Just a couple of wiring questions

[Archie Macfarlane]

So I recently got myself a soldering iron kit and wanted to May experiment on one of my guitars before I put together a long procrastinated build,

Is possible for a Stratocasters blade switch to switch in and out a 50's style tone control? So for example have it active on just the bridge pickup?

I ask because the way a 50's tone control is on the output lug of your volume (comes after vol) so can a 5 way blade switch bypass this control when not in the bridge position? Or would that control have to be on all the time not a big deal

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

You can convert the strat dual tone wiring to work as 50s wired with a standard 5-way blade and choose which tone is active in bridge / middle / neck positions. However it will be more difficult if you want to switch between 50s tone control and the standard wiring. You would need to use a 4-pole super switch if you want to have both types of tone control.

 

[Archie Macfarlane]

Okay, so it sounds like 50s wiring would mean that the tone controls would be assigned to different positions on the 5 way, but probably not 2 tones activated at the same time given they load the output lug of the volume,

Could I have one modern wiring ( coil loading) tone and one 50s wired(output loading) tone and activate either in different positions on a 5 way blade?

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

There is a possible “trick” to avoid the double loading, when having dual tone controls on a strat. It is achieved by using all 3 lugs on the tone pot - I can draw a diagram if you are interested.

Before going further, I want to ask why you like 50s wiring. IMO, this is normally for Gi*son players who ended up with a really dark sounding guitar. I tried it before and found the interaction between tone and volume settings to be frustrating. I’d suggest trying a treble bleed circuit. By nature of using 250k volume control, strat guitars don’t suffer as much of the treble loss as humbucker guitars with 500k controls. I’m also curious what pickups you intend to fit.

 

[Hodgo]

There is a possible “trick” to avoid the double loading, when having dual tone controls on a strat. It is achieved by using all 3 lugs on the tone pot - I can draw a diagram if you are interested.

Before going further, I want to ask why you like 50s wiring. IMO, this is normally for Gi*son players who ended up with a really dark sounding guitar. I tried it before and found the interaction between tone and volume settings to be frustrating. I’d suggest trying a treble bleed circuit. By nature of using 250k volume control, strat guitars don’t suffer as much of the treble loss as humbucker guitars with 500k controls. I’m also curious what pickups you intend to fit.

…why did you censor Gibson?

OP - totally doable but you’ll need a superswitch. Wire the output of lug one from the tone control for the bridge to a common lug, then wire the signal output (vol pot middle lug) on the volume to all positions you want 50s wiring on.

Easier to do with just a push pull or SPDT mini toggle.

 

[Archie Macfarlane]

…why did you censor Gibson?

OP - totally doable but you’ll need a superswitch. Wire the output of lug one from the tone control for the bridge to a common lug, then wire the signal output (vol pot middle lug) on the volume to all positions you want 50s wiring on.

Easier to do with just a push pull or SPDT mini toggle.

Thanks hodgo yeah 50s wiring undoes the tones effect as you turn down it's an alternative to a treble bleed sort of and I can just have a master 50s tone And an auxiliary tone controlled by the switch if need be