One of the most confusing things about the switch to most people is the fact that a five way switch has eight terminals; four on one side and four on the other side. How does four and four relate to five different positions? Then to make it even more confusing all the terminals aren’t used in the typical Strat wiring scheme.
The first thing to know about the Strat switch is that it is actually two switches in one. The four terminals on one side are one switch and the four terminals on the other side are the other switch. Each side is called a ‘bank’. Each side also has a single common terminal that connects in turn to one or more of the other three terminals on its side as the switch is pushed through its five positions. For naming convention, I’ll call the terminals on a side ‘common’, ‘1’, ‘2’, and ‘3’.
In the first position, common connects to terminal 1. In the second position common connects to terminals 1 and 2. In the third position, common connects to terminal 2. In the fourth position, common connects to terminals 2 and 3. And in the fifth position, common connects to terminal 3.
This means that on the pickup side of the switch, the first position is selecting the neck pickup, the second position is selecting the neck and middle pickups, the third position is selecting the middle pickup, the fourth position is selecting the middle and bridge pickups, and the fifth position is selecting the bridge pickup. So on each position, one or more of the pickups gets connected to the common terminal on the pickup side of the switch.
This becomes relevant a bit later.
Now on the other side or bank of the switch, each position of the switch is connecting a tone control to the common terminal. However as we only have two tone controls on a standard Strat, the terminal that would go to the bridge tone control is left unconnected and connections are only made to the neck and middle tone controls.
Now here is the part I mentioned earlier that would become relevant. The common terminals on each bank are connected together. What this does is to connect a particular pickup or combination of pickups determined by the switch position as described earlier to its appropriate tone control. The exception is the absence of a bridge tone control as noted above.
While there are other components involved in the overall wiring schematic such as the volume control and the output jack, this article explains the main role of the 5-way Strat switch.
The following diagrams should also help clarify exactly what is happening mechanically inside the switch as it is set through each of its five positions.
The following diagrams show which terminals are connected for each switch position. Bear in mind that the terminals on the left side of the switch are not connected to the terminals on the right side of the switch until the left and right commons are wired together.
Position 1
Position 2
Position 3
Position 4
Position 5
