Freeway switch

Barney

Has anybody fitted one of them freeway switches for additional times on a strat  ??
Just wondering iff they are worth fitting 

prowla

I’ve got a 6-way one on a Rickenbacker bass and a 10-way one on a Strat HSS; it gives neck + bridge SC and a couple of other variations. 

Headphones

Not the Strat type, I have the toggle variety on a twin humbucker guitar.  Really easy to use, gives the basic three plus the same three split. 

Very intuitive to use and feels good.

However, it's noisy for the first few cycles each day and quiet thereafter (wonder if they scrimped somewhere?), have tried all the normal tricks to quieten things without success.

Wiring it was a real bugger too as all the pads are small and rather opaquely named.

It's been fitted for about five years and I've no plans to change it, despite the first play crackles.

I tried to fit one to a PRS I have, but there wasn't enough space without taking a chisle to it.

Funkfingers

I have the 3B3 six-way in a Telecaster and the 3X3-03 in a PRS Custom. 

My bespoke PRS circuit was based on the early factory wiring that included the “Power-Out-Of-Phase“ combination.

Barney said:

Just wondering iff they are worth fitting?

The six-way switch for Stratocaster requires the slot in the pickguard to be extended. IMO, this is only worthwhile if you make frequent use of the bridge + neck, in parallel, in phase combination.

The ten-way switch for Stratocaster offers a bunch of additional sounds but I’m not convinced that all of them are worth having.

monquixote

I've had two strats with extra combinations on switches and all the non standard sounds were shit.

The extra sound on a 4 way Tele is actually pretty decent though.

Funkfingers

I dislike the four-way lever selector switch. I like to have the bridge pickup at one extreme of the lever movement and the neck pickup at the other. Obviously, it is possible to rejig the circuit to have the series option in position 2 or 3 but I prefer the Freeway 3B3 layout.

Normal side: B, Both, N
Fancy side: Series In Phase, Series Out Of Phase, Parallel Half Out Of Phase.

Caffeine_Vampire

I have a Freeway in my Strat, it's noisy when switching but the additional options sound good enough, I just realised that I don't really need them. If you want one cheap you can have mine.

jeztone2

I’ve had one on my PRS for the last five years. No problems. I’m having one on my Feline T-Type too. But these are both two humbucker guitars.  

The main things are.

1: If your heavy handed, it ain’t for you.

2. In terms of live performance it’s a muscle memory thing. I tend to use the usual 3 way like a Les Paul. Then I can flip it up to the outer coil in parallel which is great for those chiming cleans. 

ICBM

I’ve never fitted one of these. @Funkfingers - two questions...

1 - are they reliable? I haven't heard any reports of failures, but I’m interested in how sturdy they are.

2 - are they break-before-make? I dislike 4-ways and superswitches for this reason. It increases switching noise, and if you’re unlucky you can knock the switch into the silent position.

merlin

I've been thinking about asking Jonathan @FelineGuitars to fit a 6way in my Feline Bluescat. They're not as versatile as individually splittable pickups but much easier to use, so the jury is still out. 

Headphones

Mine's been reliable, save the crackle on first use.  They seem quite sturdy, wouldn't worry different to a good quality toggle.

There's a mixture of break before make and make before break depending on the specific switch attribute (all in the documents).  I've yet to find a way of making it silent with my configuration. H, HH, H and S, SS, S as the six options.

As for the tele four way, I've configured mine n, p, s, b.  It all works fine, no issues I've noticed.  A silent can be had if you work hard to find it; but I've only managed this by careful balancing, rather than in action.  This configuration is much easier to use than the stock version, as it's intuitive and a matches stock.

Funkfingers

ICBM said:

1 - are they reliable?

2 - are they break-before-make? 

1 - Too soon to tell with the 3B3 Telecaster switch. My 3X3-03 toggle switch has been reliable but, then, I have not been laying in to it under gig conditions.

2 - Sounds as if they are. The 3X3-03 toggle type is no noisier than the mechanical rotary type used in senior PRS guitars. 

FelineGuitars

jeztone2 said:

I’ve had one on my PRS for the last five years. No problems. I’m having one on my Feline T-Type too. But these are both two humbucker guitars.  

The main things are.

1: If your heavy handed, it ain’t for you.

2. In terms of live performance it’s a muscle memory thing. I tend to use the usual 3 way like a Les Paul. Then I can flip it up to the outer coil in parallel which is great for those chiming cleans. 

@jeztone2 Are we putting the Gibson toggle style or the blade switch version on that ?