Pickup switching ideas?

[DeadNight Warrior]

Ok, so assuming I'll figure out what pickup to use in place of my beloved TZ (see other thread I guess), I'll also need to determine how I want switching handled.

 

On my UV I've got a fairly standard set up with a slight twist. 1st position is the bridge humbucker, 2nd is the split HB with the middle SC, the 3rd is the SC, 4th is the SC with the split neck HB, and finally the 5th position is the neck humbucker. The slight twist is in the push pull that I have as the tone pot, which when pulled up turns the SC in the middle off, essentially giving me the ability to use either the neck HB or bridge HB in coil split modes on their own (as well as, effectively giving me a "kill" position, although I don't ever really use it).

 

But this guitar is going to have two humbuckers only; no single coil in the middle (but piezos in the bridge, switching handled by a separate mini-toggle).

 

So basically... what I want at least is: bridge humbucker, neck humbucker, coil split neck humbucker. I'd also like to have the bridge humbucker split, and both humbuckers split together (hum cancelling I guess would be nice), but they're not so important.

 

I don't particularly want to be drilling holes in my guitar for mini toggles, so push-pulls where necessary. This is also going to be a "live" guitar, not a studio only thing or whatever, so I need to be able to switch between stuff pretty smoothly/quickly.

 

So given that there'll be a 5-way switch, and the option of using push-pulls, any ideas for switching options?

[FalseRevRG]

here's what i'd do (and i hope i can word this so it makes sense to you):

bridge the terminals for positions 1 and 2 and 4 and 5 on the switch...this leaves you with 3 positions, but the smoother feeling of a 5-way when you flick it from one extreme to the other quickly. now, you have the option of either 2 volumes, or a volume and a tone. i would personally go with 2 volumes, and do it like this: the volume closest to the bridge is a master volume, controlling both pickups. the other one controls only the neck pickup. this way, you can set up your guitar to do EVH-style toggle switch stuff, or set your neck pickup however you want it and maintain an even balance between the two pickups at whatever volume you want, but not have to think about which knob to go for depending on what position you're in pickup-wise. either way, the second knob, be it tone or volume, is a push-pull, that splits both pickups to the inner coils, JPM style. that way, you end up with the following possibilities:

Bridge
Bridge + Neck
Neck
Bridge (neck-side coil only)
Inner Coils
Neck (bridge-side coil only)

[DeadNight Warrior]

Hmm... that's an interesting way to go about it. I might have to have a think about that. The twin volume control idea sounds interesting. I'm not that huge on tone pot tweaking, but at the same time I do use it now and again, so I'm not sure how I'd deal with not having one...

Thanks for the ideas.



Of course, just to be clear, when I listed what switching possibilities I needed, and would possibly like to have too, I wasn't ruling out all other options too. I like having a range of tones available, just that there's a certain few that I feel I need to have at least.

[FalseRevRG]

Originally posted by DeadNight Warrior Hmm... that's an interesting way to go about it. I might have to have a think about that. The twin volume control idea sounds interesting. I'm not that huge on tone pot tweaking, but at the same time I do use it now and again, so I'm not sure how I'd deal with not having one... Thanks for the ideas. Of course, just to be clear, when I listed what switching possibilities I needed, and would possibly like to have too, I wasn't ruling out all other options too. I like having a range of tones available, just that there's a certain few that I feel I need to have at least.

btw, what i described is a combination of what i have in 2 of my guitars....the Charvel with EMGs has the 5-way wired as a smoother-feeling 3-way, and the Agile has the rest of it. i might try what i actually described in my RG7620 at some point though...or at least make the second knob a neck volume, without the push-pull, since that guitar is already wired to split to the inner coils in the middle, and i don't have much use for some of the other tones available...i just didn't want to change too much in the Agile when i wired it that way

[headless]

This is the switching set-up on my (custom built), two humbucker Tele.

I have a 4-way Tele blade type switch, that gives me the option of running both pickups in series, as well as parallel.

The volume and tone pots are push/pull and are used to change the respective humbuckers from (standard) series mode to (more single-coil like, yet humbucking) parallel mode.

Of course the pots could be used to split the humbuckers into single-coils.

[DeadNight Warrior]

Originally posted by headless This is the switching set-up on my (custom built), two humbucker Tele. I have a 4-way Tele blade type switch, that gives me the option of running both pickups in series, as well as parallel. The volume and tone pots are push/pull and are used to change the respective humbuckers from (standard) series mode to (more single-coil like, yet humbucking) parallel mode. Of course the pots could be used to split the humbuckers into single-coils.

Yeah, parallel modes are something that I've considering a bit too. One of the positions on my RG7620's 5-way switch is the neck humbucker in parallel mode, and I quite like it. It's nice having a somehat single coil-like sound, but without the hum.

Ahh so many possibilities...