How It Works

There are really two "groups" of switches:
    (SW1, S5B, SW2)         -and-         (SW3, S5N, SW4)
(control bridge coils)                         (control middle and neck coils)

Here is how the switches are used:

Switches SW1, SW2, SW3 and SW4 are ON-OFF-ON switches used to turn an individual pickup coil Off and On. The middle position of each switch is Off. The down position turns the pickup On (in normal-phase) and the Up position turns the pickup On (in reverse-phase).

When you use these four switches (with S5B and S5N in the Down position), you get 29 different pickup tones from the combinations of four pickup coils being Off or On (either in normal-phase or in reverse-phase). It is also due to the combination of the pickup coils being in a Parallel circuit.

Switches S5B and S5N are ON-ON (a.k.a. ON-NONE-ON) switches that are used to put select pickup coils into a Series circuit when in the Up position. When Down, the select pickup coils are in a Parallel circuit.

Here are two things you must remember when putting pickup coils into a Series circuit:

First, putting two pickup coils in a Series circuit creates a "Compound" (i.e., Humbucker) pickup that gives you about 8 to 15 percent More output (think Heavy Metal/Jazz tone).

Second, because the pickup coils are in a Series circuit, BOTH pickup coils that are in Series MUST be On (either in normal-phase or reverse-phase). Any non-Series circuit pickup can be either Off or On (either in normal-phase or reverse-phase).

What Each Switch Controls

(this example uses two 4-wire humbucker pickups)

Switch SW1: Turns on (south bridge) pickup coil #1 (down is normal-phase, up is reverse-phase, center is Off.)
Switch S5B: Puts both (bridge) pickup coils #1 and #2 into a Series circuit when Up. Both pickup coils MUST be On.
Switch SW2: Turns on (north bridge) pickup coil #2 (down is normal-phase, up is reverse-phase, center is Off.)

Switch SW3: Turns on (middle) pickup coil (down is normal-phase, up is reverse-phase, center is Off.)
Switch S5N: Puts both (middle and neck) pickups into a Series circuit when Up. Both pickup coils MUST be On.
Switch SW4: Turns on (neck) pickup coil (down is normal-phase, up is reverse-phase, center is Off.)

The various combinations of all of these switches will give you 68 pickup tones.

You get more pickup tones with this upgrade.   < Less