Freeway Switch w 2014 Squier Deluxe Daphne Blue
Channel: wesboundmusic
Date: 16/03/2022

(update: I added German subtitles as of 03/17/2022)
(update II: Here's the wiring diagram of the switch and the switch positions and what they do in detail: https://sixstringsupplies.co.uk/products/freeway-10-way-strat-switch-5b5-01 )

Acquainting myself with the Freeway Switch on my Squier Deluxe Daphne Blue (https://www.freewayswitch.com/), which adds _humbucker_ sounds and overall _five_ more tones to the guitar by way of a second switching "lane". I'm alternating between standard switch positions and the new tones on the added switching lane to highlight the difference in sound to the regular positions, with both clean as well as crunch distorted sounds.

Darrell Braun might go into some more detail in his video: https://youtu.be/H1iCOo26bec

Modifications that I had done over time were:
– replacement bone nut (2x O:-) ) and now finally a brass nut (ca. 25,- EUR)
– replaced stock iron cast trem block with a solid brass block (made in CN, but feels and sounds like good quality, ca. 30,- EUR); replacement trem bar as the original one had "mangled" the thread
– some finessing and maintenance (frets polished, setup, former bone nuts were filed for low–most action, 45,– EUR)
– roller string trees (ca. 5,– EUR)
– Freeway switch installed, which adds humbucker modes to the range of tones (!) (43,– EUR at the time of publishing this video + luthier's time)

The pickups are still the original ones it shipped with, which are Seymour Duncan designed single coils, i.e. instructions come from Seymour Duncan, the actual coiling was done in Squier/Fender's Indonesia factory. I had always thought of replacing them with e.g. proper Seymour Duncans or Alnico Vs, but frankly, I don't see the need at this point. They sound well balanced and versatile to my ears, a wee bit less chimey than your Alnico ones, which I find perfect for the new humbucker tones.

The setup for this recording was: Straight into a Roland Cube x30 (which sports some fixed modelled circuits next to your regular clean channel), EQing dials for bass and treble at "2 p.m.", mid at "10-11 p.m", signal feeds into a  Logic channel strip with very moderate compression for overall loudness and a little bit of reverb, all that straight back into the recording app. I didn't "pre–shape" the signal much, all this was basically for reasons of getting enough gain and transparency without clipping. I'm using the regular clean channel, which is supposed to sound reminiscent of Roland's legendary Jazz Chorus 120 amp. For crunch distortion I used the "Classic Stack" setting for the most part and the "Rectifier Stack" once.

Strings are GHS Boomers, Extra Light (009-042): https://www.thomann.de/de/ghs_thin_core_boomers_009_042.htm
(I had a set of .10 – .46 on it before, but didn't like the sound, so I went back to the "angel hair" ones ;–) ).

I hope, I was able to quell your curiosity with this presentation (sorry for the sniffle and ambient noise.) Thanks for stopping by!