Wiring/selector Ideas For An Hss Guitar

[Dave I]

I have a guitar in the works, pretty much a variant on the Super Strat, it's a PRS shape, no trem, with a Charlie Christian in the neck, Strat-type middle coil, and a humbucker for the bridge. Sounds fine so far, eh?

My questions revolve around how to wire it and what type of pickup selector to use.

First & foremost, I want something I can easily use whatever pickup(s)/option/etc. Functionality is important not because I plan to speed-shift a dozen pickup or in/out-of-phase changes in a song, but just because while certain features seem kind of cool to have around, not if it turns into an exercise in frustration. Thus, I do not want a ton of switches or to have everything on knobs I have to remember how far turned on/off/up/down they are. However, if it's a relatively simple, and quick, setup I can learn pretty quick.

Options . . . In my dream world, it will have all six possible pickup configs (the traditional five, plus neck-&-bridge, and all three ), out-of-phase, and series wirings. That said, the phase & series wirings seem kinda cool but I do not think I'd use them at all that much or miss them terribly if they were not around. The six pup configs also seem cool, but I do not want to sacrifice functionality if there are only three of four that will stand out. I'm more or less fishing for opinions as ideally it would be fun to have all these said options, but would scale back if it will make the more standard functioning of the guitar more difficult. I'd also want to coil-split the humbucker.

Controls: I'm thinking master volume and one or two tones (maybe separate bridge tone). I'm also thinking I'd like to add a Shadow Kill Pot which basically makes one of your pots a push-button kill switch. I'm NOT sure on how to control the options. I'm not sure about going 3-way toggle (maybe with a blender pot for the mid pickup), 5-way blade, mini-toggles ala. the Anderson Guitars Switcheroo, or something else. I'd love suggestions or ideas. I'm mainly concerned with what will be most useful and most natural in use. The Seymour Duncan Triple Shot is an option too, just not sure how well they work and how it would look on a humbucker next to the two pickup-ringless single coils.

Aesthetics: I just want to keep the guitar as uncluttered as possible. Hence I do not really like mini-toggles when they add to a pre-existing selector switch and knobs. I DO find the Switcheroo nicer looking because it is arranged in the genera real estate and space a blade selector typically takes. Overall though, I do not want the face of the guitar covered wholly in all kinds of buttons and switches.

So, any thoughts?

-Cheers