Wiring help

phil_b

I'm trying to work out how to wire a strat with two humbuckers with coil split

Can I get anything useful using a standard 5 way blade switch or will I need a super switch

ICBM

With a standard 5-way you can get each humbucker combined with the other split one in the 2 and 4 positions.

Wire the switch like a standard 3-way Tele switch - with each full humbucker to the two rotors and four contacts to the volume control - and connect the coil split of each pickup to the spare terminal at the opposite end, so it’s only split when it’s off and in the next position.

Funkfingers

phil_b said:
a standard 5 way blade switch

What format of five-way selector switch do you have?

If it is the eight-contacts-in-a-line PCB type, there are two potential problems. 
1) Some of them now come with permanent bridging links between some of their terminals. 

2) These switches fail very easily.

If you need to change the original switch anyway, you might as well upgrade. 

The choice of switch format depends on what you require a HH Stratocaster to do.

ICBM has described a circuit similar to the current PRS Custom. My suggestion is the Ibanez HH five-way circuit. This offers;
Neck humbucker (series)
Neck humbucker (coils in Parallel)
Both humbuckers
Inside coils (faux Stratty in-between sound)
Bridge humbucker

phil_b

The switch I have is a crl switch.

I guess my problem is deciding what I want out of it. 

I could just go for a simple 3 way switch and just use them as humbuckers. But with the coil split option it opens up many different combinations. Especially if you use series/parallel and in/out of phase options. But I do also think to many options can become a bit of a distraction 

I saw a demo of the fender blacktop strat And thought that was a neat solution. 

So with 2 humbuckers with splits what combinations are most desirable 

ICBM

If you have a CRL 5-way then try the one I posted above - it’s simple, logical and gives two more useful sounds while keeping both-humbuckers in the middle, so you’re not losing anything compared to the 3-way.

The other simple option is a push-pull pot to split the pickups. You can either have one to do both pickups, or if there are two pots you can split them individually, or use one to split them and the other to choose which coil is active.

With a superswitch the possibilities are almost endless, but the one Funkfingers posted is good, or you can duplicate the PRS rotary switch settings, or more simply just have both-humbuckers in the middle, and inner and outer coils in the 2 and 4 positions.

phil_b

Thanks for the replys. I ordered myself a super switch.