Dan Djurdjevic

Do you want to wire your Strat to have 10 options that are truly meaningful but can’t afford a Freeway switch? Here’s a way to do it with a super switch (a quality one from AliExpress will set you back only ~AUD$10). How does it work? It takes the standard 5-way super switch wiring for a standard 2 pickup Telecaster and applies it to the middle and bridge.  Then it wires your neck to a separate volume (tone pot is shared). Both your neck and whatever you select with the switch are “always on” but you don’t need to fret: if you don’t want one or the other, you turn the relevant volume knob to zero. Otherwise you get at least 10 positions: Without neck: Bridge (the classic No. 1 position) Middle and Bridge in series but out of phase or “OOP” (a gloriously scooped but powerful tone, where series restores the volume that OOP attenuates) Middle and Bridge in parallel (the classic No. 2 position) Middle and Bridge in series (a powerful sound that is as close as you’ll get to a humbucker)...

 If you’ve ever wondered, you can actually get 5 incredible tones on a standard 2 single coil Telecaster. You just need an Oak Grigsby type blade super switch (a good quality one from AliExpress will only set you back ~AUD$10). What do you get? The following positions: Bridge  Neck and Bridge in series but out of phase or “OOP” (a gloriously scooped, clear, and chimey tone that is easily my favourite of any guitar pickup - where the series restores volume lost through the OOP) Neck and Bridge in parallel (the classic middle position) Neck and Bridge in series (like the middle position on steroids: thicker, louder punchier) Neck That’s 5 extremely usable positions! I will post up audio samples soon. Let’s just say I haven’t been able to put the guitar (nicknamed the “Domicaster” after my mate Dominic who built and wired it) down since it was completed a month ago. What I especially love about the 5 positions is that they genuinely feel like a natural gradient: position 5 is the...