THOUGHTS

Beyond the Basic Toggle:
Your Guide to Pickup Switching Freedom

July 1, 2025 • Dan Holtz, Lakeside Guitar

So, you're in the studio chasing that perfect tone for the bridge section. You know it's somewhere between your neck pickup's warmth and your bridge pickup's bite. If only there was something more subtle than the standard three-way toggle. Sound familiar? You're not alone in pickup switching purgatory, especially with most Fenders.

Most guitarists live their entire playing lives with whatever switching came factory-installed. Strat players get their five-way selector and call it a day. Tele folks stick with the classic three-way toggle. And sure, these configurations have created countless classic recordings – but that doesn't mean they're the end of the story.

The truth is, your pickups are capable of way more tonal combinations than your stock switching allows. Every pickup has its own voice, and the magic often happens in how you blend those voices together, not just in selecting one or the other. Or both in full.

Instead of, essentially, on/off switches for your pickups, what if you could dial in exactly how much of each pickup you wanted? What if you could have 70% bridge pickup and 30% neck pickup? Or gradually fade from one to the other mid-song? That's where alternative switching systems shine.

Upgraded Switching Options

Blend Knob

Think of a blend knob like a DJ's crossfader. Turn it fully clockwise, and you get 100% bridge pickup. Fully counterclockwise gives you 100% neck pickup. But everywhere in between gives you a custom mixture of both pickups in whatever proportion you dial in. The benefit here is infinite variability. You can find that sweet spot between pickups and park there, or use it as a performance tool, sweeping between pickups during a solo.

Multiple Volume Knobs

This essentially achieves the same result, but with a different kind of interface. This setup also lets you do quick volume swells on an individual pickups. Like swelling the bridge to cut through for a solo, without changing the resting volume of the neck pickup.

The Freeway Switch

Freeway switches typically switch in two dimensions. A six-way switch is the same as a three way toggle, but you can rock it back and forth perpendicularly as well. This gives you 3 positions to the left, and three to the right, in parallel. Another variety is a 5-way blade switch that rocks back and forth to give you 10 potential positions. Wow, right?

A six-position Freeway switch in a Strat, for example, adds an "all three pickups simultaneously" option. This "position 6" creates a unique hollow, almost acoustic-like tone that's impossible to get with standard switching.

Freeway switches allow you to combine pickups in a variety of ways, split humbuckers into single coils, change phase, or loop in tone controls or tone circuits. The limit is your imagination.

Push-Pull Pots

Most people are familiar with push-pull pots as coil splitters. There are other ways to use them. Pull up on the knob, and you simply activate an alternate wiring path. They can also put pickups in series instead of parallel, or add an additional pickup or control to any switch position.

The Varitone Circuit

Made famous by Lucille, B.B. King's semi-hollow, this is a rotary switch that routes your signal through different combinations of capacitors and resistors. Each position creates a different frequency response, giving you preset EQ curves right from your guitar. While some dismiss the Varitone as gimmicky, it can be incredibly useful to cut through different mix situations or want preset tonal variations without reaching for pedals.

Considerations

The key is understanding what you're trying to achieve tonally. Are you looking for more pickup blend options? Do you want independent pickup control? Are you trying to unlock hidden tones from your existing pickups? Do you want more tone/EQ options?

Your playing style matters too. A jazz player might love a blend pot for smooth transitions between pickup sounds, while a rock player might prefer push-pull switching for quick access to coil-split sounds. Country players might gravitate toward Telecaster-style four-way switches that add the series connection of both pickups.

While these modifications can transform your guitar's versatility, they're not always simple drop-in upgrades. Some require additional routing, new pickguards, or rewiring. The complexity varies – adding a push-pull pot might be straightforward, while installing a Varitone system can be a major undertaking.

Factor in your guitar's value too. Vintage instruments require extra consideration since modifications can affect collectibility. Sometimes the best approach is a reversible mod or finding a similar, less valuable guitar to modify instead.

Work With a Professional

Pickup switching modifications can unlock incredible tonal possibilities, but getting them right requires understanding guitar electronics on a more technical level. You don't want to end up with a guitar that's more confusing than useful, or worse, one that doesn't work reliably.

A skilled guitar tech can help you choose the right switching system for your playing style and install it cleanly. They can also troubleshoot issues like phase problems, impedance mismatches, or unwanted noise that can crop up with more complex switching systems.

Curious about what switching options might work best for your guitar and playing style? Every instrument and player combination is different, and the best approach depends on your pickups, your music, and what tonal goals you're trying to achieve. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to discuss what might unlock your guitar's hidden potential.