Addendum to An All-Humbucking 5-Way Superswitch Circuit (Tutorials page)

Addendum 2016-06-30:

Actually the odd coil out can be put in any position, not just the middle.  But then you will have to rework the wiring and soldering diagrams.  Consider putting it at the neck.  Then the (N+B) pair is in phase and should have an even warmer tone than the (N+M) pair presented here.  And the (M||B) or even the (M+B) pair will have an even brighter tone than the (N||B) pair presented here.  But I recommend the (M+B) pair if the odd coil is at the neck, because the (M||B) pair will probably be very weak.

If you put the odd coil out at the bridge position, then the contra-phase N and M pairs for that position will be warmer than the contra-phase N and B pairs for the odd coil at the middle position, being farther from the bridge, or maybe brighter, being closer together.  The rules stated in General Principles of Humbucking Pairs may very well tend to cancel each other out, producing smaller differences in tone.  Because their midpoints are in the same position, the M and B in-phase pairs will be the same tone for either the odd coil in the middle or bridge position.  So any setup has to be tested and verified.

I presented the odd coil in the middle here merely because that is the way I first wired it up, leaving the coils where Fender put them.  Sometimes coils are made in different widths for different positions, the better to match the strings.  You may find, BTW, that the standard Strat coils are not matched, and will not produce perfect humbucking.  Mine weren’t.  The reasoning may be that the bridge coil needs some extra output to keep up in volume with the others.  Or it may be looking for a particular tone.

I think you might get an even wider range of tones by putting the odd coil at the neck.

I also took some $6 generic coils with ceramic magnets and attempted to change the polarity with a very strong rare earth magnet.  The polarity did change, but maybe not as strong as the original way.  It needs some work.

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