• Ernie Ball
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  • Sterling by MusicMan

gitapik

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 4, 2012
Messages
103
Location
NYC
Well...I finally got to the bottom of this. And, in order to protect the innocent (and not), I'll just cut right to the chase, as stated by a tech at EBMM who consulted a couple of engineers and looked for the same dead spot on some guitars they had on the showroom floor, there:

The dead spot will always be found between the 3 and 2 positions of the Superswitch on this particular guitar (HSS Silhouette Special) specifically because there is no common circuit between the wiring of the 3 (neck/half humbucker bridge) and 2 (middle/other half humbucker bridge) positions.

All the other adjacent spots have common circuits: 5 = neck. 4 = neck/middle. 3 = neck/half bridge. 2 = middle/half humbucker. 1 = both halves humbucker.

So, when the toggle gets caught between any of the common circuit positions, the signal is maintained. When it hits between the 3 and the 2, where there is no common circuit, there's a dead spot with no or very, very little sound.

I don't think this will be true of the SSS models because the 3 position (neck/bridge single) has a common circuit with the 2 position (middle/bridge single).

I've decided to keep the guitar as is with the Superswitch for now. I love the silent circuit and don't use the 2 position as much as I do my Strat, because this guitar is mainly for leads and fills in my world. I'll try to adjust my toggling technique and just be more aware of that glitch in the meantime. And if I decide to sell it, it'll still be in it's original condition with kickass pickups to boot. Hopefully won't sell it, though. It's a great playing and sounding guitar.
 

Twang Banger

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 19, 2016
Messages
104
Location
Saint Augustine, Florida
I have an Albert Lee HH that has the same issue - dead spots on the switch. I have the "GC wiring" that also has a push/pull coil tap on the tone. It does cool stuff, but I don't move the switch live because of the dead spots. Kind of a stinker, but it is what it is.

Same problem here on my AL HH ... I actually thought the switch was worn out or something ... any time I would accidentally bump it it would either go into a dead spot or to another position. I got radical and had a three way put in, so I have typical 3 way switching plus the coil tap on the tone pot. I really was never using position 2 or 4 anyway. Now the switch is solid as a Sherman tank.


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