Another Cool Strat Pickup Wiring Mod....

[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.