What switching mods/types do you actually use?

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jorri
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What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by jorri » Sun Jan 29, 2023 3:38 pm

Well i can't work out how to do a poll, but:

Time i want to rewire my 3 pickup jazzmaster as two switches are cutting out. Last time i removed the rhythm circuit and gave a couple of series options, but took out the unused lead volume control too!. Before that i had a strangle/load switch thing.

But now? I think i use the standard three-way only! I want to remove the middle strat position as whilst it can do quackier tones i can use a strat or a gretsch, and this never gets used anyway, its actually in the way of picking a little bit.
Plus ive never tried a phase switch.

So:
-series?
-phase in parallel
-phase in series (i hear this is bad)
-strangle, rhythm circuit or other stock thing?
-or... something less common you've done like bypassing a pot, different EQ or other ways to wire a guitar. Anything absolutely strange that i could do?

What do you find actually gets most use?
I find i mod a lot just to satisfy the process of drawing diagrams and working it out but am actually simpler as a player, especially as i have lots of pedals.

Considered one thing which was giving the single tone control the ability on a switch, to be a volume control just for swells haha....shorting tone to ground but the taper would be odd and hard to reach

My Warmoth JM has 3 two-way, and 1 3-way slide positions. I think one will be left blank, so with do series+phase. The series is wired on the 3-way currently along with neck on/off so will keep that rather than buy all new components.
(Plus, i could use the rhythm circuit side too!)

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Re: What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by doctor_capleson » Sun Jan 29, 2023 5:40 pm

I can't find a link, but I saw on Premier Guitar there was a series done on JM mods maybe ten years ago.

I like the idea of changing the rhythm circuit to be post-pickup selector, so that the selector still works in both modes. I actually use the rhythm circuit a fair amount, so this is something that might be useful for me.

I've also seen mods to add the G&L PTB circuit, or have the rhythm vol/tone be dedicated to the neck pup and the regular ones only for the bridge. I love the idea of that, but the ergonomics of making adjustments would be terrible. Unless you're a set & forget the guitar controls type, then it could be cool to get some sounds that way.

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Re: What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by JSett » Sun Jan 29, 2023 6:55 pm

I use the bridge pickup.
Silly Rabbit, don't you know scooped mids are for kids?

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Re: What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by OffYourFace » Mon Jan 30, 2023 12:59 am

On my two-pickup guitars that are NOT JMs, (Mustang, various Teiscos) I use neck/bridge in series. If the series is too woofy for the sound i'm using, I'll use either a HPF tone control (tone pot wired backwards with a .002-.003uF cap) or a "strangle" switch.

On my Jaguars in the past, I'd use the strangle switch as the series selector and the rhythm ckt switch as the strangle ckt. (pots not connected).

That's it. I have a '66 Musicmaster II for out of phase tones but I don't feel the need to have that on my other guitars.

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Re: What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by jorri » Mon Jan 30, 2023 4:12 am

OffYourFace wrote:
Mon Jan 30, 2023 12:59 am
On my two-pickup guitars that are NOT JMs, (Mustang, various Teiscos) I use neck/bridge in series. If the series is too woofy for the sound i'm using, I'll use either a HPF tone control (tone pot wired backwards with a .002-.003uF cap) or a "strangle" switch.

On my Jaguars in the past, I'd use the strangle switch as the series selector and the rhythm ckt switch as the strangle ckt. (pots not connected).

That's it. I have a '66 Musicmaster II for out of phase tones but I don't feel the need to have that on my other guitars.
Sounds like the strangle is more useful than a phase switch when series is engaged. That could be worth a try.

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Re: What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by Bradley-Jazz » Mon Jan 30, 2023 5:49 am

My JM has had series (too dark for me) and PTB (a bit fiddly) mods. I've now gone back to a rhythm circuit of sorts, but with the rhythm circuit after the three way so I can have any pickup combo but with a different tone and volume setting.

Edit - I also changed pot values in the lead circuit and then went back to 1 Megs
All the cheeses....

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Re: What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by ThePearDream » Mon Jan 30, 2023 7:38 am

My Jazzmaster has the typical 3-way toggle on the bottom. Up top is another toggle to select between Normal/Series/Series+Strangle. Then, lastly there's a "rhythm tone" switch that let's you choose between the regular tone knob and a fixed resistor. This yields the same effect as the normal rhythm circuit with the controls turned up. The rhythm switch works independent of the other switches, so I can even get series+strangle+rhythm tone. There is even space available up top, if I ever wanted to put in a phase switch.

Three switches, two knobs, zero rollers, 10 sounds. Easy to remember how it works too.
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Re: What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by jorri » Mon Jan 30, 2023 9:36 am

Is there a way to wire phase and series so that they are excluding? E.g. its always in phase when in series? Maybe on the three-way?
It would seem easier to use. Potentially impossible to wire without 3-pole switch -if so forget it.

I may add to that a strangle only on bridge pickup as its a JM-90 plus it should work on the series selection that way

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Re: What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by andare » Tue Jan 31, 2023 2:09 am

I disconnected the rollers and use the rhythm slider as a phase switch. However I'm a bit disappointed in the tone.
In my Strat, neck + bridge out of phase is very nasal with added high end resonance, I love it. It turns a Fuzz Face into a chainsaw.
In my JM it's basically a thinner version of neck + bridge with very little resonance. Maybe a strangle switch would be more useful (and it would still be hum-cancelling).
I'm fact I'm finding the JM less versatile than my Strat in terms of tones. Maybe it's because my Strat has flats and my JM has rounds or maybe it's because the JM has so much damn high end.

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Re: What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by jorri » Fri Feb 03, 2023 5:08 am

Couldn't work out a phase/series excluding wiring.

Found some on/off/on switches that fit in a standard two-way routing. i must have bought accidentally many years ago though. So had an idea...

Final idea is a bit more complicated but i get rid of the middle pickup and can see what i like, optional to leave a switch alone or take out later.

I don't want to replace everything though and desoldering slides may break them IME. so even if its less ergonomic/efficient i am doing the following:

-3-way: neck off/on/series
-bridge on/off
- phase of bridge
-on/off/on bridge only: -/strangle/low pass*

*So this is just a thing that tames the highs on the bridge pickup with a fixed cap and resistor. I think 0.0047 and 50k but really not sure- I feel like sometimes I've wanted a bit of high roll-off OR low cut as i switch without using tone control.

I suppose the other idea was just to do less, then it could be neatly done with the "all off series" wiring and more easily integrated. But i think as i say it would involve more switches to buy!

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Re: What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by JVG » Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:54 pm

Over the years I’ve messed around with the common switching options, and found that most i didn’t use. Series switching, out-of-phase, and coil taps definitely fell into this category - for my purposes they are an unnecessary complication.

What i do like is carefully selected capacitors for tonal options. On the tone knob i usually use a 0.022 or 0.033, and sometimes i’ll have an extra switch for the ‘strangle’ option. That’s about it.

For pickup selection it’s either individual on-off switches (such as on the Jag and VI), a 3-way slider (Strats and Teles) or toggle (pretty much everything else).

Nothing too complicated, otherwise i get tangled up in options and forget to play the guitar!

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Re: What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by MayTheFuzzBeWithYou » Fri Feb 03, 2023 2:37 pm

Favorite and most used „mod“ is a treble bleed and using the volume knob with a Fuzz.

I also like the strangle switch a lot.
-> I gave my Jazzmaster a fixed tone rhythm circuit and a PB-wiring (out of a PTB) - but I don‘t use it as much as I thought I would.
-> and my next mod might be adding various „tone“ switches (like some Hagströms or Gretsch guitars)

Coil splitting: yes, this is nice!

Series/parallel… I seem to fail at wiring - shit becomes dark and not Jaggy at all… tried it with a Marr/Wronski style Tele switch and with a simple on-off slider…
So far I only use it (successfully) in a WRHB neck pickup (where I didn‘t do the wiring)

My main Jag has a toggle where the rhythm circuit switch was (moved that one to the diamond) - this was my transition guitar from Les Pauls. Still like that position best for a switch.

Behind the Bridge Lipstick… it‘s okay - does weird stuff but looks cooler than being useful (for me) - I like the sound of the strings better without it (but with extra gain).

Never tried phase switches.

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Re: What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by jorri » Fri Feb 03, 2023 3:42 pm

Thanks for the input- it seems that phase isn't that favoured, strangle is favoured and maybe series (with a strangle being useful for that?). I wired it up today and changed my mind from the previous post.... the old switches i found were missing screws, nothing else would fit, and i took that as a sign from the universe not to complicate things with the phase and extra high cut..

So i went for strangle in the bridge circuit, series and basic on/off for neck and bridge. Love the strangle so far and feel like I'd use it more than series, although its quite extreme on the JM90 due to a factor i didn't consider; that a hotter larger pickup probably gives it a higher cutoff due to resistance and impedance of a filter circuit! Sounds good though so not worried- its a bit like the 'regular JM pickup' switch haha..

Guitar needs setting up after a shim change but something grabbed me as being right with the select sounds and i am glad i can switch between neck and "strangled everything else" quite easily. Strangle seems to change the pickup resonance and is not just a low cut which i didn't notice when i used my bass VI but seems quite apparent on this. Its odd on my VI though because the tone becomes useless, so maybe its wired differently.

Not sad about ditching the middle strat position so will sell it soon. the strangle covers 'thin' or strat position sonic area. Its a Novak so deserves to be in an actual strat neck/mid position where its appreciated.

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Re: What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by HarktheUmpire » Fri Mar 03, 2023 2:23 pm

On my JM, I went from standard wiring to PTB + series/parallel and separate volumes and eventually ended up wiring the roller knobs as separate tone controls, with the volume pots also separate. So pretty much like a Gibson. Except that I kept the series/parallel switch as well. I find series/parallel switching a lot more useful than phase switching. PTB tone controls are great, in theory. In practice, I just didn’t find myself using it at all.
Also, slightly off-topic, I replaced the 1meg volume pots for 500k ones. Definitely helps cut out some highs that I really had no use for. More useful taper range as well. I guess I don’t like 1meg pots.

My Jag I rewired so it’s in series when both pickup switches are in the off position. Where series on a JM is a bit too dark to be useful except on rare occasions, in a Jag it’s really a great sound. I find the strangle switch actually sounds cool with the pickups in series. It’s an interesting tone, and even if standard wiring doesn’t offer it, it’s still a very Jaguar-y tone. I find I don’t use the strangle switch in the traditional pickup combinations; too thin/extreme. Veering off-topic again; I prefer a 250k volume pot for the Jag. Still sounds very much like a Jaguar. Just not shrill. Also, removed the 56k resistor on the tone pot and find it more useful now.

Other guitars; I like Strats to have master volume, master tone and a blend knob for the extra pickup combinations. Tele has 4-way switch for series. So basically, I like having the option of series wiring, and can’t find any use for in/out of phase switching.

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Re: What switching mods/types do you actually use?

Post by jorri » Fri Mar 03, 2023 4:53 pm

HarktheUmpire wrote:
Fri Mar 03, 2023 2:23 pm
On my JM, I went from standard wiring to PTB + series/parallel and separate volumes and eventually ended up wiring the roller knobs as separate tone controls, with the volume pots also separate. So pretty much like a Gibson. Except that I kept the series/parallel switch as well. I find series/parallel switching a lot more useful than phase switching. PTB tone controls are great, in theory. In practice, I just didn’t find myself using it at all.
Also, slightly off-topic, I replaced the 1meg volume pots for 500k ones. Definitely helps cut out some highs that I really had no use for. More useful taper range as well. I guess I don’t like 1meg pots.

My Jag I rewired so it’s in series when both pickup switches are in the off position. Where series on a JM is a bit too dark to be useful except on rare occasions, in a Jag it’s really a great sound. I find the strangle switch actually sounds cool with the pickups in series. It’s an interesting tone, and even if standard wiring doesn’t offer it, it’s still a very Jaguar-y tone. I find I don’t use the strangle switch in the traditional pickup combinations; too thin/extreme. Veering off-topic again; I prefer a 250k volume pot for the Jag. Still sounds very much like a Jaguar. Just not shrill. Also, removed the 56k resistor on the tone pot and find it more useful now.

Other guitars; I like Strats to have master volume, master tone and a blend knob for the extra pickup combinations. Tele has 4-way switch for series. So basically, I like having the option of series wiring, and can’t find any use for in/out of phase switching.
Might get a Jag soon and was thinking of doing the same for series. Except, maybe doing the Marr thing for strangle only when series. Or possibly just for one pickup like did on my JM- i suppose taking out the rhythm circuit and just using two strangle switches somehow using the upper plate.

Could even make it variable using the rollers and include high cut too. Overkill again! Haha I dont think i will.

But i figured something interesting by having the strangle on one pickup. its that when you then combine them the other pickup is possibly getting a 'mid boost' circuit as it sees the strangle going to ground via the other pickups inductance (or something).
Sounds resonant, like rolling of the tone but in parallel with it rolled up. So might play with that craziness....
....so for the jag i may toy with a couple of strangle switches to do this while retaining the normal functioning it has. On a JM its fine because i never liked it on the Neck/NB sound, only only bridge and series.

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