Intuitive three-pickup all-options switching regime

[Cernael]

I have a dream.

A dream about a wiring schematic, to be precise. At its most basic, it's about an intuitive way to get all the possible series/parallel/phase possibilities out of a simple three-pickup configuration (for instance, a Stratocaster, though the concept is, of course, equally apppliable to a three-pickup bass, even if those are rarer).

If you for a moment ignore phase issues, and the possibility to kill either pickup, there are eight different series/parallel configurations of three pickups, as follows.

[attachment=43464:strataswitchutkast.JPG]

Now, eight being two to the power of three, the idea that switching between these eight options using three two-position toggle switches naturally emerges. The tagmarks above each configuration schematic represents one attempt at that, an attempt that - should it be designable - I would find pretty intuitive. Here's how it works.

Each pickup has a designated switch. n, m, and b represents the neck, middle, and bridge pickups, respectively, of course. > means that the pickup under it is in "parallel" mode, < means "series". When all three switches are in the same mode, all three pickups are in series, or parallel. [i](Aside; with all in series, is the sound affected by which pickup is in the middle?)[/i] When the modes differ, the two pickups that have the same are in that mode with each other, while the third pickup is in the other mode with this pair. (The diagrams explain it better.)

There will be three more switches, again with one tied to each pickup. These will be three'position switches, and will designate "in phase"/"offline"/"out of phase".

Is this at all possible? My local electronics store does supply 4PDT and 3PDT mini toggle switches, as well as the more common DPDTs and SPDTs.


One way of getting to grips with this might be to use Photoshop in ways never intended - show/hide layer would me a useful feature for thinking this through. I'll look into doing that when I have time.



I'll cross-post this to the forums at talkbass.com, basschat.co.uk, and DIYaudio.com, just so you know in case you frequent more than one of these and get confused.

[~tl]

Spent a while thinking about this, and I can't come up with a trivial way to do the series/parallel combinations. It [i]should[/i] be possible with enough poles on the switches, but I'm not yet sure if it's possible within the limits of what parts are available. The in-phase/off/out-of-phase part is easy enough. Leave it with me...

Edited February 24, 2010 by ~tl

[Cernael]

An added complexity is that pickups that are turned off need to look different from the switching mechanisms' point of view, depending on if they're in "series" or "parallel" - in "series" it should look like a piece of wire, a straight connection, while in "parallel" it should be a broken connection. Otherwise parallel configurations are short-circuited, and won't reach the output, and series configs are broken.

Think it might need an extra pole on all switches to facilitate that. But, first find a good all-on config.

[pantherairsoft]

Is this not similar to what the huge over the top looking pickups on Enfield basses do??

[url="http://www.enfieldguitars.com/html/pickup-new.htm"]http://www.enfieldguitars.com/html/pickup-new.htm[/url]
[url="http://www.enfieldguitars.com/Enfield%20instructions%20page1.pdf"]http://www.enfieldguitars.com/Enfield%20in...ons%20page1.pdf[/url]

Edited February 24, 2010 by pantherairsoft

[Cernael]

[quote name='pantherairsoft' post='756584' date='Feb 24 2010, 11:39 PM']Is this not similar to what the huge over the top looking pickups on Enfield basses do??[/quote]
Not really. That seems to be a way to get the same pickup to behave as J, P, or MM type pickup. And then two of those are connected with a blend pot. Which indicates that the two halves of it is probably hard-wired in parallel.

Mine is more about connections BETWEEN pickups.


Someone on another of the forumes I posted this on linked me to [url="http://www.35pickuptones.com/"]http://www.35pickuptones.com/[/url], which is pretty close to what I'm after. I'll have to think it through, though, before I trust it. And, some other mentioned individual volumes as well, which WOULD add a lot more tonal diversity.