Kill Switch

[Graffiti62]

Hi Guys--

I'm thinking up the electronics in my head for my budget strat project, and I've come to the plan of, instead of the traditional Strat knob controls, which never really made a lot of sense to me to begin with, that I'm doing a master volume and tone for the whole shebang. However, I'm plagued with the use of the third hole. I was thinking of either putting in a kill switch, or setting up a pickup switch that will throw the neck pu on when you've got the switch down at the bridge, and can also put all three pickups on in position 4.

My question is for the guys who have wired kills into their electronics. Is it really something you use a lot, or is it just more of a novelty?  I know that it'll make "Spirit In the Sky" and Van Halen's "You Really Got Me" a lot more realistic sounding, but is it something that someone really gets a lot of use out of?

Thanks!

 

[-CB-]

Generally, I dont like kill switches... aka "Dead Man Switches".  Sounds too "Charles Whitman" for my taste.

 

[line6man]

If you dont have anything to put in the third hole, i would suggest that you use a pickguard with only the 2 holes you need.

 

[UTSC]

blend knob for the middle pickup is what i did.

 

[OzziePete]

If you dont have anything to put in the third hole, i would suggest that you use a pickguard with only the 2 holes you need.

+1. Pick which hole is obsolete and tell Warmoth which hole you don't want.

Kill switches, particularly when jamming or doing live work, are a damn nuisance. Hit it and it all goes quiet. The cause of many an embarrassed smile from a guitar player who has a guitar installed with one  :sad:  :toothy11:.

 

[RLW]

Tried to ignore this one, but if I'm going to drill a hole in the face of a Warmoth body, it better damn sure as sunrise do something more useful than just simply turn the guitar off.

 

[-CB-]

+1

 

[tfarny]

Go with the 'blend pot' idea. Especially if your bridge pickups sounds different than the others, neck + bridge can be a really good sound.

 

[ByteFrenzy]

I can picture a killswitch, but only if the volume and tone pot(s) are omitted - a la Nikki Six. Just simply on/off, all or nothing.

 

[Graffiti62]

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I found something that will work out. My little brother found a small rotary on/off switch that's around the same size as a standard pot, and I'm going to set it up to throw on the neck pickup regardless of what spot the blade is in. This way, things are consealed, and no space is wasted.

 

[NeilStryker]

On my current build the Sorceress, I am having an on-on switch which will have the potential to act as a kill switch but offers a few other things as well.  ( I believe Max was talking about adding a similar switch.)  In the up position the volume and tone are normal, but in the down position the guitar is full on, basically bypassing the vol and tone control.  If I turn the volume all the way down, the up position toggle is off, and the down is full-on for a randy rhoads-y killswitch effect, but i can also use it to have two separate settings- however i have the volume and tone set, and then full on.  If the vol and tone are full on, then the switch wont do much, but i have a few options at least. 

 

[imminentG]

I have never eard of this silly kill switch

but it sounds pretty lame of an Idea to ME



shhhhh
kinman no soldering harness
:laughing7:

 

[Mor Paul]

Yeah, I was thinking of doing a similar switch as you, Neil. Might not use it much, so might not throw it in. I've got the switch already, so it's an option.

Edit: I'm using a double throw something or other on-on switch. Not a button, so it won't be a great kill switch.

 

[Maltozombie]

+1

i thought about the killswitch for awhile myself,  but i had to be honest with myself.

getting a killswitch will not make you sound like buckethead.  :sad:

...but you could always try.  :laughing7:

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

+1

i thought about the killswitch for awhile myself,  but i had to be honest with myself.

getting a killswitch will not make you sound like buckethead.  :sad:

...but you could always try.  :laughing7:

You need a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken to sound like buckethead.And you don't even need to eat the shite inside it.

 

[Sixbender]

"Kill switch" = retarded name for an idea born in the 50's, and in use in rock and roll since about then.

Gibsons, for one, were wired with two pickups, two volumes, two tones, and a pickup selector.
When the neck pup volume is rolled off, the pickup selector becomes a "kill switch", since selecting a pickup with no volume = kill.
And so you can flick the pickup toggle back and forth for the quick on-off thing.
Guys have been doing that for years before Buckethead was born.
Or, you can do it like EVH used to...just using the volume knob itself for a kill switch by rolling it on and off at speed.

But yeah, just a switch that does nothing but "kill" is a waste of a hole, imo.

 

[kreig]

If you dont have anything to put in the third hole, i would suggest that you use a pickguard with only the 2 holes you need.

+1

 

[Maltozombie]

You need a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken to sound like buckethead.And you don't even need to eat the shitee inside it.

Oh I have the bucket...and the mask....and the wig......i should put up pics of it  :headbang:

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Someone beat me to it.  I was going to suggest 2 vol. with three-way toggle, but the original poster wants only one volume.

I see a lot of criticism of the idea of a kill switch.  It can't just be a technique that some have no use for?

 

[SrDeMaFp]

I have a guitar wired up with a killswitch (I took out all the other electronics. Just 1 pup and a killswitch now). I find myself using it a bunch. It's fun to dick around with.