Mustang help

[T89Rex]

Hi forum! With my last build finished it's obviously time to order parts for a new one  :icon_biggrin:

I'm going to build a pretty simple Mustang with two humbuckers and nothing fancy. The only thing giving me pause is that I'm not particularly keen on using the classic pickup switching model - it seems like an unnecessary pain in the behind to me.

So I'm looking to use a standard LP-style three way switch but I can't for the life of me work out where I'd put it given the rout Warmoth does. Ideally you'd put it in the lower horn but there's no wood routed out there. I thought about putting it on the control plate and using a side jack, but although Warmoth's catalogue page says you can have a side jack on a Mustang, you can't actually select it in the builder.

So basically I'm asking if anyone has any clever ideas as to how I'd include a 3 way switch. Only other controls I want are master volume, master tone and the output.

Thanks!

 

[Fender.Fan]

Rout a channel to the pickup cavity. That’s what I did

 

[T89Rex]

That is one pretty guitar!

I don't have easy access to a router so I'm trying to avoid that but I guess if I can't find another solution I won't have any choice.

 

[Fender.Fan]

I made a twin jagstang to it, and didn’t have access to a router, I did that one with a forstner bit and a power drill. Wasn’t pretty, but it was hidden and did what I needed

 

[Rick]

If it’s covered by a pick guard you could use a Dre Mel tool.

 

[Logrinn]

I wired my Mustang with a very simple wiring scheme using a toggle switch in the control plate, like so:

So that's a 3-way toggle, volume and output jack.
Couldn't be simpler or better in my opinion.
Oh and the volume is a combined volume pot/kill switch  :guitarplayer2:

 

[T89Rex]

That's a super clean set-up. Getting the switch in the control plate is the dream, but I'd like to have a tone control too. I've thought about a concentric pot to run volume and tone but I've heard they're a bit fiddly and concentric pots at the 1 Meg value I want to use don't seem to exist.

It's a head-scratcher...  :icon_scratch:

 

[JaySwear2]

How about one of these (https://store.factionguitars.com/collections/mustang-plates/products/mustang-3-knob-main-control-plate) or these (https://store.factionguitars.com/collections/mustang-plates/products/mustang-blade-switch-main-control-plate). The hole for the pots would be too small for the switch, but you should be able to widen it with a hand drill and some decent bits! It might be a tight fit in the control cavity, but with mini pots I think it would all work!

 

[T89Rex]

Ooooh, now that is interesting!

I wonder if I could get away with full-size pots if I went volume, switch, tone, jack.

 

[TheGreatRedDragon]

The builder doesn't have every option out there. I've got some Mustang GAS and I've fired a few questions at Warmoth about off-menu options and they've been pretty receptive (although my request for a lower bout switch cavity was denied - maybe someday!). So I would definitely ask if a side jack would be on the table.

There's a homemade Duo-Sonic out there that has a toggle on the control plate and it just looks so badass.

I also love this one, which has a rotary switch (and P90s!).

 

[T89Rex]

Haha I've called them a few times in the past few weeks asking some variation of, "Now I know you said that Toronado is the only hardtail bridge you can do, but what about...?" and have been denied each time.

I tend to play with the guitar on my left leg so side jacks aren't my first choice even if Warmoth could do it for me. Just have to decide whether that's more annoying than the upper switches, or potentially the 4-hole control plate that might be a little cramped.

I'm sort of coming around to the idea of using the upper switches and using the third position to split the humbucker coils. It's a bit of a deviation from the 'no fancy stuff' rule, but coil splits aren't that fancy.

And that green Duo-Sonic is incredible! If I didn't already have a few guitars in that sort of colour palette I'd be all over that colour scheme.

 

[TheGreatRedDragon]

Another option would be a push-pull to switch between neck and bridge, which would sacrifice the middle position but let you keep both pots

 

[Logrinn]

Another option would be a push-pull to switch between neck and bridge, which would sacrifice the middle position but let you keep both pots

And if you used two push-pull (or push-push) pots, you would be able to choose both pickups as well.

 

[Ace Flibble]

I don't understand why Warmoth don't offer the lower 'horn' switch route when it's a feature Fender (and many Fender copies) have been doing for decades now.
Though FWIW I find having the toggle switch ahead of the pickups like that is a pain to use mid-song, so I stick a toggle switch where the tone control would be. (Also because tone controls are a trash invention that nobody should use, ever.) So my Mustangs' control plates simply go volume, toggle, jack. I angle the toggle so it moves perpendicular to the plate; if you install it so it moves in-line with the plate then it gets really close to the volume knob when it's on the neck selection and too close to the jack and cable when it's on the bridge, making it hard to flick the switch back-and-forth easily. So mine are positioned to go diagonally down-forwards for the bridge pickup and up-backwards for the neck, so nothing gets in the way of anything else.
A standard 'import'-style toggle switch—i.e. short-bodied, not the overly long ones found in older Gibsons—fits in any Mustang control route, even the extra-thin bodies of the Squiers.

 

[TheGreatRedDragon]

It's also worth noting that the Mustang switches are actually very versatile. As an alternative to the stock on/off/OOP switching, you can make one of them a standard three-way pickup switch and use the other for a tonal mod (out of phase, coil splits, etc).

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

First preference:  Route the body for a lower toggle switch, like some of the recent Mustang guitars from Fender.

Second preference: Use the lower hole in the control plate for the toggle switch.  If you need tone controls, it would be possible to use the 3-position slide switch on the pickguard and some fixed resistors.  In that case you could choose fixed tone settings such as 10/10, 8/10, 7/10 as on an audio-taper tone control.  I'm not sure that you even need tone controls on a HH mustang, as it is likely to have warm tone already!

 

[JaySwear2]

(Also because tone controls are a trash invention that nobody should use, ever.)

How do you really feel, Ace?  :laughing11:  I rarely use my Tone on my guitars. Mostly on my Tele, that's about it.

 

[T89Rex]

I'm super hesitant to abandon the tone control (sorry Ace! :doh. I'm planning for humbucker-sized approximations to Wide-Range humbuckers with 1 Meg pots so I think there's still a chance I'll want to tame the highs on occasion.

It's also worth noting that the Mustang switches are actually very versatile. As an alternative to the stock on/off/OOP switching, you can make one of them a standard three-way pickup switch and use the other for a tonal mod (out of phase, coil splits, etc).

Yeah, more and more I'm thinking of using them for exactly this reason. I'm not entirely sure of my wiring for them, but I'm sure I'll be able to learn. I don't play live often anymore so maybe the slightly fiddlier switching won't bug me too much. Worst case I guess I can see whether they're annoying and revert to some other option later for the cost of a new pickguard and a switch or two.