Guitar Switches DeMystified

Another Breja ToneWorks (DIY) video - this time we deal with the various type of switches you can add to your guitar circuit. This isn't about your standard 3-Way or 5-Way switches, rather the mini-toggle, sliders or push/pull switches that are available.

[asdf]

Wish this guy was still making videos, they are the single most useful guitar tech videos I've found. No fluff or bs, just straight, concise info.

[keithklassen]

0:33 SP/ST or Single Pole, Single Throw switches
2:08 SP/DT or Single Pole, Dual Throw switches
2:52 DP/DT or Dual Pole, Dual Throw switches
3:42 DP/DT push/pull pots
4:55 4SP/DT or 4 Single Pole, Dual Throw switches, aka Fender S1
6:06 Alternate DP/DT switch configurations
7:21 Splitting Humbucker Coils
8:09 In/Out Of Phase

Thanks for the info! I love how clearly you lay everything out; just a huge fan!

[joelbourdier]

This video is abundantly useful, as are your other wiring videos; I've used them for reference for a few years now. They provide all the information I want, and no clutter. I appreciate your work!

[jaymartinson]

These are the best videos on guitar wiring.

I had never even soldered before this, but using your videos, I'm currently building an HSS strat pickguard with series/parallel switching for both the humbicker and single coils and a normally open/normally closed killswitch.

[annawithers]

Watching your video tutorials give me the confidence to go for it. Thanks..I'm not intimidated any longer.🎸

[nojuanatall]

This is exactly what I needed to fix the funk switch on my Morley dual bass wah. Thank you so much!

[yippy]

Damn! I wish I would've found this a few months ago. This is going in my favorites. You rock, man! Thanks!

[abhinavguitar]

I am so very thankful for your time and effort in your videos. The information in this one is to the point and very valuable! Thank-you!

[Findyournextguitar]

Thanks this was really helpful, I was looking for an alternative to the typical les paul toggle switch

[DMidNyte]

Thank you so much for your videos. I always had a tech do my wiring. I thought it was complicated. You've shown me that everything comes down to basically two wires. Your concise and easy to follow instructions have made it possible for me to buy my own tools and equipment to do the wiring myself on three different guitars for three different objectives. Thank you so much for putting these videos together and helping me save hundreds of dollars and teaching me some very valuable information in the process

[osmartakashi]

Man, this is a fantastic explanation! Thank you!

[RRoosa]

Very useful information as always. Thanks.

[davedupuis]

Very well done and understandable. Thanks!

[jameskrys]

GFS now has push-push pots. Push on, push off, dpdt. I just purchased two of them for SG rewire. It's sometimes hard to pull that knob up unless you have Tele style knobs. 

[haiaokuwa]

This is fantastic! I’d love to explore this in some detail; like a few more examples

[DougHinVA]

I wonder whether a mini-toggle switch (6 tabs on the back side) can be used to do ther '7-way Strat Mod' as well as coil split a bridge humbucker at the same time. Demand on the neck pickup and also split the bridge HB at the same time... It would be cheap, effective, and give 2 good results a lot of guys want

[jesusramonmolinagrijalva]

This video its really helpful.
I gonna experiment these switches on a musicman clone bass, the pots of tone and coiltap doesnt work anynore, anyway I dont use a mid term pot resistance, or its open full or not, cant tell a detail diference in between. So gonna try simple toggle on off for those wirings.

[ManseiSon]

I appreciate your videos and all the effort you put into them, but sometimes they bring up more questions than they solve. I learned a long time ago it's POLE, not pull or poll. It would be more informative to see why you're using Double Pole Double Throw (DPDT) switch in the first place. Do we have two wires coming from a single pickup? Are we putting two separate pickup leads, one from each pickup into each of the two poles? What is going into the common(s) in the middle of the switch, and what are going out of the throws, and where are these leads going to out of the switch throws? Showing three lugs on a pot and six locations on a DPDT switch do not clarify much.

[robertprice]

I am putting together a guitar for my son. I don't play, but I have a good understanding on electronics (but not with guitars). Here's what he wants; a Red Special, David Gilmore, Strat, LP hybrid. Here's the build; Strat knockoff body, three hot rail pickups, three on-off-on selectors, and three DPDT to phase switch, a master volume, and two tone (push pull) One for humbuckers, the other when single mode.


I've got most figured out, but Im stuck on separating out the tone pots for HB and single on separate tone controls. The push pull part will bring in tone caps for a little extra variety in sound.


My question is "Can you draw this out?"


any help would be awesome! Thanks

[sayedmohamad]

dear sir, how to connect wires to pole in correct way?