Another Cool Strat Pickup Wiring Mod....

[duhvoodooman***]

I've started down the path, opening up the Strat this weekend, diagraming all the current connections and then disconnecting and removing the volume and neck tone pots. I fit up a couple of 500K push/pull pots I had, to make sure there was enough room in the body cavity, and it's good to go. The 250K pots I need are on order from StewMac and should arrive sometime late in the week.

Here's a modification of my above diagram, where I integrated the DPDT switches with the pots, to give a more realistic idea of what the wiring will physically look like when done:

Attachment 541

[duhvoodooman***]

I completed the "Strat Lover's" pickup wiring mod a couple of nights ago and have been exploring the new tones for the past two days. Some pretty cool new sounds available. I've recorded some new clips for those interested in hearing the sonic impact of these changes. All are recorded through the clean channel of my Peavey Delta Blues with no effect other than a splash of reverb. The same couple of riffs are repeated in each clip for each different pickup combo, to keep the basis of comparison as constant as possible. Here are links to the three clips, which demonstrate the pickup combinations in the order listed below each link. There are no "bridge tones" or "middle-bridge tones" clips, because the mods don't add any new tones when the pickup selector is at either of those two positions. The three clips represent the other three positions of the 5-way selector switch:

Neck Tones Clip

1. Neck only (stock tone)
2. Neck (in-phase) and bridge in series
3. Neck (out-of-phase) and bridge in series

Middle Tones Clip

1. Middle only (stock tone)
2. Middle and bridge in series

Neck-Middle Tones Clip

1. Neck (in phase) and middle (stock tone)
2. Neck (in-phase) and middle, with bridge in series
3. Neck (out-of-phase) and middle, with bridge in series
4. Neck (out-of-phase) and middle (added 9/18)

EDIT 9/18/06: There's a 4th combo available from the neck-middle pickup pickup selector switch position that I forgot about the first time through, namely neck (out-of-phase) and middle. This one is very thin and nasal sounding, but I've added it to the original clip for the sake of completeness. The neck and middle pickup switch position has the two pickups in parallel, so the tone is thinner to begin with. Now, make the neck out-of-phase with the middle and the resulting tone becomes absolutely anorexic!

Thus, the wiring mods add a total of 6 new tones to the Strat's 5 stock tones. So far, the new ones I like the best are:

• Neck (in-phase) and bridge in series--kind of halfway between the Strat neck tone and a humbucker. Definitely warmer and fatter than stock Strat tones.
• Middle and bridge in series--John Atchley describes this as a "hot Strat quack", and that's right on the money. I'll use this often!
• Neck (out-of-phase) and bridge in series--the lower you go on the neck, the more hollow and nasal this sounds. Quite different; you wouldn't want to over-use it, but it's a cool tone to have on tap.

[Justaguyin_nc]

Neck Tones Clip

1. Neck only (stock tone)
2. Neck (in-phase) and bridge in series
3. Neck (out-of-phase) and bridge in series

[/LIST]

Thanks for the clips DVM... I was wondering what a Neck and Bridge sound like together... Fender came out with a Classic Player 50's Strat wired that way... seems pretty cool..but its like $800.00... http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ter?sku=512766

Would like to hold that 2 tone... just for a little while..

Designed by Fender Custom Shop Master Builder, Dennis Galuszka.

The Classic Player 50s Stratocaster guitar features an alder body, a maple neck with a 9.5 radius, 21 medium jumbo frets and Gotoh vintage-style locking tuning machines. 57/62 vintage-style single-coil pickups (reverse wound/reverse polarity middle pickup) with a 5-way switch and custom pickup switching offer distinct voicings, The electric guitar's custom 2-point vintage-style tremolo along with the Gotoh tuners let you whammy wildly while locking in your intonation.

Fender® Classic Player '50s Stratocaster Features:
Designed by Custom Shop Master Builder,
Dennis Galuszka
Alder body
Maple neck with a 9.5 radius
21 medium jumbo frets
Gotoh vintage-style locking tuning machines
57/62 vintage-style single-coil pickups (reverse wound/reverse polarity middle pickup)
Custom 2-point vintage-style tremolo
5-way switch and custom switching.

5-Position Blade:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup
Position 3. Middle Pickup
Position 4. Neck and Bridge Pickup
Position 5. Neck Pickup

Would this be about the same as this mod wiring?

[duhvoodooman***]

5-Position Blade:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup
Position 3. Middle Pickup
Position 4. Neck and Bridge Pickup
Position 5. Neck Pickup

Would this be about the same as this mod wiring?

Not really very comparable. This Classic Player 50's wiring adds the bridge & neck combo while dropping the neck & middle combo, so it's a substitution, not an addition. Personally, that seems like a nice tradeoff to me, since I find the neck-middle position to be the least useful of the 5 stock pickup choices. The bridge-neck should have more bite to it, I'd expect. One drawback is that it wouldn't be hum-cancelling, since the winding/polarity of the neck and bridge p'ups are the same.

Also, since you're still going through the 5-way switch and not using any special switch wiring, I would assume that the bridge & neck combo will have the two p'ups in parallel, as the 5-way Strat switch typically works. This will make for less power & fullness of tone than the "in series" combination you get from the wiring mod I did. You'd end up with more of that "quack" character to this pickup setting, I would think.

With the Strat Lover's wiring mod, you still get all 5 stock Strat tones plus 6 new ones, though a couple are of questionable usefulness. So it's a much more significant tonal upgrade, IMO, than what this Classic Player 50's wiring offers.