

[Infsub]

Yeah I have even built one guitar with a pot to blend from coil to humbucker and many other left field rigs.
The problem is I now go back and pick up a guitar and forget what functions they have.
That is a good case for a push pull pot as I will know that it is a coil split.

I was looking at the options as it is a jm kit with 5 way, one vol 2 tones and I am disguarding the middle pick up so I have a pot space a switch points free.

The idea of splitting humbucker is so I have a duo duo sonic (call it a quad sonic perhaps?) But this model will also allow me to use a 2 point trem, which none of my other guitars have.
(I have a Strat and an Ibanez with 6 point and two jazz masters with jazzmaster tremolos and tele/ surfcaster with a bigsby)
I have a Duncan invader for the humbucker which when split gives a P90 ish sound that is more pleasing to my ear than a standard P90.
Still undecided on a single coil at the neck, have a Kent Armstrong lipstick in the surfcaster which I love but even split, I think the invader will over power it.
So any recommendations on a not too expensive neck coil that can keep up and still give a nice surf like tone... I am all ears.