S. Exton

A "standard" 5 position single pole switch will have 6 terminals, 1 to 5 "inputs" and a common "output". Position 1 will connect terminal 1 to common, Pos 2 will connect 2 to common etc. A multimeter is used on ohms range to see which terminals are connected together in any switch position. When the terminals are connected, they will have a very low resistance close to 0 ohms. When not connected, they will be an open circuit, or an infinite resistance. The common terminal can usually be identified visually (if the switch is not enclosed), by the contact fingers extending to a ring on the rotating disk in the switch. The ring usually has a tab which sticks out from the ring. As the switch rotates, the tab connects to the other terminals fingers one by one, making a connection from the common terminal to one of the other terminals. There may be another set of these contacts on the other side of the switch wafer, which duplicate this operation, making a second 5 position switch. This is termed a "pole", and this switch is then a 2 pole switch. Larger switches can include several wafers, giving multiple poles of switching contacts all operated from the one switch lever. To use the multimeter to check the switch, set the switch in one position. Use the meter probes to test the resistance between each pair of terminals, writing down which are connected (low resistance or low ohms reading on the meter). When you have tried all pairs of contacts, move the switch to the next position and repeat the process, until all positions have been recorded. Write the results up on a table, and you should be able to see a logical pattern, identifying 5 "inputs" and one "output" per switch pole. A more complicated switch may have several internal poles, and be internally wired to provide more input combinations, but writing out a table of connections should eventually make some sense - see below:- Position Connections 1 1 to 2 2 1 to 3 3 1 to 4 4 1 to 5 5 1 to 6 From this, the common terminal is terminal 1 which is used for output. Terminals 2 to 6 are inputs 1 to 5 respectively. Cheers,

No, they're not all the same. The link you gave in the first post shows different switches - E model and P model for example. What you will need to do is check out which switch contacts are connected in different switch positions, and work out whether the switch you have is suitable for what you want to achieve. There are many possible combinations of coil connections with 2 humbuckers if you take into account all of the serial and parallel combinations. Some will make better sounds than others. Try and experiment - you aren't going to "blow up" your pickups by trying different options. If you can follow wiring diagrams, try and analyse some of the wiring drawings from books or the 'net to give an idea of what others do. You can "analyse" your switch with a multimeter (if you have one) to work out which terminals are connected in different switch positions, and determine the best way to wire your pickups to it to achieve the combinations that you want. If you are experimenting with different options by trial and error, keep notes of what you are doing along the way so you can go back to that Killer sound you found yesterday! Steve Exton.

Check out www.seymourduncan.com - Support - Wiring diagrams - they have many configurations with their recommended values etc - it is quite comprehensive and should give you a choice of options one of which should suit.

Any reason why you want to change the pots? A change to the pot value WILL change the sound the pickups output, because the electrical load of the pot effects the pickup is some rather complicated ways. The pickup itself has a fairly high impedance that is very inductive, and a resistive load accross the pickup forms a "tone" circuit in itself. Changing the resistive load will change the nature of this "tone" circuit, and will affect the sound. Guitars come from a factory with different values of pots because they come with different types of pickups. Generally, the pot should be matched with the pickup, so check the specs of the pickup to see what is recommended. Of course, if the pickup is active, and has a pre-amp actually built into the pickup itself, then the loading effects of the pot won't affect the pickup coil, so any value can be used. Steve Exton.