Re: 'Ultimate' mad professor wiring?
I definitely concur about having zillions of options- too much redundancy to be worth the complexity IMO. I went through a phase back in the 70s where I wanted as much flexibility as possible, and like others here I found that when it came to actual playing I didn't use most of the possibilities. For me, it's nice to have a cleaner option and OOP but beyond that there wasn't much practical advantage to be had.
If it were my guitar, I'd add series/parallel switching for the neck pickup and use spin/split on the 59/C which splits very well indeed. Parallel neck tones are handy, and it's nice to be able to have shades of split, as opposed to just switching it in or out. I think if you had parallel as an option you might not need a separate bass cut cap for the Seth- but you could always get a push-pull for the extra pot (whatever its final function will be) and use that to switch the series cap in or out.
And I'd add a phase switch, in the right spot OOP can be a perfect tone option and I've sometimes missed it on my LPs, none of which have one.
Master TBX tone control seems like a perfect idea for this instance, where the OP already uses bass-cut sometimes.
I prefer 50s wiring because it stays more transparent when you roll back the volumes, and in a situation where the Op says he mostly runs fully open the tone pot interaction shouldn't be much of a concern.
As for a blend pot, as neat & convenient as it might seem at first, it actually limits what can be done. There's a lot more flexibility to be had from dual volume knobs.
Okay, I read back thru the thread and now I realize the OP already ordered Tripleshot mounting rings. It always seemed to me they'd be a little tricky to operate on the fly but a great choice in terms of flexibility. I suspect that they'll mostly be used for parallel on the neck and split on the 59/Custom which has an awesome lead voice and splits remarkably well.
...any suggestions on what a fella could do with a spare pot? [emoji4]
I'd still want phase switching on a push-pull; a very good option to have- it offers a tone really different from all your other options. And IMO it would still be useful to have a regular tone control for the neck pickup. Rolled-off neck tone is something you can't get otherwise. Like OOP, it might be used only rarely, but when it's called for nothing else will hit that same spot.
So I'd use a push-pull pot for bass-cut cap on/off and regular tone control on the neck pickup, and a push-pull on the neck volume pot for out-of-phase. Between that and the Tripleshots you'll have access to a pretty broad palette of sounds.
If you wanted to go further, you could use a third push-pull for a bass-cut cap on the bridge pickup too. Not something I'd use a lot myself, but it hinges on your use of the EQ - do you ever kick that in for the bridge pickup? If so, this might be worth considering.
Just brainstorming ideas here, but that's my perspective. One of the best things about this forum is that you can get dozens of suggestions and then pick what suits you best. Best of luck with the project! Let us know what you end up with. Bet it's going to be great.
