What does the Fender S1 Switch Do?

What does the Fender S1 Switch do? Check out this little guide on the S1 switch and find out what tonal options you can gain from it. 

"What does the Fender S1 Switch do?" - a common question we hear at GigGear, and to be fair, it's certainly not obvious. Fundamentally, the S1 Switch adds tonal versatility to whatever guitar it is fitted into.

Ok, so what is the S1 Switch? Well, it's that little switch that is set into a Volume (or sometimes Tone) knob on a selection of Fender guitars. Thanks to its discreet placing, the S1 switch doesn't significantly alter the appearance of the instrument it is fitted into, which is good news! What the S1 Switch does though is where things get a little more complicated (in a good way!), and will vary from guitar to guitar.

Let's have a look at the switching options provided across a selection of popular Fender guitars: 

Fender American Ultra Stratocaster:
Engaging the S1 switch adds the neck pickup to positions one, two and three.

Fender American Ultra Stratocaster HSS:
Engaging the S1 switch splits the Ultra Double Tap humbucking pickup into a full throated single-coil fully calibrated with the middle and neck pickups.

Fender American Ultra Telecaster:
Engaging the S1 switch selects between series or parallel wiring for added tonal range.

Fender American Elite Stratocaster (now discontinued and is identical to the prevous American Deluxe Strats):
S1 switch OFF - the American Elite Strat functions as normal:

• Position one: bridge pickup only
• Position two: bridge and middle pickups wired in parallel
• Position three: middle pickup only
• Position four: middle and neck pickups wired in parallel
• Position five: neck pickup only

S1 Switch ON - you get 5 more tonal options:

• Position one: all three pickups wired in series
• Position two: bridge and middle pickups wired in series
• Position three: middle and neck pickups wired in series
• Position four: bridge and neck pickups wired out of phase, with a special tone capacitor
• Position five: bridge and middle pickups wired in series and out of phase, in parallel with neck pickup

Fender American Elite Telecaster (now discontinued and is identical to the prevous American Deluxe Teles):
S1 switch OFF - the American Elite Tele functions as normal:

• Position one: bridge pickup only
• Position two: bridge and neck pickups in parallel
• Position three: neck pickup only

S1 switch ON - the American Elite Tele functions as normal bar the middle position:

• Position one: bridge pickup only
• Position two: bridge and neck pickups in series (delivering a fatter tone)
• Position three: neck pickup only

Fender Classic Player Baja Telecaster (now discontinued but identical to the Vintera 50s Telecaster Modified):
S1 switch OFF - the Baja functions as normal with an additional 4th position option:

• Position one: bridge pickup only
• Position two: bridge and neck pickups in parallel
• Position three: neck pickup only
• Position four: neck and bridge pickups in series (delivering a fatter tone)

S1 Switch ON - you get 2 more tonal options:

• Position one: bridge pickup only
• Position two: bridge and neck pickups in parallel and out of phase (thinner / hollower tone)
• Position three: neck pickup only
• Position four: neck and bridge pickups in series and out of phase (thinner / hollower tone)

I hope this answers some of the questions regarding S1 switching and what it actually does on some popular models with the S-1 Switch fitted.