Anyone familiar with the Free-Way pickup switch?

The .pdf file that's linked in the Stew-Mac entry has the switch logic:

www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/i-0040/i-0040.pdf

un,

We've discussed this switch before, but I don't believe any of our members has actually admitted to using one in their mad-scientist scheme. You're about to become our first such member! ;D

Seriously, the only way we can evaluate your chances for success is to see a schematic of your intended design. We can then compare that to the PDF file for the switch, and see if any problems might show up.

Errr, you do already have such a design already, yes?

.......

As for the saving money on the Freeway(s) and buying a crapload of switches, well..... To each their own, but me, I personally like a clean, uncluttered look. Contrast that to CheshireCat's Ultimate Utah, a working guitar that has been discussed many times here in the NutzHouse:






Obviously you'll want to fall somewhere inbetween..... I hope!


HTH






sumgai

Sorry John & sumgai. I'm a slow typist - your replies didn't show up untill after I posted!

I can do Brian May switching with DPDT switches in my sleep. But I really don't need every function, and was hoping to cut down on the number of switches.


It's a catch 22. I can't draw up a schematic unless I know how the switch works! ;D Maybe I'll just order one for now. I'm fairly certain I can make use of it on my next project (pair of p90's).

On a side note - that's one crazy guitar! I love the single-sized double coil in the full sized humbucker slot! How does he remember how to use all that?!

Mad Scientist, errr, un2maxx,

Well good for you, pulling the trigger and ordering those things. Do keep us posted on what you find, OK?

What I meant was, do you intend to insert these into an already built circuit, in the hopes of reducing the parts count? (Sounds like that's your goal.) If so, then we'd like to see the diagram from which you're working. There are many ways to accomplish the Brian May tonal pallette, I'm sure you'll agree.

Also, you just said that you don't need/use all of the functions of the "standard" BM scheme. Again, even if you can 'do these in your sleep', it'd be nice to share with your fellow Nutz just what it is that you're looking to keep, and what's gonna get axed outta yer axe. Ideas like this are what keep the lifeblood flowing here in The NutzHouse, if you know that I mean.

HTH


sumgai

Oh, you want to know how it works, not just what connections it makes?

I dunno, just treat it like a black box, don't worry about the innards. You have the connections it makes and can therefore suss out the wiring. And there's a bunch of pre-made diagrams to use with the thing anyway!

Of course, it's only "not adding up" if we make the unstated assumption that the switch is mechanical- which it probably is. But if someone had told you in advance that it was a digital logic switch, then you wouldn't have thought twice about how it could do that.

But we don't want you to lose any sleep over this, and it will be a few days before the actual switches show up in the Post. So, if you really have to know how it works, click on the link. There is a patent number listed on the switch. I suspect that the patent number could lead a clever sort to the patent itself, via the google webs. ;D

And the patent must of course explain how the switch works, or they couldn't have patented it. . .

Now, of course, I could have done this for you, and posted a link, but you're the one losing sleep, not me!

Since this has turned into a full-fledged discussion I may as well take a few minutes to explain the origin and details of the guitar I'm assembling. I apologize in advance for such a long post ...

Over the last several years I've been slowly rebuilding a late 90's model American Deluxe (I think?) Stratocaster. I've finally got things pretty much how I want them on this guitar, so I'm planning to tear it down one last time this spring and refinish the body and neck. Since it's currently the only decently playable guitar I own (other than a sad little 1960's model Silvertone Kay) I'll need something else to play while I do the body work (I'm planning on using tung oil - so it will probably take a while). After scrounging around amongst my spare parts I located a Strat-style body from a cheap Harmony guitar I owned in the early 1990's, an old 22 fret Kramer neck, and enough hardware to put together another guitar - including a set of three Gold Lace Sensor pickups that I pulled out of the afore-mentioned Strat, and a Red Lace Sensor that has mysteriously appeared in my electronics box. I'll spare you all the gruesome details, but once I got everything assembled I started thinking about wiring possibilities. I had kept things fairly simple on the Strat, so I figured I may as well go a bit over the top with this build.

Among the first things I considered when planning the wiring was that this guitar was not going to have much in the way of primary tone. The body is made of some junk plywood, after all. In addition, I had removed the Lace Sensors from my Strat because I didn't care for the sound of them (at least not for a blues guitar). So I decided to go for more of a rock set-up that wasn't as reliant on the guitars natural tonal qualities (or the lack thereof). Given that the Gold Lace Sensors are fairly lightweight in the way of output compared to most rock guitar pickups, it occurred to me that some sort of active circuitry might be beneficial. I had played around with a friends guitar years ago after he had a set of EMG's installed, and didn't much care for them. But I'm mostly a blues player, so that's not surprising. From what I remember, though, I think the sound of the Lace Sensors will lend itself well to an active setup. And it will give those Golds a boost. The adjustment knob for the active circuit will replace one of my tone knobs, and I'm going to wire a bypass switch to a push/pull pot. on the vol. knob. That way I'm not screwed when the battery dies. I'm thinking that the remaining tone knob might serve well as a switch for a dual tone capacitor setup. I did this on my Strat for the first time a while back and have found it to be quite handy. I'm also curious to see how the different caps behave with the active circuitry.

When it came down to the pickup configuration I had a bit of an odd pairing to deal with. I don't recall the exact numbers, but the output of the Red Lace Sensor is well over twice that of the Gold. So obviously the Red would go in the bridge position. I have four pickups to play with, so I figured I may as well create a home made Red/Gold Dually humbucker. And if you're going to have a humbucker on a Strat it has always seemed most useful to me at the bridge anyway. I have a feeling I'll wind up finding a more suitable partner for that Red at some point (which would open an opportunity for a Gold Dually at the neck ;D). But for now I'm just working with what I've got. So I think what I'll be going for with the wiring is something that will allow me to use the bridge and neck pickups either individually, in parallel, or in series. And given the physical distance between them I thought a signal reversal would also be handy. And since there's such a large difference between the two bridge pickups I figured I'd be best off approaching them with the same philosophy.

Whew! Outside of that, I've got a Rockinger tremolo stabilizer that also came out of my Fender Strat (I blocked the trem on that guitar in favor of a better primary tone). I thought I may as well try it out since blocking the trem on this partscaster is likely to make it sound worse. I replaced the bridge with one that has a full-sized steel sustain block (hopefully that will help the tone a bit), and I decided to try my hand at installing a Fender LSR nut since the trem will be floating. And that's the story of my newest project so far.

The counter below says I only have 55 thousand 5 hundred and... umm... wait... 4 hundred and... some-odd characters left before the word police come to shut me down. So I'd better close up before this thread swallows me alive. I appreciate everyone's comments, and I'll be sure to update my progress.

Thanks for the space to yak and carry on!

Heh... I guess I wasn't too clear on that, despite all my rambling, huh? Maybe I can clear it all up... There won't be a traditional Strat 5-way switch. And since the DPDT switches weren't working out, I ordered two of the Free-Way's. I'm not entirely sure how it's all going to work out since I don't yet know exactly how the switches work (decided not to stress myself about it untill they arrive and I can get a meter on them). But I have a feeling it's going to wind up going something like this: One switch will control the neck and mid pups such that position 1 will be neck, position 2 will be neck/mid parallel, position 3 will be mid, position 4 will be mid/neck series with the mid first in the chain, position 5 will be off, and position 6 will be neck/mid series with the neck pup first in the chain. And the second switch will control the two coils that make up the bridge pickup in the same way. So I'm not necessarily doing a true phase reversal, but rather changing which pups are first in the chain when they're run in series. Actually, if my assumptions about how the switch works are correct, I may have to flip-flop the functions of positions 5 and 6 (or 4 and 5, either way). Slightly less intuitive in my mind - but still quite usable.

So I suppose I'm only emulating the Brian May setup in the sense that I'm coil-tapping. Granted I'm working with 4 coils instead of just 3, and I won't be doing anything fancy with the neck and bridge pickups together. Plus (as I said) - not a true phase reversal.

Anyhow... Hope that paints a better picture!

Really? Hmm... I could see if I were dealing with two standard humbuckers that the difference in sound (if any) would be negligible. But it's been my experience that, especially when coil tapping the neck and mid single coils on a Strat-type setup, there is a very noticeable difference in the tonal qualities. And if I had a standard humbucker at the bridge I wouldn't bother with the signal reversal there. But since there's such a big difference between the Gold and Red Lace Sensors that are being combined to make up this particular double coil pickup - I figured it would be worth the effort. But who knows? This is how we learn, right?

Agreed
J

First off let me apologize for misusing the term "coil tapping". Oops.

When I started toying with this stuff years ago it made sense to me that the coil closest to the output would be more prevalent than the one that goes directly to ground. By that logic (as I said above) it would make sense that a true double coil would display very little, if any, difference in sound when reversing the signal flow since the coils are matched and they're basically in the same position on the body. But again, based on my above train of thought (which is apparently and not surprisingly flawed ), the neck and mid single coils on a Strat setup, when wired in series, could present a noticeable tonal variation upon signal reversal based on the difference in string resonance above each respective position.

But just because it makes sense to me doesn't mean it's correct. I'm eager to play around with it now.


I don't know John. When I look at the schematic on page 2 it seems that it wouldn't work correctly unless the A1 & A2 points were connected internally somehow. I also have to wonder about the holes at the top of the casing. Perhaps there's some parameter that can be adjusted further to make the switch behave differently? Can't wait to get these things on a meter. Stewmac sent them via standard mail in stead of FedEx. So I'm assuming they won't be here until Monday at the soonest. Patience is a virtue. Just not one of mine! ;D

On a side note - the active circuit arrived today. For the curious I ordered the EQ boost preamp from GuitarFetish. I didn't realize that the EQ was actually adjustable. Thought it was just an overall boost. So I'm going to have to leave it hanging outside the guitar after I wire it - restring, and play with the settings before I can fully install it. Between that and the Free-Way switches this is going to be a rather grueling process.

Good luck with your schematic wrangling! I get the impression that for you, as it is for me, working out the design is half the fun. Those switches have enough about them to do some interesting things, and its time to push the envelope (and also 'back-of-envelope') and see what you can make them do.

BTW, for when you get time to play with them, do they seem like good quality units with a nice positive action?

cheers
John

Is your thinking based on, "If I stick chorus after distortion in the signal chain, I get a chorused distortion effect, whereas if it's the other way around I get distorted chorus?"

I'm not clued up on the electronics theory, and I think it'd be very helpful and much appreciated if this was explained by one of our resident gurus (or at least alluded to in a helpful link) but as far as I can tell, the whole "It's a circuit, it works whichever way" works with transducers (pickups) and all the gubbins that happen to be inside the guitar, but it doesn't work like that with what are essentially chained modules of the circuit.

Looking forward to reading and seeing your results.

Heh... I realized this morning after work that I'd better figure out where this switch is going to go, now that I know what it's going to do. I'm thinking of pushing it up near the lower horn by the neck pickup like Nuno Bettencourt's N4...

Oh...and my interest in the free way was with a guitar I have in the waiting that I have thought to combine 4x lipsticks and a piezo system in it...I like a few options but a clean look and on an LP, this would do the job well if the switch is reliable.