Strat wiring

[DocNrock]

OK, my W parts arrived for my custom strat and I've been thinking about wiring options.  I'm not really into redundancy, so two tone controls doesn't really make much sense to me.

I've run across a couple of other options that I've found intriguing, however.  I'm wondering if others have any experience with them. 

One of them is the "Fralin Blender," where the third tone control is essentially an independent volume control for the neck pickup.  That way, the neck pickup could be mixed into all combinations of pickups, including all three at one time.

The other is the "Voodoo" wiring, where the second tone is replaced with an aftermarket circuit mounted on a pot that serves as a midrange cut or boost.  The would be my first choice, except the site says the effect is less pronounced with humbuckers, and I'm putting in single coill sized humbuckers (Duncan hot, vintage, and cool rails).

Has anyone tried any of these two modifications, and if so, how do you like them?


:rock-on:

 

[taez555]

When I originally re-wired my strat I did the "blender" option with the second tone knob, just cuz it didn't require any added switches at the time.  I could just move a couple wires and get a cool effect.  Anyway, I loved the ability to activatve all 3 pickups, or combinations of so much I've wired all my guitars since then with the option... but...... I stopped using the pot.  I found I either used it all on, or all off, and simply replaced it with an on/off switch.  Much easier to kick in when playing, rather than rotating a pot through hardly noticable subtle sound changes.

erik

 

[tfarny]

Same as taez, adding a switch to turn on the neck pup gives you very usable new sounds. A blender sounds like a pain. I've got a miniswitch in my new strat , it works great. I've set it up to turn on the bridge, but it's the same effect in the end.
These are both things you can get on factory fenders - 7 way switching and the "tbx" tone control.
Other people put in that black ice thing (check stew mac) or a whole preamp and a gain knob.

 

[chuck7]

You could get both the mid cut/boost and the ability to mix in the bridge by using a push/pull pot on the rear most tone knob, and it so that the pot does the mid cut/boost and the push/pull hard wires the bridge pickup into the mix.

 

[ironiguana]

I am getting ready to do a hotrails/coolrails/coolrails setup that is pretty cool.  Got the idea from a wiring genious named artie off the seymour duncan website.  Everything is hum-cancelling.

Positions:

1- Neck HB
2- Neck HB split and Middle HB split
3- Middle HB
4- Bridge HB split and Middle HB split
5- Bridge HB

Push-Pull on Bridge tone to turn on Bridge PU.  It also disconnects bridge tone control when pulled.  This gives it a no-load tone control in position 5 (another tone) and keeps dual tone control off all pups when engaged in other positions.

Push-pull on Neck/Middle tone control to put neck Coolrails in parallel.  The coolrails in parallel is a very popular tone on the SD website.

Not sure if this exact diagram will work with the vintage rails in the middle, but you may be able to tweak it.

 

[tfarny]

Also check out the megaswitches on the stew mac site - they have some nice options that don't require a degree in electrical engineering. Personally I don't like TOO many separate controls, and if it's not 'useful' I dont want it.

 

[DocNrock]

Thanks for the suggestion there, Iron Iguana.  I may have to consider that one.  I also noticed that was your first post.  I'm kind of new here myself, but welcome.

 

[DocNrock]

Personally I don't like TOO many separate controls, and if it's not 'useful' I dont want it.

Exactly.  Just for the cosmetic features, I'm leaving additional switches out.  I might consider push-pull pots down the road, as I've seen some cool wiring mods based upon these.  Thanks for all the thoughts above.  This website is an awesome resource for building a custom, and for the comraderie between those of us driven to such a project. 

So here are a few things I learned yesterday when doing the wiring.  Firstly, I had misread elsewhere how the two separate tone controls work in standard Strat wiring.  I now understand they function separately and dedicated to the middle and neck pickups respectively.  That actually works for me.  The thing that I like about this is that the bridge is "hard wired" without a tone control load.  I do like that, as well.  As such, I decided to go with standard Strat wiring, to start anyway.  With the vintage rails, I can't really do Iron Iguana's idea, since it doesn't have the coil tapping options that the hot and cool rails pups have, even though it is a 4-conductor pup.  At least I'll have the standard wiring to start with, and can modify later if I find tonal variety lacking. 

I also now understand the value of conductive paint, and have ordered some from StewMac.  I also ordered a copper shield for the underside of the pickguard.

Here is something else that I learned yesterday.  I started my planning knowing that the rails series of pickups are true humbuckers in a single-coil sized package.  That said, I ordered standard humbucker fare:  RS 500k pots and a 0.022 uf cap.  When I opened the boxes for the pups, it looks like Seymour Duncan had something else in mind.  Apparently, they figured the majority of these would be used as replacement pickups in Strats and tweaked their tonality profiles accordingly.  Therefore, their wiring diagrams show 250k pots and a 0.047 uf cap.  I don't mind the fact that the 500/0.022 combo will make the guitar brighter, but I suspect I'd lose bottom end punch.  That said, time for a new order from RS.  Oh well, I guess yesterday's exercise in wiring was just a dry run.  Good thing that neck is still a few weeks out.

:rock-on:

 

[ironiguana]

Don't give up on those 500k pots yet.  Try them first.  I personally have 250k pots and I like the way they sound but many people on the seymour duncan website use 500k's for the "rails".  The idea is that you can always turn down the 500k's if they are too bright but you can't make a 250k brighter.  Might save you a few bucks for the reorder.

 

[DocNrock]

Ironiguana, thanks again for posting that schematic.  It is giving me an idea for another possible project.