You can do this with Les Paul's, of course, and with any guitar, that has two pickups, with a separate volume control for each. Same goes for guitars with mini on-off switches for each pickup. However, there are many guitars, single pickups, or with only a single master volume control etc. that you cannot use this neat little trick/effect. In my experience, more guitars than not, are incapable of this type of switching. My new Kramer Stagemaster acquisition, for example, cannot do this. Rather than modify my guitars, I decided to make my own pedal, to place in-line, with the guitar input cable, to accomplish this. Basically I used a DIY pedal chassis from Pedal Parts Plus
http://www.pedalpartsplus.com/
Their products are great quality, feature standard or customized powder-coating, and the prices are extremely reasonable. They had super-fast shipping, as a nice bonus. I bought a small pedal box, similar to a classic MXR effects box in size and shape. I had it powder-coated, in copper vein, as it looked really cool. I also purchased two Switchcraft input jacks. Basically I will have one 1/4" input, one 1/4" output, and a standard 3-way switch, in line to shut off the connection, between the two. The 3-way switch, I had on hand, from the new Charvel San Dimas series guitars. The wiring is simple; the hot wires are connected to two lugs, on the three way, the grounds are connected together, and to the final lug on the 3-way, to ground out the signal.
Here is the completed 'Kill Switch' pedal:
I rigged up the switch, near the input, on my amplifier. I used industrial Velcro tape, to mount it. I also used a cheap 1' input cable, that I had, on hand. I will be upgrading to a proper, Monster Cable, as soon as it arrives!
It is painfully simple, and it works great! I know it is a bit 'low tech' but sometimes the most simplistic, shade-tree engineered products work the best!
