Leading guitar manufacturers Gibson has for many years manufactured instruments with 3 pickups, each of which are traditionally selected by a conventional 3-position lever switch. Each pick up gives a different sound because of its relative placement to the strings. Clearly the option to combine two or more pickups will provide even more tonal options for the instrument.

Over time various methods of providing this additional control have been tried within the Guitar Industry, these would include a multi position rotary switch and additional control switches both of which provide a confusing visual feedback.

The solution is The ‘Free-way’ switch from NSF Controls, developed in collaboration with Product Design specialist AB Design; it provides a 6-position lever switch in a 2x3 way format. Looking and working like a conventional three position switch, the Free-way toggle actually moves in two planes offering two rows of parallel positions. This patented concept enables multiple electrical settings from a switch where all positions are still easily accessible and distinguishable.

A Leading Rock musician was handed an instrument loaded with the Free-way switch for evaluation, and was quickly convinced by how it worked and how intuitive it was to use. A dedicated contact arrangement was developed with Gibson to selectively assign the three pickups on the Custom Guitar allowing the exacting demands for tonal variation demanded by the artist to be achieved.