Hi, Jacob ... if anyone is curious about the five switches on the guitar, I may be able to answer that question in detail for you.
When I saw your post about this guitar I called and talked with Junior Knight about it and he recalls that when he ordered that guitar he'd asked Del Mullen to wire the switches
exactly like Gary Hogue's original 1986 Mullen was (which is the guitar I currently have).
I used your photo of the five switches to illustrate their functions:
If these are indeed wired exactly like my Gary Hogue Mullen, the switches operate the pickups as thus:
1. E9th/C6th Bank Switch: A three position switch that when thrown left turns on the E9th neck, when thrown right turns on the C6th neck and when set in the center position turns on both necks.
2. E9th Pickups 1, 2 or Both: A three position switch that when thrown right turns on the main E9th pickup closest to the changer, when thrown left turns on the secondary E9th pickup closest to the fret board and when set in center position turns on both E9th pickups.
3. C6th Pickups 1, 2 or Both: A three position switch that when thrown right turns on the main C6th pickup closest to the changer, when thrown left turns on the secondary C6th pickup closest to the fret board and when set in center position turns on both C6th pickups.
4. E9th Phase Switch: A two position switch that when thrown left keeps the E9th pickups in normal phase when they're both turned on, but when thrown right puts the E9th pickups out of phase to create an interesting tone that has a sort of Dobro-like quality to it. For the In/Out phase switch to work, both E9th pickups need to be turned on.
5. C6th Phase Switch: A two position switch that when thrown left keeps the C6th pickups in normal phase when they're both turned on, but when thrown right puts the C6th pickups out of phase to create an interesting tone that has a sort of Dobro-like quality to it. For the In/Out phase switch to work, both C6th pickups need to be turned on.
I mention the switch operations specifically because the wiring job on Gary's guitar was a "custom" wiring job on the five switches. So far as I know, there are only three of the dual pickup Mullen guitars that have this particular 5-switch wiring setup ... my current 1986 Mullen guitar, the 1990 Mullen that I used to have in which I ordered the wiring set up like Gary Hogue's, and now this black guitar of yours that Junior had ordered that way. There may be others with this wiring setup, but I'm unaware of them if there are.
So far, I've seen a few dual-pickup Mullen guitars and, from what I understand, the "factory setup" 5-switch Mullen guitars differ in this way: switches 1 and 2 are the only three-position switches and switches 3, 4 and 5 are two-position switches ... the first three-position switch banks between the necks. The next switch (another three-position) switches the E9th
and C6th pickups individually or together. The third switch (two-position) taps the E9th coils from dual to single, the fourth switch (two-position) taps the C6th coils from dual to single and the 5th switch (two-position) throws the whole pickup arrangement in and out of phase.
Seeing the pickup configuration in your guitar, I'm inclined to think that your 5 switches are wired like my Gary Hogue setup.
By the way, the George-L pickup that replaced the primary stock E9th pickup looks, as best as I can make out, to be a George-L E-66 pickup.
Hope this helps.
On a side note, if I could afford another steel, I'd be making an offer on that guitar in a New York second. Whoever is lucky enough to get that guitar is going to have a really fine instrument!
