"Practical" SSS Strat wiring?

[Rickgrxbass]

Well, I've gone and done it. I've got a nice Strat body from eBay, a brand-spankin' new neck from the Showcase (Hopefully they'll get it fretted soon), and various other gubbins from other places, as per usual.

Since this is going to be my first "conventional" Strat, I'm wondering what everyone else has found to be the most practical way to wire it up. I'm leaning towards having a master volume, master tone, and typical 5-way switching, with a bypass for the bridge for the "all 7 combos" option. If I find the right size switch, that won't leave me with any extra holes in the standard pickguard, and it won't be as busy as having three mini-switches and whatnot.

Sound like a plan, or does someone have a better idea?  :toothy12:

 

[line6man]

That's the way guitars should be wired. There is no use having interacting tone controls unless you like them at different settings when switching between them.

What is a "bypass for the bridge," however? Do you mean a switch to shunt the neck and bridge pickups? That's the opposite of bypassing.

 

[Rickgrxbass]

That's the way guitars should be wired. There is no use having interacting tone controls unless you like them at different settings when switching between them.

What is a "bypass for the bridge," however? Do you mean a switch to shunt the neck and bridge pickups? That's the opposite of bypassing.

er, yeah, an un-bypass. Or a switch to bypass the pickup's offness. A switch to turn the bridge pickup "on" when the blade is in positions 1 and 2 (and, well, 3, but that'd be the same as position 4...).

 

[line6man]

That's the way guitars should be wired. There is no use having interacting tone controls unless you like them at different settings when switching between them.

What is a "bypass for the bridge," however? Do you mean a switch to shunt the neck and bridge pickups? That's the opposite of bypassing.

er, yeah, an un-bypass. Or a switch to bypass the pickup's offness. A switch to turn the bridge pickup "on" when the blade is in positions 1 and 2 (and, well, 3, but that'd be the same as position 4...).

The switch allows the neck and bridge to run parallel in all positions except three. One and five are neck and bridge, two and four are all coils parallel, and three is middle.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

There is also a 1-5 blend knob.  So you have the master vol and tone, with a blend as tone 2.  Callaham does things this way.  I am unsure of if he does anything goofy with the part, but it is fun to play with.  It also lets you vary the amount of treble/bass which can be nice if you are going after a certain style of sound.
Patrick

 

[Cagey]

I haven't found the ability to mix the bridge pickup with the neck to hold much attraction. Might just be the pickups I've chosen, though.

So, the way I like my Strats wired now is with just the 5-way blade switch wired the traditional way and a single volume and tone control, and I'm not sure why I put the tone control in there. Probably for "just in case". I do put bypass caps on the volume controls now - that's a no-brainer. Plus, I always use 500K log taper pots.

It's all very predictable, reliable and simple. Never have to think about it.

Y'know - you don't have to have three potholes in your pickguard. Warmoth's pricing on new pickguards it pretty reasonable, and you can pick and choose how many controls you have and how they're laid out. So, don't feel like you have to find a way to use an extra hole up.

 

[line6man]

There is also a 1-5 blend knob.  So you have the master vol and tone, with a blend as tone 2.  Callaham does things this way.  I am unsure of if he does anything goofy with the part, but it is fun to play with.  It also lets you vary the amount of treble/bass which can be nice if you are going after a certain style of sound.
Patrick

The problem with blend pots is that you end up varying the input impedance against the pickups as you adjust the control, giving a variable impedance loading effect that most do not find desirable. You also drop the output impedance with additional resistive loading parallel to the signal path, shifting the resonant frequency down a bit. Additionally, if there are noticeable insertion loss issues between pickups, the functionality of the blend pot will be compromised, as you start to hear the pickups "fight with each other," so to speak.

Though I've heard good things about leaving the grounds off of blend pots, such to only introduce a series resistance between one pickup and the output, as the control adjusts to either side. That could be useful.

 

[ezas]

I haven't found the ability to mix the bridge pickup with the neck to hold much attraction. Might just be the pickups I've chosen, though.

So, the way I like my Strats wired now is with just the 5-way blade switch wired the traditional way and a single volume and tone control, and I'm not sure why I put the tone control in there. Probably for "just in case". I do put bypass caps on the volume controls now - that's a no-brainer. Plus, I always use 500K log taper pots.

It's all very predictable, reliable and simple. Never have to think about it.

Y'know - you don't have to have three potholes in your pickguard. Warmoth's pricing on new pickguards it pretty reasonable, and you can pick and choose how many controls you have and how they're laid out. So, don't feel like you have to find a way to use an extra hole up.

This

I run a 300k Master Volume with treble bleed (cap and resistor in series) and a Master no-load Tone pot with a .01uF cap, and a 5-way switch.

I tweak my PUs to get a distinct sound from each one, and that sound good in the in-between position. I use my 5-way to tweak the sound more than anything else.

I do have a series switch planned for the bridge-middle combo planned for the future, it just hasn't made it to the top of the to-do list.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Though I've heard good things about leaving the grounds off of blend pots, such to only introduce a series resistance between one pickup and the output, as the control adjusts to either side. That could be useful.

I am guessing that this is what Callaham's method is.  It is advertised as, "This is a true no load pot."  It only has two wires going to it as well.  I have one, and it doesn't muck up the sound.  It is nice to add a little of the neck's ballsy tone with the attack of the bridge.
Patrick

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Master tone is fine, you're right.

I've done the "extra two positions" mod a few times on different guitars, usually with a push/pull pot. I never use it. My advice is to simply not bother. You could either put an unwired pot in the 3rd position to make it look like a "conventional" Strat, or you could have the two separate tones (I actually quite like this), or you could get a PG made up with just two controls.

Or you could do something crazy like put a mid boost on that third control.

 

[taez555]

That's the way I wired my MIM fender strat before I built my Warmoth...

I went down to radio shack and got an on/on switch, ditched the back tone pot, rewired the tone to be a master tone, and wired up the bridge humbucker so that it would engage at any time.  It ends up giving you the Bridge and Neck together, then ALL THREE together (the most scooped strat tone you'll ever hear, imo)

I eventually wired it with a series/parallel/single coil mini switch to give it 15 PU combinations, but it started off with just the 7 you mentioned.  And I gotta agree with line6man... it's really the way strats should be wired.

I actually used this guitar as the prototype for my Warmoth.  But I took it one step further with switches(3 minis AND the 5 way) for a total of 31 PU combinations. 

 

[Rickgrxbass]

A mid-boost is oddly tempting, maybe even something off-the-wall like a GFS's MODboard  :icon_scratch:

31 combos might be "too much". The reason I was leaning towards the 7-combo mod was mostly because I've got that option on a Dano bass, and it seems pretty useful.

I laboured long and hard about getting the pickguard drilled for 2 or 3 knobs, and opted for 3. Worse comes to absolute worst I'll stick a dummy pot in it. Or maybe I'll rig up a status LED  :laughing7:

 

[taez555]

I laboured long and hard about getting the pickguard drilled for 2 or 3 knobs, and opted for 3. Worse comes to absolute worst I'll stick a dummy pot in it. Or maybe I'll rig up a status LED  :laughing7:

Just cuz you have the 3rd hole doesn't mean you have to use it for a tone or dummy pot. You can always put in a rotary switch and do some crazy wiring all the while still looking like it's just a regular third knob.  ;-)

 

[Dan025]

I laboured long and hard about getting the pickguard drilled for 2 or 3 knobs, and opted for 3. Worse comes to absolute worst I'll stick a dummy pot in it. Or maybe I'll rig up a status LED  :laughing7:

Just cuz you have the 3rd hole doesn't mean you have to use it for a tone or dummy pot. You can always put in a rotary switch and do some crazy wiring all the while still looking like it's just a regular third knob.  ;-)

or cover it with electrical tape like mully and win gom?

as far as wiring a strat leo fender had it almost right. the "all 7" option is cool i guess but might be better for a strat/tele hybrid in situations you want to emulate a telecaster. but you need the telecaster pickup angle and iron base plate to really get that sound.  the standard 5 is really plenty of variation. also i'd stick to a fairly matched set of pups and not try to get too versitile with drastically different pups. the big differences usually just make the positions sound awkward against each other and you wind up using the selector less when you pick a favorite. a set of pickups that compliment each other on the other hand lets you pickup on the subtleties and you might want to experiment more with how the small differences in harmonic content inspire you to play something with a different feel. that's how i feel anyway. the tone control will add the versitility, not unusual pickup choices.

as far as tone controls, well 2 is ok either to give different parameters for the neck and bridge pickups to kinda fine tune each especially if you have a humbucker or something in the bridge. or if you want to set them differently so you can use the selector to make a quick switch from bright to fat but it's not generally considered a necessity. one tone is just fine. what ever you do find way to wire a tone to the bridge pup rather than just using the factory diagram. or make sure you select a bridge pup that isn't an icepick or otherwise obnoxious. i never used the bridge pup on my strat till i experimented with a number of different pickups and found something i could deal with. wiring up a tone to it helps immensely though if you dont particularly like the pickup.

 

[tfarny]

I want to suggest putting a series option on the guitar - to put the middle in series with whatever else is on, so you get a bridge bucker sound and neck bucker sound. if your pickups are vintage output this is likely to be a really useable and "different enough" sound that it's worthwhile. On my SSS strat I have the tone 2 disconnected, but if you pull it it becomes a HSH guitar. Looks stock, doesn't accidentally do anything weird, but provides extra and useable options. I don't have a schematic handy, but it's not too comlicated.