Luthiery Laboratories

The commonest form of pickup combination is parallel wiring. This is absolutely simple - a two-pole switch [OFF-BOTH-OFF] disconnects either of the pickups from the output. The [OFF-BOTH-OFF] switch is actually kind of a rare thing. You won't find one at the hardware store.

Parallel wiring is easily extended to more pickups, although three is usually the limit.

Parallel wiring causes the pickups to subtract from each other, resulting in a thinner sound that became known as 'quack' on a Stratocaster. There is another way of combining pickups that has the opposite effect - series wiring. Series wiring is harder to understand and is much less common in luthiery because let's face it, most luthiers aren't rocket scientists.