It seems worth repeating the message another way, showing how to get the most out of humbucking pairs:
For a pickup with 4 matched single-coil pickups, you can have 8 different personalities of 12 timbres each. The personalities, timbres available from the switching system, are determined by the choices and positions of the N and S poles of the pickups. They range from all 12 contra-phase to 8 in-phase and 4 contra-phase. If you switch out poles physically, you can ultimately get 24 different timbres from 4 pickups. If you can move the pickups physically between the neck and bridge, those timbres can be shaded in a huge variety of ways.
For 5 matched and fixed-position pickups, you can have 16 unique sets of pole placements, or personalities, each of which produce 20 different unique humbucking pair timbres. The personalities can range from all 20 outputs contra-phase to 12 in-phase with 8 contra-phase. Among all the personalities, you can get 40 unique humbucking pair timbres. It’s not thousands, but much better than 3 pickups on a standard 5-way switch. And if properly done, they are all humbucking, instead of just 2 out of 5 on a standard Strat(tm).