Anyone using a phase switch on guitar?

The phase switch makes the change instantaneous....
 
I have a Fender Modern with 3 pups, the bridge pup being a split coli humbucker with a phase switch on it.
 
I use it more to negate the hum than anything but it does change the character of the tone and in the middle of a solo, or a rhythm part with other things playing, the hum is not noticeable.
 
I'm sure you could emulate it with EQ but that's a chore and not easily done in a live situation.

Another thought,, I used to have a Rickenbacker bass that had a stereo jack, so each pickup could be recorded on a separate track. With that setup, you could just flip the phase on one of the tracks later.

I only had to pop off the back plate of the guitar to remember why I had opted to blow off the phase switch. I had chosen to keep the guitar looking as original as possible, and 4 of the 6 switches are in Seymour Duncan Triple Shot mounting rings. I had to route the guitar to put a second in for the neck pickup (originally there was only one hole through the face). I had debated a bit about removing the volume knob, but glad I had decided not to after the fact. Now I am debating about simply putting a DPDT mini slide on the back plate itself, but have to think on that one a bit.
 
Double tracking is one method that would work, but I am not sure my precision is good enough to make this practical. I am actually very curious about the filter aspect myself, since I can easily do a run of double tracking then see if I can come up with a filter to get the same (or close enough) result on the bridge pickup signal alone. I may try this just for kicks because "in theory" it should be fairly simplistic (famous last words).
 
Edit: Google search is already showing ideas, and a link to a Guitar Player article read:
"Out-of-phase pickups. Don’t have an out- of- phase switch? You can come close with a studio-type EQ.
• Select both pickups.
• For the EQ, dial in a notch filter around 1,200Hz with a fairly broad Q (0.6 or so) and severe cut—around -5dB to -18dB.
• Use a high shelf to boost about 8dB starting at 2kHz, and a low shelf to cut by -18dB starting at 140Hz.
• Tweak as needed for your particular guitar and pickups.
• Boost the level—like a real out-of-phase switch, this thins out the sound."
 
I will definitely try the experiment first and see how this works out.

drewfx1
 
And OOP PU's is not something that can be emulated with EQ, unless one was going to EQ every string and every note separately.

That's what I was getting at Drew. The character of the PU is what sets the OOP sound apart from just something EQ'd.
 
And like I said, at first I thought that this sound wasn't good. But after allowing myself to experiment with it, I have to say that today it's part of my tools of sound!!
 
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Oh and I would not alter any good guitar to put in a switch. Nope ain't happening.
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Brain May is the only player who readily comes to mind who uses this often. The effect is more audible the further the pickups are from each other (leaving the harmonics from the bridge essentially), and he uses a treble booster in his rig specifically to mitigate the volume drop when OOP. Using different makes of pickups will add to the residuals left over.
 
@ward s, you may have inadvertently given me the "answer" here if I do the physical mod, since I can replace the neck switch itself with a 3-way. Right now the stitches are simple toggles to eliminate any dead spots, and OOP would be best on a serial configuration anyway, so I would only "need" one more setting... plus I can always "go back"
 
@Grem, yeah, this guitar is an old Dean Hollywood (which I love because the neck is so tiny), and was the "fuzzy" guitars used in the ZZ Top Eliminator videos (e.g., "Legs"). I stopped by PRS's shop when in college since I was going to school in that town, and the guy told me not to modify it since it was during "Dean's demise" and most guitars were "on of a kind" as-is during that period. I just chuckled and told him it wasn't playable "as-is." I used this picture after the mod as my avatar for a while, but the only switch I added on the face was the neck pickup switch. The final look on the body was this (I added 5 switches, 4 of which are in the mounting rings themselves, left-side):
 
 
Since only the wood, bridge, knobs and tuners remain as "original hardware" I also took the liberty of scribing my name in the headstock (which makes it funny when out and about because people chase me down to ask what it is). The guitar has been PLEK'd since this pic, so the nut is now new and the string-lock removed.
 
 
 I will try to get the double tracking experiment done this weekend for sure, since that data will provide a lot of insight into the grand scheme of things.

How does she play after you got it PLEC'd?
 
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And let me just say, I only have the Carvin that has a phase switch on it.
 
I do have a G&L Legacy that has a five selector switch, and I think two of those are OOP positions. Not sure. There is a volume drop, and a thinner tone, so this being my first "Strat-Type" guitar, I am not really sure. If you started from the left (neck PU only) and that would be position 1, then the positions I am talking about are 2 and 4. And I can tell you that when I play this guitar, I mostly stay in those two positions. I LOVE that sound, feel, articulation I get from these positions.
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Oh, and nice guitar!!
 
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Would this work?

Record using just the neck pickup (which usually has a more "full range" tonal content than the bridge).

Clone the track, then eq the clone so it's as close as possible to a bridge pickup tone. Then bounce that to a track to make the tone change permanent.

Then invert the phase on the bounced track and adjust the balance between the bouncec and original tracks and their eq as requred.

mettelus
I wanted to ask a quick question for those who either have a guitar with a built in phase switch or modified one for such. Do you get much use from this setup? ...

 
A '73 Gibson L6-S has been one of my favorite guitars since ... 1973.  As sweet as maple syrup.  Positions #4 & #6 are out-of-phase, and those are the go-to selections for me on the six-position switch.  Here's how Bill Lawrence got around the "hollow sound" for super-funky Position #4:


 

b rock
Here's how Bill Lawrence got around the "hollow sound" for super-funky Position #4:


 

Interesting - that's the high pass filter idea I mentioned above.
 
And it further confirms my law that for any idea you can have today, either Frank Zappa or Bill Lawrence or somebody like that already did it many years ago. 

Hey Grem, in all honesty, that project is really only if you enjoy such things... because of the pickups I chose, the tone variation is minimal (and could be easily compensated for with post-processing effects). I had chosen DiMarzio D-Activator pickups which are incredibly clean and high output pickups, so even putting them in parallel isn't "big" because the neck is pretty strong. Ironically, when I first wired this years ago, I left a stock (crappy) pickup in the neck and put a PAF Pro in the bridge, with only the original 3-way switch. That setup actually had significantly more tone variation since the stock pickup was very warm and muddy, and the PAF Pro was more hot and clean. The stock pickup alone sounded very acoustic because it was not overly responsive to harmonics. I think if pickups are "matched" the wiring I did is more "just because" rather than it gains much.
 
Back to the emulation part, I played with the 4-5 sample offset region and when clean this is adequate, but running it through GR5 or TH2 brings back the fundamentals, and jacks the artificial harmonics through the roof (and the associate hiss). Post-EQ helps "some," but I think ideally that would have to be re-amped with a real amp to be usable. I will back off the comb filter a bit and try it with a real amp at some point, but for now, the amp sim option (for that range at least) is a bit nasty.

bluzdog
Here's a famous guitar that has a phase issue that worked: http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/The_Secret_of_Peter_Greens_Tone
 
Rocky

As a result of this I went and listened to some early Mac. Man..... : )
 
Listening to "Worried Dream" right now.

I also agree about the cheap guitars. Got several from Guitar Center for $225, Both Strat Squires. One was a maple neck and the other is a maple unfinished neck. Both play extremely well.
 
The Squire with the unfinished neck has had some work done to it. It has two Seymor Hotrails in the neck and bridge positions, and just a regular SC in the middle position. The cavity has been painted with a black color non conducting paint, shielded back 5 layer pick guard, has an upgraded tremolo unit on it. Not a Floyd, but definitely not the regular Squire tremolo.
 
I bought both of these guitars and then soon after came across a '93 G&L Legacy with rosewood neck. I had planed to sell the two Squires to recoup some money. Well I only recently sold the regular Squire, and did so reluctantly. But the upgraded Squire ain't going no where!! It's a keeper for sure. It stands up right next to the G&L and my LP.

I actually ordered a whole JP wiring kit from AllParts.  4 push/pulls, new 3-way switch I didn't use, pushback wire, orange drop caps, etc
 
My Studio was PC board equipped, so I couldn't [easily] reuse components.
 
Kind of a PITA really (see below).  I've been considering redoing with TS rings, reusing the push-pulls strictly for phase switching.  You don't get series/parallel for each pup with the scheme I used.  I figure if you keep your TS rings, you can use push-pulls to switch phase.  Check out the bottom of the TS ring wiring diagram - it shows which wires to use for phase switching.
 

 

Looks good! I am glad you mentioned those, since they never even occurred to me as an option (big DOH moment).
 
I went with the TS rings when I did mine (for cut coil application/series/parallel), and the 2 face switches give me the Bridge/Neck/Series/Parallel options. The signals are combined there, so it does not have the flexibility of a Les Paul design (no ability to blend the two for me). The phase switch I want to insert is just on the neck pickup, but never even considered the push/pull or I would have done it at that time. I did plan ahead far enough to leave enough wire length though, so this should be simple (famous last words).