Seymour invented the 5-way.

[Artie]

I just noticed this little blurb over at Stewart-MacDonald:

3-way and 5-way lever switches
When Leo Fender designed the Telecaster®, he used a rather large lever switch that was commonly used in that era. The original 3-position lever switch has two poles. Fender used the same 3-way switch on the Stratocaster® up until around 1977, when the company realized that players had been catching the switch between positions to get two new sounds. Repairman such as Seymour Duncan filed two new stops into these 3-way switches making the first 5-way switches. After 1977, nearly all Fender Strats came with a 5-way toggle.

So, we can thank Seymour for the 5-way switch? I knew I loved this guy!

 

[Curly]

Re: Seymour invented the 5-way.

he's a genius!

 

[BluesJunkie]

Re: Seymour invented the 5-way.

I'm not sure I believe that. My '72 Strat has a 5-way, and as far as I know, it's original.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Seymour invented the 5-way.

Actually I invented the 5 way...at least I did it before anyone I know! I took apart the 3 way switch that came with my '57 Fender Strat ( it was a hard tail ) and filed two notches in it to get the "in between" tones that combine the neck and middle pickups and middle and bridge pickups. Yeah I know I devalued the guitar...but this was in the 60's.

I also refinished a '56 Les Paul polka dot and had two Strat pickups put in a '51 Tele about the same time! We did a lot of crazy things to vintage guitars in those days...but they were just used guitars back then!

Lew

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Seymour invented the 5-way.

It´s definitely a "classic trick", as Lew´s testimony supports.

But whether Seymour was really the FIRST to do it....?

 

[Artie]

Re: Seymour invented the 5-way.

Yeah, the "1977" date didn't even click in my brain 'til you guys mentioned it.
That is a little late in the game for someone to think about using a 5-way.

I don't mind adding "invention of the 5-way" to Lews resume.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Seymour invented the 5-way.

Yeah, the "1977" date didn't even click in my brain 'til you guys mentioned it.
That is a little late in the game for someone to think about using a 5-way.

I don't mind adding "invention of the 5-way" to Lews resume.

I'm sure I wasn't the first guy on the planet to figure out how to do it...but I really did do it to a REAL '57 Strat and at the time I never knew of anyone else who'd done it before. When I showed my Strat to other musicians around Detroit and Ann Arbor at the time ( about 1970 )they'd never seen it done before either. I'll bet Bruce, my brother, would remember that...he remembers everything! Lew

 

[jeremy]

Re: Seymour invented the 5-way.

im glad im not old enough to have mangled any nice vintage instruments, plenty of squiers, ibanez's, and kramers but i dont feel to bad about that

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Seymour invented the 5-way.

im glad im not old enough to have mangled any nice vintage instruments, plenty of squiers, ibanez's, and kramers but i dont feel to bad about that

Oh the 50's and 60's Fenders and Gibsons some of us (Dan Erlewine included!) mangled in our youth. :smack: Nothing like the near mint pre CBS Strat I watched Pete Townshend smash around 1967 or 68 at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit tho. It was an old green guard...I know because a friend of mine got it and I got the body off of him. Then I took the pickups out of it and had Dan Erlewine ( who was just getting started as a repairman ) put them in my '51 Tele Nocaster...creating the first Nashville Tele. I traded Dan the smashed Townsend Strat to do the deed... :smack: I asked Dan if he still had it a year or so ago..he didn't. Lew

 

[Falstaff]

Re: Seymour invented the 5-way.

I thought Seka invented that.

 

[MoodyBlue]

Re: Seymour invented the 5-way.

I'd give an Eye Tooth one day to sit around yer shop in Colorado and listen to you and Bruce talk Lou!

Jim:cool2:

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Seymour invented the 5-way.

I'd give an Eye Tooth one day to sit around yer shop in Colorado and listen to you and Bruce talk Lou!

Jim:cool2:

When Bruce gets going I mostly just listen and learn... Lew