Can anyone help with a superswitch config that has me a little confused? What I am looking for is an SSS Strat diag with MV and 2 Tone with:

Bridge and Middle in Series
Bridge
Bridge and Neck in Parallel
Middle and Neck in Parallel
Neck

I can't seem to get this right and would appreciate any help.

Thanks

I'm not sure exactly what your motivation for doing this is? Are you trying to get hum canceling abilities? I'm not an electrician, but I do believe the terms you are using do not make any sense to me.

Meaning
Parallel: Each pickup has its own wires from the power source. Kind of like having two light bulbs using the same battery, but eat has their own wires going to the battery. The goal being that if one light goes out, the other light is not affected.

Series: All the pickups work in a chain, like Christmas tree light. Just like with the lights, if there is a break in the line, you lose the whole thing.

I have a few questions:
Is there a guitar that you've seen with this configuration?
Are you using the wrong terminology (and you mean something else)?
What is your intended goal by doing this?

I know this might come across as being a smart $@! (and I may be way off here), but I'm trying understand what you want to do and hopefully help you if I can.

Hey Jesse1d that could end up being complex
Here is a link to a combo but it is for a tele which gives a rough idea how complex things can get
http://www.deaf-eddie.net/drawings/5-tone-2008.jpg
Hopefully deaf eddie wont mind me posting the link here
I know Andy bighair has discussed just the action of the super switch here
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=46935
Maybe someone will help you out with a diagram. I'm not sure the combo would be available in the sequence you describe and I think you would run out of options/terminals.
Maybe you could achieve something in combination with an S1 or another switch.
Hopefully this points you in the right direction

Howdy!

Yep, That's all perfectly do-able!

I'll post a diagram later this evening that will give you the following:

Bridge and Middle in Series + Tone 2 (lower tone pot)
Bridge + Tone 2 (lower tone pot)
Bridge and Neck in Parallel + Tone 2 (lower tone pot)
Middle and Neck in Parallel + Tone 1
Neck + Tone 1

Cheers!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Hi paris: nobody thinks you're being a smartarse, and jesse1d does not have his ideas in a knot either.

Connecting pickups either in series or in parallel are well known ways of getting different tones out of the guitar, due to the differences in frequency cancellation those alternate wiring schemes give. Back in the '70s people such as Jimmy Page had circuitry that could offer these choices in some of their guitars (in his case via tiny controls on the underside of his Les Paul pickguard) and these days many guitars have such options as standard, for example the Am Deluxe Strat with its S1 switching.

Just for instance, two single coils connected in parallel as with positions two and four on a regular Strat gives us the familiar "nasal" sound some of us like. Connecting those coils in series instead gives a much more humbucker-like sound, fatter and richer.

This stuff is meat and drink to AndyBigHair. Check back and I suspect we'll see him post a very neat wiring diagram to get what jesse1d wants.

Cheers - C

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I realize it's a bit of a brain teaser but felt it could be done with a superswitch alone. The options this would give are very pleasing to my ear. In position 1 the middle and neck in series as a humbucker. Nice heavy, deep tone without changing the look of the strat. In position 2 the bridge single coil alone. Position 3 is neck and bridge in parallel and this is a classic tele sound. As I will be using twisted tele pickups in both the neck and middle positions on this strat build, I expect it will sound very tele like. Position 4 gives the strat quack with neck and middle in parallel and position 5 is straight neck.

So, with this config you get, humbucker, strat single coil, strat quack and classic tele tones all in a strat SSS orientation with a superswitch.

Strat "quack" position middle/bridge in parallel was left off in favor of bridge only as I tend to use the middle/neck in parallel setting more often for that identifiable tone.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

Andy, I'm really looking forward to seeing your wiring diagram for this and can't thank you enough for offering it here.

Cheers,

Howdy!


HA!

I see these little wiring challenges as Big Hairy Brain Stimulation (very sad and super geeky, I know...)! And you are correct in thinking these pickup combos can be achieved with a 5 Way Super Switch alone.


No worries! Here ya go..



Please keep us posted on how you get on. Any probs with the above, give us a shout!

Hope this helps.

Andy

BTW: Mr C, That's a very nicely written post. A perfect explanation of what's going on here. 50 points!

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Pending Greatness

Well done Mr Bighair!

Thanks man!

Cheers!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Sweet! There it is all nicely laid out with the superswitch mystery configuration solved.

Thanks again Andy!

I have to admit I may have had a little help...






Your welcome.

Enjoy!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

The great diagram above was designed by Andybigbair for a non standard strat project I'm working on. There's no problem hooking things up the way Andy has laid it out, it's understanding the signal flow of the TONE circuit that has me intrigued. The bottom right pole where the common lug connects to both volume AND the left pole is where I get lost.

Epiphany, I get it now! Sometimes you just gotta draw it out for yourself to see it clearer.