Tele with a 4 pole superswitch

Gagaryn

I see that you can now get narrower 4 pole 5 way super switches that fit in a Tele cavity, like this one -
So being a tinkerer I fancy getting one to give it a go in my Tele (Strat neck PU and standard Tele bridge PU) 

Has anyone seen any clever wiring setups for these - my guitar has two single coils, currently wired with a 4 way in the standard config -

1) both in series,
2) neck,
3) both parallel,
4) bridge

I'm currently favouring wiring the superswitch to give me -

1) neck,
2) both in series,
3) both in parallel,
4) both series out of phase
5) bridge

Like this - 
 

Am I missing a trick - can I do something cleverer. I'm not wanting to add any other push-pulls or mini switches.

Gagaryn

Actually found another way of doing the same thing -



And another way which is parallel and "half out of phase"??


Both of which leave one pole completely untouched for future clever ideas!

CasperCaster

I have a regular 5-way Superswitch in my Squier CV Tele. With a regular control plate there is room beneath to widen the cavity by about 2mm. I then rebated it by a further ~5mm using a 3/8" bearing on a 3/4" bit. Plenty of room for a standard Superswitch, but nothing visible from the outside. It's also got a toggle between the volume and tone pots as it's getting a tapped single coil bridge pickup. The wiring I am planning is essentially the diagram you posted above with the half out of phase in position #2. It's taken from the Jerry Donahue Tele's and basically cuts all the bass from one of the pickups before combining it out of phase with the other pickup. Usually when you combine two pickups out of phase it's very thin, with no bass. Counterintuitively, if you cut all the bass from one pickup, when the pickups are combined out of phase the final sound has more bass than regular out of phase, simply because the bass from the first pickup isn't there to cancel the bass from the second pickup. It does fall someway short of the Strat out of phase sound it is intended to emulate, but is useful in its own right.

Edit: There are also the Gunther Eyb switches, which got a redesign about 2 years ago. These were marketed by Schaller and were circuit board based but now partly resemble an ordinary switch - they are quite compact, though I haven't used one myself.

Roland

The Series but out of phase combination sounds a bit thin whenever I've tried it. With a tapped single coil, in my case a tapped bridge pickup, I use a five way superswitch for:
1. Bridge, untapped
2. Bridge, tapped
3. Neck and tapped Bridge in parallel
4. Neck
5. Neck and tapped bridge in series

The sequencing is important, because it seems logical that way. Also because a quick flick of the switch to the end of its travel gives a typical soloing setting.

normula1

I've used a couple if the Eyb switches which are very compact. Due to the compactness, you're soldering onto a pad which means you need to be a bit more careful when a pad has multiple wires connecting to it. And the switch tips are supposed to be a non-standard size, but don't recall having an issue with USA spec ones.
I bought them direct from Eyb.

Gagaryn

CasperCaster said:

I have a regular 5-way Superswitch in my Squier CV Tele. With a regular control plate there is room beneath to widen the cavity by about 2mm. I then rebated it by a further ~5mm using a 3/8" bearing on a 3/4" bit. Plenty of room for a standard Superswitch, but nothing visible from the outside. It's also got a toggle between the volume and tone pots as it's getting a tapped single coil bridge pickup. The wiring I am planning is essentially the diagram you posted above with the half out of phase in position #2. It's taken from the Jerry Donahue Tele's and basically cuts all the bass from one of the pickups before combining it out of phase with the other pickup. Usually when you combine two pickups out of phase it's very thin, with no bass. Counterintuitively, if you cut all the bass from one pickup, when the pickups are combined out of phase the final sound has more bass than regular out of phase, simply because the bass from the first pickup isn't there to cancel the bass from the second pickup. It does fall someway short of the Strat out of phase sound it is intended to emulate, but is useful in its own right.

Edit: There are also the Gunther Eyb switches, which got a redesign about 2 years ago. These were marketed by Schaller and were circuit board based but now partly resemble an ordinary switch - they are quite compact, though I haven't used one myself.

Yes, it makes sense that removing the bass from one pickup would lead to a fuller sound when combined with another pickup OOP.

Roland said:

The Series but out of phase combination sounds a bit thin whenever I've tried it.

I've not tried series OOP as yet, only parallel OOP - usually by mistake when combining pickups from different manufacturers. This does sound pretty thin but I would have thought in series it would be a bit better? Maybe not though - time will tell!

Anyway, I've now ordered a narrow superswitch - will be a couple of weeks before I get it as I couldn't find any local - had to order from the US. Initially gonna stick with my plan -
1) neck,
2) both in series,
3) both in parallel,
4) both series out of phase
5) bridge

Will see how this sounds and if the OOP doesn't sound usable will look for alternatives for fourth position - likely an Arlo / Eldred cocked wah type.

Gagaryn

Now fitted and wired up as planned - 



I'm really happy with it - switch fits in the standard tele cavity with plenty of space, the switching positions make more sense than they did with the four way and the out of phase sound is great, no thinness, just a bit of honk!