KAISH Heavy Duty 3-Way Switch Diagram and Instructions
This is a really short blog on the diagram and inputs of the KAISh 3 Way Switch.
This is the KAISH Heavy Duty 3-Way Switch. My experience with it has been outstanding. It’s solid and feels very well built, but it comes without a diagram. So, here’s a quick diagram and tutorial for it.
The wiring is very simple. I chose the switching in the upward position (pointing towards the 1 wire hole) as the neck. Consequently, the other two followed for Both and Bridge. The black dots on either side of the switch are ground options. You don’t need to ground both, only one.
Also, notice that wire holes 4–5 are always active. This means this is our output to your output jack, and also that the signal from all inputs is mixed into both of these.
Neck Position
In the neck position, wiring holes 2–3, 4–5, and 8 are active. In theory, you can use any of these to provide your input, just remember that 4–5 are mixed with all positions, so it makes more sense to wire the neck to pick up into position 2-3. Also notice that hole 8 is only active in the neck position, in case you want to get creative with that (hint: an independent tone knob for just the neck position).
Middle Position
The neck position has 2–3, 4–5, and 6–7 active. This position mixes 6–7 into the signal, where 6–7 can be your bridge pickup. You can also achieve a 2-vol, 2-tone by using 2 as the input of your neck, and 3 as the output into your tone knob. Same with 6–7 respectively, one as input and one as output to tone. Note, you can use either 2-3 and 6-7 are connected by solder on the switch.
Bridge Position
The bridge position is where the switch knob points to the 8 wiring hole (according to the rules I set up at the beginning, but you can flip it of course). This position is the same as the neck position, but we now have 6–7 as an input, 4–5 continue to be one throughout the positions, and now we have that 1, which only active in this position, again giving you option to get creative in case you want to use it. Also note, I didn’t use position 1 or 8.
Example Usage
I actually used this for a double humbucker setup on an old Ibanez RG restoration. Here’s are a few pics of the guitar itself, especially around the control knobs.
And here’s the wiring diagram I used. Important: there’s actually a missing ground wire from the Kaish switch to the common ground on the Volume pot.
Conclusion
This is a solid switch, nice to work with, and comes with knob tips. I recommend it. Please let me know if I can elaborate on any of the areas mentioned above.
