5-Way Switch Wiring

[TelePaul]

Hey all,

Can anybody explain why there are two outputs from the switch in the pic below (or why the one 'out' is wired across two terminals?)

[/IMG]

The reason I ask is that the switch I'm using right now has one obvious out and also has what appears to be an earth which isn't attached to a terminal on the switch, but is wired to the back of the volume pot nonetheless. I'm wondering where this particular wire would go if I used the five-way switch above?

 

[ggunn]

Hey all,

Can anybody explain why there are two outputs from the switch in the pic below (or why the one 'out' is wired across two terminals?)

[/IMG]

The reason I ask is that the switch I'm using right now has one obvious out and also has what appears to be an earth which isn't attached to a terminal on the switch, but is wired to the back of the volume pot nonetheless. I'm wondering where this particular wire would go if I used the five-way switch above?

(Incorrect information deleted.)

 

[ranjam]

That's a very confusing answer, and somehow I'd imagine incorrect. The switch is an example of redundancy. It's a two-pole five position switch (or three position for the older Fender stuff). On the really old Fender stuff, one side selects which pickup(s) you get, and and the other side selects which tone control you get. If someone had thought about it for longer than ten seconds, you could have fed the pickup through the tone control to the switch, and had one side unused. But I guess this way gives you more options.
This Seymour Duncan drawing has just one tone control, and the other side of the switch (the second 'pole' if you will) is not needed at all. You could wire the volume control straight to the common of the first pole, and leave all four lugs on the other side of the switch wide open. It would still work just fine.

 

[ggunn]

That's a very confusing answer, and somehow I'd imagine incorrect. The switch is an example of redundancy. It's a two-pole five position switch (or three position for the older Fender stuff). On the really old Fender stuff, one side selects which pickup(s) you get, and and the other side selects which tone control you get. If someone had thought about it for longer than ten seconds, you could have fed the pickup through the tone control to the switch, and had one side unused. But I guess this way gives you more options.
This Seymour Duncan drawing has just one tone control, and the other side of the switch (the second 'pole' if you will) is not needed at all. You could wire the volume control straight to the common of the first pole, and leave all four lugs on the other side of the switch wide open. It would still work just fine.

I just opened up my (old) Strat and looked at it, and I stand corrected. Although it is indeed two switches on the same handle, one switch controls the pickup selection (as you say) and the other selects the tone control(s). The jumper connects the pickup selector side to the tone control selector side. On the really old Fender stuff, however, it was only a three position switch and you had to jam the switch between positions to get what are now positions 2 and 4. Sorry for any confusion I might have caused.

 

[ranjam]

I suppose it was an available switch from the local radio parts jobber. The really old Strats had it something like 1) neck pu with a dedicated tone control, 2) middle pu with its own tone control, and 3) bridge pu without tone control. And really, who would want a tone control on a piercing bridge pickup? But why didn't Leo just wire each pickup to a tone control and then on to the switch, going out to a master volume control?

As you see, one side of the switch is 'empty', and you can also have a master tone control, saving the cost of one potentiometer. Well, I guess there's a reason he was Leo Fender and I wasn't.