24 Pickup Combinations ?

On another site a member was extolling the virtues of his new H-S-H Fender American Custom whilst at the same time complaining about how noisy the pickups were. He also posted a diagram showing the various combinations of pickups depending on the position of the 5 position switch.

I responded by saying that IMO the Spectrum GT/LX/FX is far more flexible on the grounds that the H-S-H combination with coil tap, single coil removal and phase reversal gave 24 combinations of pickups. I was going to explain them all but then realised I had no idea what i was talking about (not an entirely new experience ) so I tried to work it out

The three position switch gives

- Bridge humbucker
- Both humbuckers
- Neck humbucker

So three combinations, the coil tap adds a further three

- Bridge coil-tapped humbucker
- Both coil-tapped humbuckers
- Neck coil-tapped humbucker

The on/off on the middle single coil doubles this to 12 in total (is that right ? do I get all three pickups at the same time if the single coil is on and the pickup selector is in the middle position ?)

The phase reversal adds more combinations but which pickups are out of phase with each other ? What happens when/if all three pickups are in use, which are out of phase ?

As I say, I have no idea - are all 24 combinations useful or are come complete duds ? To be honest I don't use the single coil on/off switch at all and phase reversal is reserved for occasional funk numbers (when I remember).

the phase reverse push/pull operates the bridge pickup

gittarasaurus wrote:the phase reverse push/pull operates the bridge pickup

Which I guess means that if the pickup selector is in "Neck" it'll have no functional use which leaves "only" 18 combinations