Series wiring for pos. 2 and 4 with three single coils and 5 way switch

[Blille]

^ That's good. You have a bass 6? I'm really liking mine. Although I used a 6 string bass but I put strings on for a bass 6 tuning. No switching between 2 fretboards to go between guitar and bass, it's great.

I have one on loan I’ll be pulling the trigger on or get a new one if I find it cheap. Trying to get together the stuff I’ll be tweaking.

I have been playing guitar and bass forever, I can’t believe I haven’t tried this before. It’s so fun. Really it’s own thing. I really like 5 string basses and I’m loving my fretless but there are songs that would do better with a pick and that have a lot of sonic space to fill.

Didn’t know you had one. How do you use it?

I’m thinking of switching the D to be an octave higher. That way I focus the bottom two on bass and the rest on a tighter space for less muddy closer voicings. Then into my stomp for separate amps based on the register.

Or just play it as is because it’s awesome lol So far I’m playing You Don’t care about us by Placebo over and over and Pictures of You is next.

[Clint 55]

That sounds cool! I'm just messing around on mine because my left index finger is jankity and I can't play much guitar or bass.

[Blille]

That sounds cool! I'm just messing around on mine because my left index finger is jankity and I can't play much guitar or bass.

Didn’t know, sorry! Not a problem on organ though?

[Clint 55]

It's ok. Yeah that's why I switched back to keys, it doesn't bother me on organ. Have you jammed in a band with you as the bassist on the bass 6?

[Blille]

It's ok. Yeah that's why I switched back to keys, it doesn't bother me on organ. Have you jammed in a band with you as the bassist on the bass 6?

Good to hear.

Not yet! These days the only live playing I do is CCM with my local church. There is a lot of times where the bass sits out which I hope can give me freedom to play in the higher register. I currently do synthy sounds or chordal work, fretless fills etc but I think this will be more natural.

[beaubrummels]

This should work with a regular 5-way switch.

It works by controlling how the middle ground is connected. In P1 and P5 it's not connected at all, so the middle is dead. In P2 and P4 the middle ground connects to either the bridge or neck hots, respectively. In P3 is connected directly to ground.

Connecting the tone pots requires thinking about still. Easy enough with s Ingle tone pot Telecaster style, just connect it parallel to the volume pot. Two tone pots needs thinking about to prevent shorts, however.

FWIW I might argue that's not a 'regular' 5-way blade. The 'regular' ones only have 4 lugs each side. That one has 5 independent switch positions in addition to the common lug.

[ThreeChordWonder]

^ Yup, my bad. Was doing that at work. I'll see if I can do it with a proper5-way. If not, that basic scheme will work with 2 banks of a superswitch, but the terminals may need renumbered and rearranging.

[piblock]

That Armstrong wiring is really clever, I haven't seen it before now. I have one guitar with Strat-ish wiring, Im going to ass this mod to my to-do list.

[ThreeChordWonder]

This will work with a 5-way Fender Superswitch.

Two banks control the pickups, mainly by switching the middle ground:

A third bank can be used to connect two tone pots. Just connect each tone pot to the positions you want it to work in, but don't try and make two tone pots work in one position or you'll create a short,

[Blille]

Thanks folks.

I think I’m going to go the classic route and add a push pull switch to a normal 5 way.

Also, I’ve now bought the guitar so incoming NGD thread when I get back home.

[Chistopher]

What's the consensus on the strat 2 and 4 series sound? I don't think I've ever had them wired that way for more than just a quick experiment or two. I can just never get them to fit in the wiring scheme in a clean way.

[Blille]

What's the consensus on the strat 2 and 4 series sound? I don't think I've ever had them wired that way for more than just a quick experiment or two. I can just never get them to fit in the wiring scheme in a clean way.

I have the middle and bridge in series in a Tele Nashville and it’s great, I use it all the time.

[ThreeChordWonder]

What's the consensus on the strat 2 and 4 series sound? I don't think I've ever had them wired that way for more than just a quick experiment or two. I can just never get them to fit in the wiring scheme in a clean way.

A bit louder than in parallel, not much else to my untrained ears.

I would add that all my Teles are wired with 4-way switches giving both the series and parallel options.

If you want hum canceling, it's as well to use one RWRP pickup. On Teles it's usually the necks that come RWRP, and you have to remember to separate the pickup and lipstick cover grounds. The pickup ground goes to the 4-way switch, and the lipstick cover ground goes to ground, separately, onto a pot casing.

On an SSS Strat, I would put the RWRP pickup in the middle in this instance. If you buy a pre-made RWRP the wires will most likely have been flipped already, so white or yellow remains the hot, black the ground. If you flip your own, then leave the wires soldered to the pickup coil alone, as theyre dead easy to break and darned difficult to re-solder, and just solder the far ends in back to front.

[Chistopher]

Interesting. I'm thinking of designing a Strat with a 3-way super switch that features only the sounds I use. Neck/middle in parallel, middle, and then possible bridge and middle in series, if I can find any use for that sound.

[freefrog]

What's the consensus on the strat 2 and 4 series sound? I don't think I've ever had them wired that way for more than just a quick experiment or two. I can just never get them to fit in the wiring scheme in a clean way.

I don't know if there's a consensus but I'd think to Brian May... A Strat has not the same scale nor the same pickups than the Red Special but series Bridge/mid or neck/mid SC's have a recognizable tone print and work well with a treble booster or any tight gain source.
I even play many other tunes than Queen songs with this configuration. A few hours ago, I was on stage with my Burns Bison whose pickups can be set in series for gainy tones and I've used this guitar during 18 really different songs without needing to change, although I've other guitars at disposal.