Odd strat wiring (combine two pickups + treble boost?)

[Canned_Breb89]

So, I have a Squire strat that I've been testing some wiring mod ideas on and it's in a weird pickup configuration (originally sss, but the bridge pickup was removed because I never used it and I like the sound it has) and what I want to do is when it's in the bridge position of the 5-way selector, it combines the neck and middle pickup and engages a treble boost circuit. I have an ok idea of how to combine the pickups (I think) but I have a hard time visualizing it on the stock budget switch it comes with and I have no idea how to, or if I even can have it engage a treble boost circuit without some other switch. Any advice or diagrams to do this would be greatly appreciated.

For reference, here's the pickup configuration I'm talking about.

[Bizman62]

Electrickery is magic to me so I can't just draw you a schematic.

Looking for Tele 5 way switch options might help. After all it's about two single coils, the bridge one in this case being farther from the bridge than normal. It still is a two single coil five way switch system like a Tele. There may even be drawings for a treble boosted option.

[curtisa]

It might help if you can indicate what each of the switch positions are you want to achieve. A stock 5-way switch on a Strat implies that it originally had the typical Bridge/Bridge+Mid/Mid/Mid+Neck/Neck options, but with the bridge pickup missing that makes for one position that does nothing (Bridge) and one position that becomes a duplicate of another (Middle only).

[Canned_Breb89]

On 3/16/2022 at 9:37 PM, curtisa said:

It might help if you can indicate what each of the switch positions are you want to achieve. A stock 5-way switch on a Strat implies that it originally had the typical Bridge/Bridge+Mid/Mid/Mid+Neck/Neck options, but with the bridge pickup missing that makes for one position that does nothing (Bridge) and one position that becomes a duplicate of another (Middle only).

The switch is exactly the same wiring as stock, so the position between middle and bridge is just middle and the bridge is just silent

[curtisa]

I reckon you're going to need to replace the switch with something like a 5-way 4-pole Oak Grigsby Superswitch.

Is the duplicated 'middle' position something that you are happy to work with or would you prefer to eliminate it? You could always replace the 5-way switch with a standard 3-way Telecaster-style one and do your treble boost using a push-pull pot or mini toggle switch.

Do you have a circuit in mind for the treble boost component?

[Canned_Breb89]

21 hours ago, curtisa said:

I reckon you're going to need to replace the switch with something like a 5-way 4-pole Oak Grigsby Superswitch.

Is the duplicated 'middle' position something that you are happy to work with or would you prefer to eliminate it? You could always replace the 5-way switch with a standard 3-way Telecaster-style one and do your treble boost using a push-pull pot or mini toggle switch.

Do you have a circuit in mind for the treble boost component?

It would probably be smart to replace the switch with a three way, but I'd like to keep it 5-way just in case I wanna put a pickup back there, and I was hoping the boost circuit (the one I plan on using is below) would activate when you switch to the bridge position. As for the duplicated middle, I could always just remove the wire and have it function as a sudo killswitch.

[curtisa]

Apologies for the spaghetti wiring. I think this is what you're after:

Pickup selection options are:

1. Middle+Neck+Boost
2. Middle
3. Middle
4. Middle + Neck
5. Neck

Notes:

• Need to purchase an Oak Grigsby 5-way 4-pole Superswitch to replace the stock Squire one, plus replace the stock output jack with a stereo tip-ring-sleeve (TRS) version.
• The battery will be disconnected whenever the lead is unplugged to prevent battery drain when not in use.
• You didn't mention whether you wanted to drill another hole for the treble boost pot, so I've assumed you would have been happy to lose one of the tone controls instead and install the treble boost pot in its place. To that end I've made the remaining tone control a master tone for both pickups.
• Volume and tone controls are on the output side of the treble boost (again, not sure if this is what you were expecting?)
• Take care around all the little jumpers on the switch - there are quite a few!
• The Treble Boost is wired with true bypass when not engaged (switch positions 2-5). Not sure if that's important to you?
• I have no idea if the wire colours will match your pickups, but you get the idea

[Canned_Breb89]

Thanks, would there be anyway to have this work with the stock switch? I was planning on just having the pickups skip the volume/tone controllers and just go straight into the boost, and I wasn't planning on having the potentiometer in the circuit diagram for the boost (I should've specified).

[curtisa]

Depends a lot on the switch. If it's anything like the typical import-style 5-way switches (such as below), then the answer is 'no':

Can you post a photo of the switch you have?

[Canned_Breb89]

That is pretty much the same as the switch I have, minus some cosmetic differences, but what difference would the new switches make? I've never been able to tell between standard switches and the super switches

[curtisa]

58 minutes ago, Canned_Breb89 said:

but what difference would the new switches make?

More possible combinations of switching contacts. The problem with your switching requirements is that you're after one particular combination of pickups and boost that isn't achievable using a standard switch. Hence the only way to do it is to either use a somewhat esoteric component, or relax the switching requirements to use more standard components (ie, my earlier suggestion of a Tele 3-way switch in combination with a mini toggle).

The import-style 5-way switch has a very specific switching pattern that works perfectly with a typical SSS,  HSS or HSH pickup configuration. But because of this 'perfect fit' its too inflexible to work with any other kind of switching arrangement.

[ansil]

Why not use a 4 way tele switch to eliminate the extra or duplicate position.   And use a  higher value pot with a cap to limit some low end.  Add in a fixed resistor for the other positions and you dont need a battery.  If u like i can draw up something