Fender 5-Position Strat/Tele Super Switch

Super

This a 4 pole, 5 throw switch, with 24 contacts total. It supports a lot more switching options than a standard 5 way strat switch. Most folks shopping for this switch are probably following a wiring diagram. But for those like me who like to design their own switching schemes, just be aware that the standard 5 way switch has a unique feature not found on this switch. The strat standard 5 way switch is actually a 2 pole, 3 throw switch, but with 5 positions. The "extra" positions (2 and 4) connect each pole to two throws at same time. Ie. you can get bridge and middle; or middle and neck. My point is that a super switch doesn't work that way, it has 5 positions, and each one is a separate throw. So you have to think about it differently. With all that said, there are some great wiring diagrams out there for this switch, and this being a genuine Fender means it will fit, operates smoothly and should be reliable over time. I had fun wiring up my strat for stock versus series wiring. Pro tip, use multi-colored wires! 24 contacts is a lot to deal with, don't make it harder by using all one color wire.

If you have a Fender electric guitar (meaning a guitar that is fitted with a 3- or 5-way PU selector switch that looks like this switch), this should hold enormous appeal to you. I build a Telecaster or Stratocaster for fun every now and then, and I have come to keeping one of these on hand either for my building or to help my friends upgrade their Fender guitars.If you do not know why a "4-pole 5-way" is so useful look to Seymour Duncan's and Stewart McDonald's sites; there are many more, too. These sites will explain the versatility that is within your reach with this switch.If you can read simple schematics go to DBG Studio for Guitar Players and Builders' site; you will find the mother lode of guitar wiring schematics. It will take a while to figure out how the schematics work at DBG, but the enormous versatility this switch offers in irresistible and should propel you to `get it.' Just use the index for "4-pole 5-way" and check it out. In and out of phase, add a capacitor for different tones, parallel or series, coil taps, are all no problem with this.And if you want, you can swap out your 500k volume or tone pot with a 500k push/pull pot to get 10 PU options - or you can just drill a hole in your pickguard and put in a mini-toggle switch to get the same advantages. But I like to just use a push/pull pot because the guitar has that `stock' look but has 10 PU options. Wow!Assuming that you can solder (or learn to, it is not hard) you can have enormous fun with this switch.

These switches are REALLY flexible (normal 5 way's are NOT). I used this to wire up a guitar where the whole system runs on a single switch, with no other controls. It's a pair of humbuckers, and runs like this:Position 1: Bridge pickup direct to output jack (super-hot output, great for solo's or otherwise cutting through a mix)Position 2: Bridge pickup with a 100kohm resistor between hot and ground (like turning the volume and tone knobs from 10 to 8.5 or 9-ish)Position 3: Bridge + Neck w/ 100kohm resistor same as position 2.Position 4: Neck pickup with 100kohm resistor same as position 2.Position 5: off - short's hot to ground, turns it off like turning volume to 0.That's just what I did for an example. There is really no limit to what you could do one of these, your imagination (and ability to think through a circuit design) is your only real limitation for what you can do. Phase switching, parallel vs serial, etc, all of it can be done with one of these. Standard 5 way's are extremely limiting, and will make your head hurt trying to figure out any cool custom circuits. This thing is a piece of cake (I didn't even use one of the 4 switched poles for my setup).

Seems like a solid product. Easy to comprehend by looking at the switches and how they connect to the lugs.However it's HUGE so make sure your instrument can support both the width and the extra depth. Give it a test fitting before wiring, and make sure after soldering there's enough clearance that the cover plate won't touch the terminals or put pressure on any of the wires.For example, it will not fit in a Guild Surfliner Deluxe, the cover plate hits the terminals and there's not enough wiggle room to simply bend the switch terminals downward. Unsure what other variety of super switches may be less tall.

I used this switch to mod a low end Tele to Nashville pickup wiring (with some routing and a middle pickup, naturally). I didn't want a toggle, so I used this switch for the following wiring: 1-bridge, 2-bridge/middle, 3-bridge/neck, 4-neck/middle, 5-neck. This switch makes this configuration possible, but this is a dual wafer switch and that configuration only needs a single wafer, so this switch's second wafer makes it very wide, and it was difficult to fit in the Tele's cavity.This switch will, however, do this job well. The action is smooth, with good connection, and lots of possibilities beyond the Nashville wiring I used it for. Be aware of potential clearance issues, but this is a quality product that I will buy again to keep in my parts box.

Turned into a 10 way switch using a coil tap (technically 8 way because it simply reverses each position) but i wired it into my coil tap on my prs S2, Jay Leonard J has an interesting video on his yt channel on his!