Just a question. I'm putting new PU's in an Ibanez Gio I had laying around.
It's gonna be HHH configuration and I was thinking of getting a 5B5-02 Free-Way Blade because it seems easier to wire.
Anyone got advice on that? As there are 10 positions, I'd have 1-5 wired to all split B/B+M/M/M+N/N. 6-10 would then be the same but in humbucking mode. (I've added a picture of what I have in mind)
But here's my questions:
1. Would this combination also be possible with a superswitch? Would this be easier/harder to wire?
(I'm thinking harder, as there will be a push/pull or miniswitch involved somewhere)
2. Will the different pickups be in series or parallel? Can this be altered? (I would prefer series)
3. No 3, that's all for now :-)
I've never used either of those switches, but in terms of complexity, the Free-Way will definitely be the easiest. You can duplicate the Free-Way using a standard 5-way switch and a 3-pole 2-position switch, with the switch shorting the two pickup centre wires to ground when operated.
But using three individual coil split switches would give far more variation. I have a friend who manages to fit several mini-switches and push-pull pots into all his Ibanez S-series guitars, so it can be done.
Switching to series operation instead of parallel would definitely require something like a superswitch as the normal ground connections would also have to be switched. Definitely far more complex and a real wiring headache. Not something I'd want to do with two humbuckers, let alone three. Doing it with two single coils has merit, but two humbuckers in series sounds dull. I had a Kent Armstrong hot M-bucker (quad rails) pickup which was effectively two humbuckers in one, and could be wired in series or parallel. The parallel option was far better sounding, series was too thick with no treble or note definition. Three humbuckers in series would be pure mud. It also makes any single coil operation very difficult, as you can't just connect the centre wires to ground, you have to completely reconfigure the wiring, so you'd probably need a superswitch and a mini-toggle switch per pickup.
I really would stick to parallel wiring and either the Free-Way switch or a standard 5-way and three mini-toggles.
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