I use 2 humbuckers and a superswitch as well. My #2 & #4 positions are the inside & outside coils in parallel. All positions are hum-cancelling, but it requires you to flip a magnet on one of the pickups to keep the proper coils selected and to keep everything in phase. I am the admin of the Seymour Duncan User Group Forum, which is like the Rosetta Stone for guitar wirings. I also came up with a 5 way HSS scheme that keeps all positions hum-cancelling as well.
Great vid! On my HH partscaster Tele, I used a DiMarzio super switch and added push-pull pots to Vol and Tone and wired it thus: 1:Bridge humbucker 2: South coils of both pickups 3: Bridge and neck humbucker 4: North coils of both pickups 5: Neck humbucker Volume pull: coil split the selected pickup Tone pull: Reverse phase on bridge pickup
As you said, there are tons of options, but here is one I think is quite useful. Normally the two coils of a humbucker are wired in series. But instead of using positions 2 and 4 to coil spilt the humbuckers, you could use them to wire the two coils of each humbucker in parallel. You get a sound more like a single coil but you still have the advantage of it being noise cancelling like a normal humbucker. My Squier Contemporary Jaguar has this option as well as the more common spilt coil. The two options (split coil vs humbucker coils in parallel) do sound different, but it is nice to retain the noise cancelation, and I would say the volume is better matched compared to just splitting the humbucker. Now I'm not sure the Super Switch could accommodate that (my Jag has two sliding switches to effect this). But it is useful option.
I have a Starfield Cabriolet LTD HH that came to me with a 5 way switch - I suspected that the 2/4 position were splitting because they got honky/quacky when I used them while the 1/3/5 position did as one would expect from a regular HH 3-way switch. Thanks for showing this and putting up the diagrams!
I have an HSS Strat with two Fralin Split Blades and a Planet Tone Clearvoyant HB. I added a 3 way 4p2t on-on-on toggle to swap the #3 lever switch from Middle to Neck+Bridge to Neck+Bridge 1/2 out-of-phase. Also has an S-1 Volume pot/switch to give series/parallel switching on the Clearvoyant HB. All the sounds I wanted, none that I don't dig, and easy peasy to operate....
Awesome addition to the website - and the diagrams are clear to follow. You need to add "Pagey" LP wiring though - Jimmy Page's #1 or #2 with the phase & split options on push-pull pots
I like to use series parallel instead of just a coil split. I think it gives a better SC sound and it stays hum canceling. And it can also be done with the super switch.
Currently waiting for a 2 X 5 way switch which has 10 combinations to go on a roasted swamp ash body and a one piece roasted maple neck, all unfinished with Nashville pickup config...yum!
A note about the super switch and rear routed bodies from warmoth, You have to trim down one of the wafers with some cutters. It takes 30 seconds but just was a surprise when I had to do it.
I'd love to see more content about weird wiring setups. I feel like it's something that often goes overlooked as everybody just defaults to the most common setups. Two ideas I've had are Nashville Tele where you just replace position 2 on the 5-way with bridge+neck pickups together, or an HSS Strat where you only use a 4-way so you just have bridge, middle, middle+neck, and neck. Can you tell I'm not a huge fan of position 2?
That wiring diagram is way less complicated than I thought it would be. My HH Strat is wired with a 4 way switch and a pair of DPDT toggles for coil splits (I had a different setup in there at some point, but I don't remember what it was). Bridge, B&N Parallel, B&N Series, Neck and then each of those can be split as I feel a need.
Indeed they do! PRS has their own proprietary "super switch". Instead of the two blades being side-to-side they are situated end-to-end. Same principle though.
I have my tech wire my guitars the same, except middle position being a combination neck and bridge with coils split. I never have liked the tone of 2 humbuckers combined.
I got a Harley Benton that had a five way switch on humbackers,I put Seymour Duncan in it then I put a three-way switch. I don’t like coil tap. There’s no use for it if you need a single coil get a different Guitar, which I also have.
I guess I'm not understanding the point of the superswitch? I don't consider using it simply for coilsplitting, a valid reason. Wouldn't a simple push/pull on the tone pot be more cost effective? I guess if your trying to make the guitar as expensive as possible. Then its perfect. Waste of time and money if you ask me. Peace!
Thanks for watching! I much prefer having all the pickup switching options located on a single pickup switch. Others prefer push/pull pots, and that's fine too. No biggie. As far as cost, I'm not sure one is any cheaper than the other. Either way, we're only talking a matter of a few bucks here. I'm not sure either one qualifies as "making a guitar as expensive as possible".
It can do a lot more than just coil splitting. For example, a guitar I owned with a super switch is wired like this: 5. N humbucker series 4. N humbucker parallel 3. N humbucker + B humbucker 2. N inner coil + B inner coil 1. B Humbucker series It allows for more complex wiring schemes as a whole. Using it for coil split is just the tip of the iceberg.
@brodym661 My point is not about what else you can do with a "Superswitch". Which is actually a DiMarzio trademarked name. But why its even nessessary? Have you bought one recently? They get $40-60 bucks for one now. I'm always gonna opt for the cleanest simplest and least expensive option, that gets the job done. Superswitches are none of those things. I've got 11 guitars with damn near every kind of pickup and wiring option possible. Only 1 has a Superswitch, and it has 3 pickups. I've always considered using them on any 2 pickup guitar, nothing more than a sales gimmick. Dumb. When you see demos of players trying to explain the switch positions. It's painfull almost. The KISS principal needs to apply here. Peace!
