Help with a Mustang wiring - strangle switch, series/parallel

[andrew00]

Heya,

I currently have a partscaster Mustang that I really like. As a leftie, making it myself was my only option as Fender doesn't like cater to lefties well at all sadly. It started off as a typical Mustang with the two 3 way switches above the pickups and I tweaked it in a few ways:

- Added and wired in a 3 way pickup toggle switch by the horn - bridge / both / neck
- Replaced the top 3 way switches with 2 way switches - The first controls in or out of phase. The second controls series or parallel when in middle position
- These work together, so you can do both in series or parallel, in or out of phase
- It's a cool set of mods that gives me an easy to use pickup toggle with a series option, which is a nice variation to have. Overall I really like the guitar.

I was thinking of making a second guitar up, a Jag, and incorporating some of the Johnny Marr switching, ie series/parallel mode + strangle switches, which he used to emulate his Rick 330 tones. Basically a bit more rhythm to the lead of the Mustang. I am also a fan of Syd Barrett who used an Esquire which has one pickup and 3 settings, tone bypass, normal, bass mode. But, as a leftie, this means a new guitar from scratch which will cost a fair amount, even as a partscaster, again as Fender hates lefties! So I was wondering if I can take my existing Mustang wiring and add some more mods to it to incorporate this.

I was wondering if it's be possible to

- 1 - add a Jag style strange switch to my Mustang - either just one (global) or like the Marr Jag, two, where one is for global and one is just for series mode
- 2 - add a Syd/Esquire style tone bypass mode

I thought maybe of changing the 3 way toggle switch to a 4 way toggle, adding the series/parallel option as a 4th option there, like on the Marr Jag. That'd then let me change the switches to 3 way and add the strangle options. Perhaps in a combo like

- 1 - tone bypass - strange all - strange series
- 2 - something - phase in - phase out

But that feels a bit redundant. I do like having the 3 way pickup toggle option, it'd be cool to keep that as it's nice to just flick it between modes quickly. The issue is then the above gets hard to fit in. The series/parallel ideally should be separate, so then when I turn on the tone bypass, strange, and phase modes, that can be selected to affected either mode.

I did think perhaps adding a switch to the body or a push pull for tone bypass could work, that would keep the 3 way toggle, keep the series/parallel switch, add a global strangle as an in phase option (ie out of phase / in phase normal / in phase strangle).

I was wondering if anyone has tried this sort of thing and a) what results did you get and b) do you have any other suggestions?

I am considering doing this more in a Jag as mentioned to keep it as a rhythm thing, then using the Mustang more a hotter lead guitar, which might be the smarter option. But, am naturally trying to make it work first with the Mustang. I thought I'd see if anyone had any ideas! Thank you!