HHH SuperSwitch with local Series/parallel on mid and bridge

[mk716]

Hello all,
   Long time lurker, first time posting.   Thanks in advance for this board - super fun stuff here and I can't stop tinkering so...

   I have a strat with a duckbuker neck, lil '59 middle and hot stack in the bridge.   I'd like to have a push/pull to local series/parallel both the middle and bridge pickups.

   I found this on the board, post #7, second diagram which has this but the neck and bridge, so close...   I've also found a diagram on the webs for a series/para thing between pickups - rather just have one push/pull to rule them all.


Neck and bridge ser/para


   I've spent a couple nights trying to figure out how to do this, and I just can't seem to get there - can any of you help?   

Thanks in advance!
mike

[Yogi B]

Mar 22, 2024 12:13:30 GMT -5 mk716 said:

I found this on the board, post #[1]7, second diagram which has this but the neck and bridge, so close...

... and yet so far.

Toggling between series and parallel requires almost all of DPDT switch (or equivalent) per each pickup that is simultaneously affected. The trick with that diagram (or at least the one that's relevant to your plight) is that because it works on the neck & bridge pickups (which are never selected together) the supper switch can select which of the two pickups is connected to the series/parallel switch.

I assume that you're wanting to apply this to regular Strat switching — where you have the bridge & middle selected together in position 2 — thus would typically mean a requirement of to DPDTs worth of switching, hence why the third diagram in that post uses a 4PDT. (It occurs to me that, the simplest fix, would be to forgo that option and swap position 2 to be bridge & neck instead.)

Maintaining the traditional selections, what can be done with only a DPDT is: (when both pickups are selected) toggle between parallel and a 'conjoined series' arrangement. What I mean by that is instead of having each pickup locally in series then joining the two in parallel (i.e. (B_N × B_S) + (M_N × M_S)), we instead group two coils from each pickup in parallel and put that in series with a parallel group containing the other two coils (i.e. (B_N + M_N) × (B_S + M_S)).

It does feel a little weird to be combining side-by-side and stacked coils in this way. However, since it seems the coils of the hot stack are approximately equal (which isn't always the case with stacked designs), the two different ways of combining the coils can be assumed to be equal.

For the 5-way, this wiring would require at least a super switch. Whilst it'll get the job done, I don't an obvious way to avoid having unused coils hanging from hot (potentially adding noise), whereas this can be avoided with the use of a Fender's discrete switches.

[mk716]

Thanks Yogi,
   I thought as much!  Precisely what I was bumping my head on too.
   

I saw a diagram with the parallel at 2 and 4,  not sure how I want to go about it now, but I appreciate your reply.    I've got one push/pull in there now to split the bridge and middle and it didn't do anything for me. (Obv. Subjective)

  I might series parallel the '59 to try just that...  I might try a separate switch for both.  

Thanks again,
m.

[Yogi B]

Mar 23, 2024 10:27:37 GMT -5 mk716 said:

I've got one push/pull in there now to split the bridge and middle and it didn't do anything for me. (Obv. Subjective)

Something to be wary of, when splitting the Hot Stack, is shorting the unused coil. This is what I've seen on every official diagram I've encountered, but because the coils are tightly coupled you'll get significant eddy current losses resulting in a very bassy sound akin to the effect you'd get by shorting half a tapped single coil.

To a lesser extent that'll also apply to the Lil '59. While not having a coupling coefficient as high as a tapped single coil (70—90%), it is still about 33% or around double that of a full-size '59.

Numbers obtained using k = L_Full / sum(L_Split) − 1, from antigua's measurements of: SSL-4 & SSL-5 (as examples of tapped single coils); Little '59; and '59 Model.

[Yogi B]

Mar 22, 2024 21:05:51 GMT -5 Yogi B said:

Maintaining the traditional selections, what can be done with only a DPDT is: (when both pickups are selected) toggle between parallel and a 'conjoined series' arrangement. What I mean by that is instead of having each pickup locally in series then joining the two in parallel (i.e. (B_N × B_S) + (M_N × M_S)), we instead group two coils from each pickup in parallel and put that in series with a parallel group containing the other two coils (i.e. (B_N + M_N) × (B_S + M_S)).
...
For the 5-way, this wiring would require at least a super switch. Whilst it'll get the job done, I don't an obvious way to avoid having unused coils hanging from hot (potentially adding noise), whereas this can be avoided with the use of a Fender's discrete switches.

Below are diagrams implementing these: first with the super switch, then the discrete switch.