1 Master Volume
1 Master Tone
1 Five-Way Selector Switch
3 Coil Splitters
1 Effects Bypass
You say "3 Coil Splitters, Effect Bypass, you don't need those on the guitar", well I'll tell you that this is NOT a complex guitar setup (btw: I've dropped the MIDI; I will be getting a 2nd guitar for MIDI). Master Vol/Master Tone/5 Way Switch are the only three that NEED to be used; In cases where I want to get a country sound, I simply hit the 2-way toggle for the humbucker I want to turn single coil (3 humbucker'd guitar). As far as my "Effects Bypass", it is simple. I have two TRS outputs instead of one, One goes to the Amp, the other goes to the Effects (or multi effects processor. or effects switcher unit) Pony, this is the same as your A/B selector, except I don't need to send it to a footcontroller, it's right on my guitar. That is what I'll be using, and that's how it goes on the surface.
--------on the inside--------
The guitar is wired in a way that will allow no change in tone due to volume, rather change from my tone knob. This may not make sense, but it allows stability in my sounds, because the signal is always constant. In heavy distortion, I dare you to turn the Tone Control down and tell me you hear a significant differance. The truth is that on a normal guitar, you don't. With this, VOLUME DOESN'T CHANGE YOUR "SOUND". The Tone Knob is much more essential for the effects with this setup; since everything is 'constant', it is wired so i won't have to adjust my effect settings from my rig, rather just change the tone knob for variance in sound.
Remember: the more mouths a message has to pass through to get to the final source, the further it is going to be from its original. The same goes for putting your sound through pot switches, selectors and, also, pedals: the more your tone has to go through the less pure it is. That's why I DELETED 3 of the switches on my Gretsch and instead routed them to a single concentric knob. With the 30 or so solder points you'll have, you'll have to spend an hour figuring out what's wrong when your guitar starts getting crackly.
Pony, this is changed. my older versions had alot more solder points than my newer version. My new version has no more knobs than a Carvin guitar, in fact, LESS knobs than many carvin guitars. The idea is simplicity, and ease of use (although that may seem a bit ironic). Dropping MIDI saved alot of space;
Okay, lets go through this one more time.
3 Humbuckers
-------
1 Master Volume
1 Master Tone
1 Five-Way Selector Switch
3 Coil Splitters
1 Effect Bypass Switch
these are the only switches on the guitar, count em, 7. Now, I could do it your way, Pony, and take off the effect bypass switch, and use an A/B switch, but I ask "why?". I'm pretty sure I hate footcontrollers as much or more than you do, I will not add another thing for my feet to play around with, when it can be put on the guitar as a SIMPLE 2-way switch. As far as coil splitters, they are very common, so that doesn't seem to be the point of argument.
It's 2 AM and I'm getting tired, maybe I'll continue tomorrow.
~Incidents