Deciphering an unusual Strat wiring/circuit

[tomssy]

A used Strat I bought comes with a fairly unusual wiring/circuit (for me anyway). What puzzles me the most is this mini transformer attached to the last pot. Any idea what it's there for?

 

[Cagey]

It's probably just an inductor as opposed to a transformer, but it's possible it's a transformer that the previous owner only used one winding of. Anyway, they're used to create low-pass filters.

The vast majority of guitar tone circuits are high-pass filters, configured in such a way as to pass high frequencies to ground rather than the output. They're very simple to create with just a resistor or potentiometer and a small capacitor. Low pass filters do the same thing, but at the lower frequencies. You just very rarely see them as inductors are expensive relative to capacitors.

 

[line6man]

This is not unusual at all. Not the most common mod, but people add inductors all the time.

 

[line6man]

Here's a Gibson Ripper schematic. What you usually do is place an inductor in series with a capacitor, and then put that in series with a pot, to vary the cut. The whole thing runs parallel to the signal path.

 

[crash]

I've got one on my Koa strat.  Works nicely when playing clean.  Basically, it sounds like removing windings from your pickups.  Can sound almost like a tele.

 

[tomssy]

After spending some time on Google, I found out where it came from.

http://www.guitar-mod.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=RG500D&Category_Code=

 

[mayfly]

Hmmm.  Neat. 

So - does it work as advertized?

 

[tomssy]

I didn't know what it's supposed to do until now. I haven't all the parts back so can't tell yet.

This mod is on the second tone pot. The first tone pot is a push-pull and in addition to that there is also a toggle switch. They're probably for some sort of extra wiring, neck+bridge etc. I need to spend more time looking at the wirings.