Do I really Need On:Off:On Mini-switch for this purpose?

[big_teee]

Terry, I'm not guessing or speculating. I spent years teaching, privately at a large music store and at 3 community colleges, and was part time faculty (Jazz guitar) at the University of La Verne. Some can play right handed fine, but others it just wont work.

I agree!
Same with shooting a rifle.
I've tried and tried to shoot right handed, can a little bit, but not natural.
Now they make Left handed bolt action rifles.
I own both left guitars, and left bolt guns.
You can do a lot of stuff to get by, but this day and age, there is no reason to.
Let's get back to why I need an on off on switch!
Peace,
Rock On!
Left Hand BigT

[JoeM]

Terry, Where I worked the store manager was a lefty and played left handed guitars, but he could play with the strings in either orientation. i.e. like a reversed right handed guitar or as a proper left handed guitar. He could therefore pick up the stores guitars to demonstrate stuff.

(Sorry we're getting off-topic)

[Steve Conner]

Well, feel free to start a "left vs. right handed guitars" thread or whatever.

I think another interesting dimension to the problem is: The relative roles of the two hands are different in different guitar styles. If you take someone like Allan Holdsworth or Satriani, playing fast legato runs with lots of hammer-ons and pull-offs, the left hand is doing all the work. Compare that with the likes of Dick Dale or Wes Montgomery.

Also, maybe the two hands are wired to the respective halves of the brain. (Or opposite halves, rather, same as the eyes are.) The right side is the creative one, so it seems logical to have it hooked up to the hand that decides what note to play next.

I wonder if the left and right brains swap roles in left-handed people, and that is the real reason why they need left-handed guitars. Or maybe the ones with right-handed brains can play right-handed guitars, or something.

[RobRed]

Terry--Oops! I tried to present this making clear that I didn't know or mean to guess the answer. Sorry if I offended. It's interesting to hear you tried a right handed guitar for years and it didn't work--I suppose that answered my question, at least provided that you do know how to play lefty . My point was sort of along the line of what Steve Conner just suggested about Allan Holdsworth and Joe Satriani. For a lot of styles of play, the left hand definitely seems to me to have the harder job, and I'm left to wonder why the guitar was set up the way it was for right-handed players in the first place historically--it just seems it would be more natural for the dominant hand to be given the harder job. I did not mean to suggest that lefties should get in line and just play like right-handers do. I was simply expressing wonder, given how unnatural the work is with both hands on the guitar, if there was some real need to have both. I guess it depends on the individual. And on top of that, I can add that a long time ago when I was playing classic guitar and taking it half-way seriously, one author strongly suggested that any serious guitarist should take the time to learn to play both ways (including right-handed players)! I don't imagine a whole lot of players have taken him up on it though--it's hard enough to learn one way, and once you've got that hard start behind you, it's hard to look back and consider starting all over again.

Rob R

[Danelectron]

one author strongly suggested that any serious guitarist should take the time to learn to play both ways (including right-handed players)!

Very interesting. I remember trying to get my fingers to do an E chord at the age of twelve and the time I spent on what to me is now the easiest chord I can hit. I bet trying left handed would take me back to that struggle. I have a left handed friend that plays right handed and could shred leads back in the day. I see it as a toss up. If the logical side of the brain controls whichever hand the intricacies may be obvious, but if the creative side of the brain controls whichever hand the intricacies may be obvious. On the otherhand, if you squander your youth like I did, it will be anyones guess which side of the brain if any you are using. Even no handed.

RobRed, Have you considered the push/pull pots for your Ibenez? They don't have the off position, but will at least give you some options without butchering your guitar.

[RobRed]

I see it as a toss up. If the logical side of the brain controls whichever hand the intricacies may be obvious, but if the creative side of the brain controls whichever hand the intricacies may be obvious. On the otherhand, if you squander your youth like I did, it will be anyones guess which side of the brain if any you are using. Even no handed.

You are a riot. Are you sure you should not be on a stand-up comic page rather than a guitar page?

RobRed, Have you considered the push/pull pots for your Ibenez? They don't have the off position, but will at least give you some options without butchering your guitar.

I think I've considered just about everything in the book. I looked at the 5-way switch, the super switch, the mega switch, the Fender S1, push-pulls, mini-toggles, and rotary switches. I'm a glutton for punishment. Why do something easy and quick when you can work your butt off and take half of forever?

I just wired up my 6-position, 4-pole rotary switch bridge pickup selector today. It's one of those things that looks cooler on paper than it does in real life (I mean that literally--it looks like a high-tech tarantula!). I got my resistors today to wire up my rotary capacitor selector. I also got the stacked, concentric pots that I need for volume and tone control, since I've taken up 2 of the 3 pot positions on this guitar with rotary switches. I plan on soldering up the capacitor selector and the wiring of the pots tomorrow. I'm still waiting for the sub-mini toggle switches I ordered (there are 5 in my plan), and there's even a hold-up on my pickups (and some of the discussion here has me thinking of trying to make my own pickups for the next project).

I'm butchering this guitar because it is nothing special, so I can get away with it, and it has given me an opportunity to learn a lot fast, to do a lot of soldering in a short amount of time, to be creative, and to look forward to having a guitar that will do almost any half useless thing that I want it to do, once (and I'm starting to think "if") I ever get it finished.

Rob R

[Danelectron]

Rob, Could you do me a favor and when you get this up and running post some comparisons based on your possible combinations list? Not necessarily sound clips, just descriptions will do. I set up a strat years ago with push pulls and stack humbuckers with center taps to play single coil or HB. I had considered trying to set up some additional switch to do some out of phase stuff, but I got a bass that had a switch to shift the pickups out of phase and it sounded kind of washed out so I scrapped the idea of going further with the guitar. You have put a lot of thought in this and I would like to hear more.

Oh, and no I haven't considered standup. At some point I would go too far and end up getting run out, if I was lucky. Trust me. Growing up, my mother (may she finally get some rest) would always say my mouth would get me in trouble. She has been and still is correct.

[RobRed]

I came up with 47 settings that I believe are unique. Then it occurred to me that if I used an on-off-on, DPDT switch instead of the SPST I planned on using just to turn the bridge on and off that I could add the north coil of the humbucker to the mix (my rotary switch offers humbucker in series and in parallel and the south coil alone, all both in and out of phase). Now I can add in combinations of the north coil with neck and or middle, in and out of phase with the neck, only in parallel, but that adds a few more. I don't know how to even think about making comparisons in a meaningful post with that many options. Perhaps I'll just let on what I really like and what I could do without, but there's a lot of difference in how two different people might hear the same thing, and I might go crazy trying them all before I have a chance to put anything up here!

Rob R

[Danelectron]

Yeah, I agree it's very subjective. Maybe you can start out with your basic description of each pickup in each position then going down the list point out the ones that are drastically different and in what way. IE: neck,bridge / out of phase: Like a cold beer being poured down your back. (just kidding) I know this will be subjective, but from your basic desc. of the pickups you might say, "much less low end" or accentuates the highs. I've heard enough tones to understand the direction your description may be pointing and others may join in with some clarification. By no means go out of your way. I just think I and many others could learn alot and satisfy a curiousity from your experimentation and it may inspire some interesting and entertaining discussion. It would be interesting to hear the differences. Though subtle, you will learn alot from them. I would be curious to see a schematic of the final wiring and as I know no ones time grows on trees would consider some kind of compensation to be fairly negotiated. Gift cert. to a local restauraunt, a couple of chinese tubes, a goldfish, a 1964 briggs and stratton 3hp. motor. We'll talk. Cool thread!

[Danelectron]

Rob, Don't overdo it, but you may start with describing the basic tone of each pickup then describe the different settings and the change in tone. Low frequencies gone or accentuated highs or flat and granular . I know it's very subjective and everyone hears different, but it could inspire some great comments and interpretation. Maybe just stick to the very obvious different settings or say slightly more like... Wow, this all sounds very interesting and you stand to learn alot from this project. I'd be curious to see the switching schematic, but that sounds like a nightmare. Cool thread!



Sorry for the duplicate responses. I didn't see my first one go through and it disappeared here.

[RobRed]

Thanks. I put up my schematic as an attachment. It's pretty busy for the size that I can put up, but I think you can make it out. I've got most of the wiring done I can do outside of the instrument. Now all I have to do is spend tomorrow making the control cavity big enough to fit all this stuff in!

I can't wait to get this finished. Aside from the wiring, I stripped and refinished the neck and I got new Steinberger locking tuners. I also have my MIDI pickup on this guitar, so I should be able to disappear for days at a time playing this thing.

Rob R

[Danelectron]

Holy flippin mackarel!

[Steve Conner]

I want to see what happens when it gets to 88mph!

[RobRed]

Are you trying to tell me something looks fishy?

Rob R

[RobRed]

I want to see what happens when it gets to 88mph!

I'll be happy just to see it get into drive!

Rob R