Devo Posted July 24, 2005 Report Share Posted July 24, 2005 Hey Folks, Whenever I go to rewire a guitar I like to keep things as simple as possible from the players point of view cause having to flip switches pull knobs and twist dials as well as stamping on pedals is a bit much for a 12 bar solo... so I generally will have one switch and sometimes 1 or 2 push pulls... though they only select odd pickup combinations that are unlikely to be used in a live situation... so my question is 'is there such thing as a >4 pole 5 way switch?' and does anyone here regularly use the allparts 4 pole switches... they look pretty good but how do they feel/perform in the long run? cause the stewmac ones are pretty expensive. Best wishes Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TenderSurrender Posted July 24, 2005 Report Share Posted July 24, 2005 I could understand that in a recording session, you would want a nice versatile guitar with many options... That way, you dont have to take 5 different guitars for a small session? Live situations though i agree, i personally dont go to mad with effects etc because it can become very muddy very quickly, my guitars, both have very simple wiring... One of my guitars is simply 1 Pickup into volume pot and then out... i use that live a lot... The other has 2 pickups going into a 3 way toggle and then 2 tone & 1 Volume pot before going out... IMO excessive wiring options can cause many problems when troubleshooting BUT could be helpful in a recording session Just my opinion anyway ~~ Slain Angel ~~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoughtless 7 Posted July 24, 2005 Report Share Posted July 24, 2005 I like to keep things simple all the time. I find that a 3 way switch annoys me cause i can't decide which position i like the best. My next guitar i will wire it so i have both HM on with a master Tone and Volume. Effects wise i have a distortion pedal and a chorus. I like the simple options, it means a lot less things to go wrong =P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TenderSurrender Posted July 24, 2005 Report Share Posted July 24, 2005 I find a 3 way toggle ok... N if i REALLY cant decide where i like it... chuck it in the middle and pretend its not there Its the 5way toggles that get me... just annoying lol any more then 3 selections p/u wise and i find it annoying ~~ Slain Angel ~~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclej Posted July 24, 2005 Report Share Posted July 24, 2005 i built my last custom as a studio guitar. humbucker/single/humbucker. each pup has an on/off/on mini-switch. for the humbuckers..parallel/off/series and for the single coil normal and out of phase. i've never actually calculated how many combinations that is without becomming redundant but probably more than you'd want on stage. in my shop i'm seeing a big move to simplicity..even to the point of taking standard strat, etc. and installing just one humbucker with a volume control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TenderSurrender Posted July 24, 2005 Report Share Posted July 24, 2005 Its like i mentioned above... those who are wanting the single p/u guitars are those who either do a lot of stage work OR know EXACTLY what tone they want and need nothing more... I think your on/off for each P/U Might be a little over the top but its each to there own, and to be honest the more i think about it.. the idea is appealing but as you said.. its a tad overboard for Stage work ~~ Slain Angel ~~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank falbo Posted July 25, 2005 Report Share Posted July 25, 2005 The only thing I don't and wouldn't ever use is an out of phase switch. I think it's utterly useless. It's a sound I would never want, and basically could duplicate with some filtering if I ever did. But I use all the coil cuts, and multiple pickup combinations I can. And I play them live too. But I have always been that way. So I don't try to push that onto the people I make guitars for. Or if I do, it's just maybe one push/pull so otherwise the guitar behaves normally. I do a lot of coil cuts where the coils can be chosen, too. 4-pole 5-ways are the greatest. You can do so many things with just three poles, that the fourth is a bonus. I've used the fourth to route certain positions to the tone control while others bypass it for the purest sound. On one guitar, the middle three positions are wired through a hi-pass filter and the outer positions are wired to a tone pot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devo Posted July 26, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2005 4-pole 5-ways are the greatest. Ill definatly second that... and your opinion about putting pickups out of phase..... which switches do you use regularly though frank? Ive been using Stewmac ones but theyre about 2wice the price of an allparts one. I nearly always put a high pass on a push pull... but I guess I almost always use it on some pickup combinations and never on others... On my current project I was thinking about connecting up the fourth pole with a push pull to engage a piezo in parallel on some pickup combinations... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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