5 Way Switch mystery ( to me)

[cobalt60]

Hi,

First post. Hope im not gettin in the way but I cannot find this question addressed within the forum. I know it's weird but here goes ...

within this standard strat schema:

www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=3s_1v_2t_5w

Q: With the 5way switched into a Neck+Middle position, How does the signal from the Neck pickup ... after traveling across the commons to the output stage of the switch ... know it is supposed to go to the Neck Tone Pot and not to the other, mid tone pot ??

It seems to me after traversing the commons the signal should be a single signal.

How can the tone pots work separately ?

Thanks,

Co60

[newey]

⁶⁰Co:

Hello and Welcome to GNutz2!

Q: With the 5way switched into a Neck+Middle position, How does the signal from the Neck pickup ... after traveling across the commons to the output stage of the switch ... know it is supposed to go to the Neck Tone Pot and not to the other, mid tone pot ??

It doesn't know to do anything. Both pots are active, wired in parallel, at the Neck-Middle position. They interact with each other because of being wired together at that position.

The Reader's Digest version of events:

When first introduced, and for many years thereafter, Fender Strats had but a 3-way switch, same as a Tele. You only had one pickup on at a time, so the separate tone controls were no problem.

But people figured out that you could have N + M and M + Br by holding the switch in between the 3 detented positions. Someone else thought to make 2 more detents at those in-between positions, and the mod became so common that Fender eventually relented and made most Strats with the "5-way" switch from the factory. One simply filed a notch in between 1 and 2, and between 2 and 3. 2 and 4 became known as the "notch positions".

Originally, a bridge tone pot was thought undesirable due to the low powered amps of the day- you wanted full-bore at the bridge position to cut through. Nowadays, switching the middle tone pot (or the neck, depending) over to the bridge pup is a common mod.

Doing so involves moving only one wire, gives one a bridge tone control, and avoids interaction between the pots, since N + Br is not part of the std. Strat program.

"5-way" switch is a misnomer, as it's actually 3 + 2.

So, it's more or less a circumstance of history that gives us the Strat control scheme, warts and all.