Orion guitar pickup options?

[jazzyvee]

I've been using my Orion a a lot recently and have some guitar gigs coming up this year so will be considering making this a reality.
My simplified requirements are now.
Two str pickups in the neck and bridge positions to replace the HG pickups.
A three way blade switch which selects  either both neck pickups, both neck and both bridge, or both bridge.

Then two separate 3 position paddle switches, one for the neck pair and one for the bridge pair, wired such that when any pair are selected by the blade switch, the toggle switch selects between outer, both or inner str pickups. The guitar already has filter electronics and 3 position Q switch and I bought the pickups and extra  switches from Mica a while back but do not have the brass plate for mounting the blade switch and I think the control cavity would need extending to cater for that too.
Unless of course someone has a Spectrum guitar for sale or trade.

[edwardofhuncote]

I think I finally got where you were going with this about the third or fourth time I read... veeeerrrry slllloooowly. (kinda' thick that way on electric guitar things...)

So in this scenario, these 4 STR pickups are 'smooshed together' in two pair that will fit into the cavities once occupied by the 2 HGR's currently in there. The blade switch is your selector between the bridge pair and neck pair, and the paddle switches are kinda' acting like... uhhh.... not really a coil-tap, but a similar effect. You essentially would be enabling or disengaging one of the two independent STR's situated side-by-side, at either the bridge or neck position. That gives you a wild number of combinations.

I salute the idea, and trust that you know what you need and how to get where you need to be. I could never operate that guitar, but you would have a good laugh watching me try! 😄

[jazzyvee]

Hi, yes you gave grasped my thoughts.😁
I have a similar setup on an Eggle Berlin Pro guitar, however many of the positions are quite thin sounding, i think because the switches put the pickups out of phase at some settings.
The thing I have no experience to assess is, sonically what the difference is between series or parallel wiring. so basically if a pair of pickups are selected and both are on, should they be wired in series vs parallel. Then the paddle switch can choose between inner, outer or both.

[Songdog]

The thing I have no experience to assess is, sonically what the difference is between series or parallel wiring. so basically if a pair of pickups are selected and both are on, should they be wired in series vs parallel.

Generally, series should produce a hotter signal but with some loss of clarity. Parallel should enhance high frequency response but at a lower signal level.

If you're into experimenting, try it both ways at each pickup. You might find that you don't want them both the same. I'd be inclined to start with the bridge pair in series and the neck pair in parallel. But your tastes and mine might differ; and with the Alembic electronics you might prefer parallel for both in order to have the most highs for the filter to work with.