Fender Stratocaster S-1 Switching system

[Ol Boy Rivers]

Howdy yall, Ol'boy here. This one is on that S-1 switching system. Now...I havent heard much about the stuff but when i got a chance to play the players deluxe strat with the stuff, I wasent too thrilled. Along the same lines, Fender " Claims " They have put it into a Two pickup tele...Correct me if im wrong..But dosent a three way switch completely cover a two pickup Singlecoil tele without the use of some stupid pointless button? IF someone knows more about this stuff do please post back, And if someone has had good acounts on using the S-1 system, Do share. Frankly im half amused and hald disapointed at Fender for this goof. ( No beef on leo though. He is the master, King, And my Faja. Im just not too thrilled about this switching system of his. )

[Scott Fraser]

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Well, there are 4 position Tele switches: 1 = neck, 2 = both, parallel, 3 = both, series, 4 = bridge. Seems plenty reasonable to me, although I haven't actually used one.

 

Scott Fraser

[Bluesape]

Leo had nothin' to do with it - dead 15 years now.

[LeftyBlues]

I just see it as a few more sounds/tones you can get. I have one Strat with it, to be honest I don't use it much but then again I'm not a real musician like some of you folks. I'll say this, there's no drawback to having it available, it's not like it gets in the way or anything. If I was racing my Strat I might take it off to save weight.

[Ol Boy Rivers]

Allright scott, And yeah to blue i didnt know leo had passed. I mean...I can understand if its a in-phase out-phase switch, But its not even that so i really dont see the works in it. So...Strat with it has seven ways. Bride, Bride middle, Middle, Middle neck, Neck, And the S-1 give it the Neck bridge, And all three together. I honestly dont see the sparkles in it. Personally i think the bridge Neck combo' would sound TOO close to the Bridge middle, And all three would probally sound just the same. IF somone has played this weird setup PLEASE TELL ME. This is burning my nads red and i hate having hot butterballs.

[Scott Fraser]

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Long ago there was a custom shop in LA making very nice hot rod Strats. Their switch concept was to have 3 three-way toggle switches. Each pickup had "Off", "On-in phase", & "On-out of phase". It was extremely versatile, though way too cumbersome for live use. A perfect studio guitar, though. I have a couple Steinberger clones with a similar set up, but without the out-of-phase positions, which I never liked anyway. I find it a perfect solution, although in use I mostly stay in the "All three" position. If I were building a custom Strat I would definitely go with a similar arrangement.

 

Scott Fraser

[Ol Boy Rivers]

Yeah. I know GuitarFetish sales the same " SuperStrat " Kits and claims to be the first ones to have done it.

[Scott Fraser]

<< I know GuitarFetish sales the same " SuperStrat " Kits and claims to be the first ones to have done it.>>

 

If they were doing it before about 1978 they may in fact be the first. Otherwise Performance Guitar in Hollywood had 'em beat.

 

Scott Fraser

[Ol Boy Rivers]

Allright. Thanks scott, Allways a pleasure to see your post on my strings!

[Ed Coury]

I have the dual humbucker American Strat with the S-switch. I like it -- gives me all kinds of single coil sounds along with the straight humbuckers.

[The Geoff]

My FrankenStrat has this setup via a push/pull on the volume control. It also has a Gibson-type Varitone in the mid tone position and a preamp/mid booster on the bottom tone. I split the bridge humbucker with a mini-switch. All done by my good-sweet self.

 

All combinations sound different from each other. The neck/bridge has fewer mids and is more open than mid/bridge.

 

I built a Tele in 1977 that has Dual Sound Neck & Bridge with switching for series, parallel and split coil, on & off. The middle pup was a PAF with In/Out of phase, on & off

 

Never did calculate all the different combinations.

 

So S1 seems pretty basic.

 

Geoff