Strat Wiring / Any Suggestions? / Rate My Setup

[NotImpressedBro]

I discovered this forum this week, and it's something I have needed for a while.  There is a wealth of knowledge that is so valuable.  I apologize for the volume of my recent posts - I am merely trying to use this forum to further my knowledge and improve my guitars.

I've been rocking this wiring job for about 2 months now, and It's been modified four or five times to land where it is.  It was originally Fender Custom Shop Texas Specials, and now it's all Dimarzio pickups.  I love the tones I get out of this guitar, and I don't have any qualms with the setup.  I'm just wondering, since I did this 100% by myself, is there something wonky here that I don't realize? Is it missing something?

I already know that the treble bleed mod goes on the volume, but I actually put it there last.  I originally wired in a Fender TBX potentiometer on another build and it resulted in just my bridge and middle pickup having a very gradual tone adjustment, while the neck was abrupt and muddy when turned low.  Therefore, I wired in two so all my pickups would enjoy that gradual tone adjustment.  This makes fuzz a lot of fun, since it reacts so nicely to different levels of tone.  THEN I read that the treble bleed is meant for the volume.  So, when I ordered my pickups from Dimarzio, I ordered a 500K Potentiometer with a high-pass filter pre-wired.  That's how I landed here.

I will lastly add that when I initially wired the bridge pickup here (Dimarzio Cruiser Bridge) it was super nasally and weak.  I researched and found that it was most likely out of phase so I swapped the ground and hot.  This solved the issue, and now my pickups sound awesome.  I get a slight amount of hum (very slight) from the bridge and bridge/middle positions.  Less hum than my tele with noiseless pickups.  Anyways, I'm hoping someone with a bunch of experience can look at my wiring job and let me know if / how I can make it better.  Thanks folks, this forum is a gold mine.

 

[mayfly]

Well, The wiring looks neat and well soldered.  I'd say, if it sounds good, then publish the schematic so others can try the 'NotImpressedBro' strat wiring style!

 

[justsomeguy1]

May I ask what the purpose of the extra copper strip between neck and middle pickup is?

 

[NotImpressedBro]

@justsomeguy1

Of course! I had tape there to hold my wires in place when it was wired with Fender Custom Shop Texas Specials.  A strip of tape just keeps it organized and prevents my wires from getting in the way when I seat the pickguard down.  When I took those pickups out, the tape ripped off the shielding in that spot.  So I put that little strip there like a little patch.  That's all.

The picture of what the old wiring looked like is below for reference.

 

[ejm]

5-21-2021

One mod that I do is to get the B+N, without adding any switches/blenders/etc.
The catch: You need to give up either the N+M or the M+B.
If you can live without one of them...........

On the 5 way, with the wires coming from the pups, swap either the B and M, or the N and M.
You seem like you know your way around the innards, so I'll leave it to you to figure out.

This will give you
N
N+B
B
B+M
M

or

M
M+N
N
N+B
B

Then, if you look at the other "side" or "half" of the switch, you can move those wires to put the tone controls where you want them.

I do have push-pull switches on the pots of a couple of Strats that will also give me all 3 pups, but to be honest I never use that combination.