5 pickup wiring

[jtw1111]

I require some assistance...

Imagine a standard strat with 2 extra humbuckers placed above and below the middle pickup. Is it possible to mount a 5-way strat switch for the singles, a 3-way gibson switch for the hb's, and a 2-way switch to select between the 2 combinations?

I would be using 2 500k pots for master volume and tone.

If anyone has links, suggestions, advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

-jon

[ChrisK]

Is it possible to mount a 5-way strat switch for the singles, a 3-way gibson switch for the hb's, and a 2-way switch to select between the 2 combinations?

Yes.

I would be using 2 500k pots for master volume and tone.

Good choice since there be humbuckers afoot.

If anyone has links, suggestions, advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

Wire the 5-way Strat switch for the singles as is normally done but connect the output of the 5-way switch to the 2-way switch and not to the volume pot, wire the 3-way Gibson switch for the hb's as is normally done but connect the output of the 3-way switch to the 2-way switch and not to the volume pot, and wire a 2-way SPDT switch to select between the 2 combinations and connect its output to the volume and tone pots.

Now, if you use a second Gibson style 3-way in lieu of the 2-way switch, you can choose the 5-way group, the 3-way group, or both, which would give you [an additional] 15 pickup combinations.

I might suggest the use of a volume and tone circuit for each group for better A/B usage. You could use concentric pots for each group.

[newey]

Now, if you use a second Gibson style 3-way in lieu of the 2-way switch, you can choose the 5-way group, the 3-way group, or both, which would give you 15 pickup combinations.

No, it would give one an additional 15 combinations, on top of the 8 originally proposed.

[ChrisK]

D'oh.

( 8^(I)

[jtw1111]

Awesome...thanks you guys.

Would cramming the coils so close together affect the tone in any way?

[dugg]

I recently moved the middle pickup of a strat down directly next to the bridge coil and wired them together as a 'slantbucker'. Before I cut the finished pickguard, I was using a cheapo one to drill holes in and test positions. One thing I did was move the two single coils closer and further away to see if it could be heard. It can. In other words, listening to one pickup (#1) and moving another one (#2) into the first ones magnetic field creates a change in the field which you can hear in the sound of #1. Now, mind you, these are SC's with internal alnico 5 polepieces, not HB'ers with a bar magnet underneath. I'd guess that the field set up by the SC's is stronger, but I don't know. What does the sound sound like? Kind of like a faint sweeping wah (as you move the pickup). Not at all a bad sound, just....a different tone.