Series and parallel wiring is also a pretty common mod. I just want a good solo tone, and a good rhythm tone. This is part 1 of a 2part series on reversing pickup polarity. Back in 2011, fender custom shop released a david gilmour model that used his 7way wiring and a recessed mini switch positioned between the volume and tone controls of the guitar.
Now, a strat is an easy thing to tinker with, and so i set about changing the pickups. It performs brilliantly in a strat, and imho its benefits vastly more blendedpickup options plus a musical and intuitive control layout for outweigh the costs loss of the middlepickupalone setting, cost of a 3way switch. As always, you can use an additional mini toggle dpdt switch for this mod. Although ive got tons of ideas for greatsounding mods that can be fairly complex just check out. Dan armstrong devised a parallelseries wiring mod for strats that uses the middle tone control as a blendermixer. Jun 16, 2019 back in 2011, fender custom shop released a david gilmour model that used his 7way wiring and a recessed mini switch positioned between the volume and tone controls of the guitar. Seriesparallel stratocaster wiring mod series parallel. The two new pickup combinations are 1 neckbridge and 2 all three pickups engaged simultaneously in parallel. Ungroundreground the metal cover troubleshooting techniques how can i test this mess. The series sound will only work if the 5 way pickup switch is in positions 1, 3 or 5.
Extra tones from single coil guitars sound on sound. Upgrading your pots and wiring can have as dramatic an impact on tone as swapping out pickups. I get tons of questions and emails about strat tone mods. There are many switching modifications for 3 coil guitars. Heavily modified and experimented on since he first spotted it at mannys music in new york city in may 1970, david gilmours black stratocaster has become the stuff of legend among guitarists and diehard pink floyd fans. May mod of the month series parallel humbucker wiring all of our humbuckers are wired in series which means, the output of one coil is going into the input of another. It has a series parallel switch, neckon switch and passive midrange control. The guitar at top is a fender ritchie blackmore stratocaster. Guitars with one humbucker and two single coils always seem to be a compromise. The neck and bridge on setting is very similar to a telecasters middle position, which is something a strat wont. My guitar tech passed on a wiring diagram to me today and im wondering if anyone has tried it.
Over the past 30 years, hes developed quite a few mods that take the strat to the next level, without getting too technical and crazy. Strat mod for a youtube video of this mod, click here. I also revisited the strat version of the nashvillestyle tele wiring popularized by brent mason and other music city cats. Guitar wiring, guitar rewiring, electric guitar, guitar pickups, 3 single coils wired in series parallel. For those in the know, the blender pot is one of the most potent mods you can make to your strat. Pickup wiring mod for my squier cv 60s strat as shown in this thread, a mod i like very much uses a single dpdt pushpull switch to enable you to add the bridge pickup in series with any of the other three pickup combos middle, middleneck, or neck. In the vast majority of guitars, including strats when pickups are connected together. A lot of players like to engage the series connection for guitar solos. This means that the super strat switching will be somewhat more expensive, require much more wiring and take up a lot more space. Neck and middle in parallel ran in series with bridge position 1.
This is not an oversight this was was deliberately designed this way by leo fender himself. Most pushpull and pushpush pots include a dpdt switch, so this shouldnt be a problem. They cover very different ground in terms of tone, the strat reigns supreme for crisp, bright, clear tones while the les paul has a heavier, fatter, punchier sound. Hey fellow guitarists, its time for another cool mod. How to get bridge pickup tone control on a stratocaster. Strat style guitar wiring diagram with three single coils, 5way lever switch, 1 volume, 2 tones. Of p90 pickups, les pauls, and treblebleed circuit mods. Upgrade your strat or similar model with this high quality wiring kit.
Hsh wiring mod to hhsss the fender stratocaster and the gibson les paul are two guitars that never have and never will fall out of favour. The most popular use of the pushpull pot is for coil splitting, and for good reason. Series wiring in pos 2 and 4 on a strat telecaster guitar forum. My favorite strat seriesswitching scheme only uses one normal dpdt switch and only affects the dualpickup positions. With the s1 switch up, the 5 pickup selection choices are standard strat switching. Rothstein guitars serious tone for the serious player. In this video we walk you through from start to finish the process of changing a passive set of guitar pickups. Pure vintage 250k solid shaft potentiometer volume or tone 14 2conductor guitar output jack. Guitar wiring, guitar rewiring, treble bleed capacitor, electric guitar, guitar pickups, guitar volume control, guitar tone control. One minor downside with stock stratocaster wiring is that the bridge pickup has no tone control. This time ill go over adding 1 switch to your guitar to gain three different series parallel combinations to. Strat bridge tone control wiring mod six string supplies. Its a hss strat with the standard wiring in it, 5way switch and 250k pots volume and 2 tone controls. Do you have a guitar with 3 single coils, sometimes referred to as a strat type guitar.
Mar 08, 2014 guitars with one humbucker and two single coils always seem to be a compromise. What are your favoritemust have wiring schemes for strats and why. Jul 19, 20 moving a few jumper wires on the lugs of your 5way switch has been by far the cheapest, easiest mod yet. Modcon strat wiring mod telecasterishparallel sounds. Almost all electric guitars with more than one pickup produced today use parallel wiring in other words, both pickups have their own path to ground and path to the hot output, interupted or connected through the pickup selector switch in a series setup, the hot output of one pickup is the other pickups path to ground so the signal must flow through both pickups, one after the. Typical standard fender stratocaster guitar wiring with master volume plus 1 neck tone control and one middle pickup tone control.
But the pickups that came with ita pair of hot alnico3 single coils and a highoutput atomic ii humbuckerdidnt inspire me. Or maybe 4way for the extra series option and just bringing in the b hb via. Series wiring is one of the supreme challenges in strat modding, but you can do it. Very simple setup with lots of different combinations. The palladium gain stage effects pedal is the first.
I dont know if this is a common mod or not since im new to the strat world. Adding series switching to your strat premier guitar. Strat mods 2 vol 1 tone, seriesparallel guitarnutz 2. Or, if you adding series switching to your strat by dirk wacker dont want to alter the stock appearance of your strat, you can use a pushpull or push push pot of your choice. With the installation of a liberator, youll be able to effortlessly change pickups using only a screwdriver. My favorite strat seriesswitching scheme only uses one. A standard fender stratocaster, the black strat, as its affectionately known, came from the fender factory finished in. Or do you want series wiring instead of parallel wiring in positions 2 and 4. Tone 2 is a pushpull pot and functions as a master bass cut.
We also plan to fit a mini onoff switch between the hot wires of the neck and bridge pup the so called gilmore mod. Will these ukwired harnesses lend your les paul a new lease of life. My discussion is a bit different, as it primarily is about p90 equiped guitars, i do not recomend. The first thing youll notice is that the middle pickup looks weird. Wiring looks a bit complex around the volume pot but i think we will manage. Most guitarists have a fender strat, whether its a u. What is quack, anyway before you do a series or phase mod on a tele. And you can modify your strat to get the same tones. Strat with volume, tone, passive midrange and neckon switch aka rothstein guitars voodoo tone plus wiring 5 way switch with master volume, master tone, master passive midrange and neck on switch. Wiring diagram fender strat 5 way switch unique wiring possible with switch fender stratocaster guitar forum wiring diagram guitar, you might wish to select a lower or greater value because after all, its your guitar. For service diagrams for instruments currently in production, please visit the instrument listing on, scroll down a little and click on the support tab. Here is the control function b bridge pup, m middle pup, n neck pup. The first one shows the specific wiring and soldering points to be done. Assuming you start with strat style 5way switching, this simple mod adds two new pickup combos to the stock five, including the popular tele.
All in all you get a total of 9 pickup combinations. Dec 20, 2011 as always, you can use an additional mini toggle dpdt switch for this mod. Dan armstrong wiring mod fender stratocaster guitar forum. Of course, not all strats are equal, and some of us have probably thought about upgrading the parts on our nonu. Electronics free delivery possible on eligible purchases. Strat style wiring diagram with three single coils, 5way lever switch, 1 volume and 1 tone. You get lots of new wiring possibilities by adding the switch, but you dont have to drill a hole or rout new space in the wiring cavity. Therefore, if you plug into your guitar and you receive absolut.
For the ultimate in tone and reliability you need quality components. Whenever two or more pickup coils are involved, they are either working in series or parallel. Squier by fender affinity series stratocaster electric guitar laurel fingerboard surf green. A pushpull pot is a standard control pot with an onon mini switch added to it. Give your fender stratocaster the gilmour mod with 7way. A friend has just bought a second hand usa strat for a good price. If you are thinking of replacing the pickups to get more sounds from your guitar, there is another, less costly solution. The hss which stands for humbuckersinglesingle pickup configuration gained popularity in the 80s, much like everyones favorite haircut, the mullet. A strat is a great guitar to mod because there are so many things you can do to it. I have a mini toggle switch on my strat, which makes me get this bridgemiddle series tone.
So for our build we changed the tone pot from 250 to 500k, which was fine and as shown in the sketch. Feb 16, 2015 tone 1 is set up as a master tone knob. Strat style guitar with a single master tone control. If you start researching your guitars wiring mod options, youll quickly find yourself down the rabbit hole. But it will give you seven pickup combinations instead of the standard five.
This popular strat wiring mod allows you to play all 3 pickups sumultaneously as well as the neck and bridge in series together. Strat ssm3 seriesparallel for sss, with one new switch. Moving a few jumper wires on the lugs of your 5way switch has been by far the cheapest, easiest mod yet. Modifications to an existing fender instrument currently under warranty, or service performed on a fender instrument currently under warranty by any person other than. Youll need a 4conductor pickup if youre going to try this mod. I normally stay in position 3 in the middle, which is all 3 pickups in series, ie. Strat diagrams rothstein guitars serious tone for the. The simplicity of this qualifies this mod to make this the best easy strat wiring. Two tone controls and the one furthest away from me does not follow logic and does not control the bridge pickup. The first tone pot is a low pass filter, like you will find on just about any guitar. Hello and welcome to this expanded take on my usual mod garage madness.
Five great fender strat mods anyone can make guitar world. Much of my wiring mod relies on the doublepole switch, which isolates the circuits on both sides normal 3day wiring doesnt really take advantage of the switch in the same way. The squier bullet strat seen above, while cheap, is the best lowcost traditional strat you can buy. I find the stock wiring gives me a lot of tonal options, but i dont need all that switching. All it takes is some simple work with a soldering iron. In this and next months column, well explore parallel series pickup switching schemes for the singlecoil pickups in your strat. Although all the wiring may look daunting, modding your strat or other singlecoil guitar to give a wider range of tonal options is really quite simple. This time ill go over adding 1 switch to your guitar to gain three different seriesparallel. Here are 25 ways to make your fender stratocaster play and sound better than ever before and some of them wont cost you a penny.
Makes the middle tone a master and lower tone becomes a fader with some interesting series parallel combos. Below you will find our voodoo tone monster strat wiring that combines several of the aforementioned mods. Just like the mod above only without the series connection. Changing to a master tone arrangement is a simple modification that balances the treble response of the pickups and frees up the second tone control for trick wiring.
The control knob looks and works the same as ever, but pushpulling it operates the switch. For many players the wonderful sound of the strat is defined by the sound of the neck and middle single coils, and that quacky sound of them both played together, in parallel. A pickup wired in series will send its signal into another pickup in the signal chain, affecting the overall tone and output. Here is the control function, followed by the complete diagram. Im just going to cover a couple options that will impact two big pools of guitarists. Oct 04, 2014 you want normal 5way strat switching with the option for either series or parallel wiring in positions 2 and 4. This explains why all humbuckers sound big, bold, and beefy. For those who want to tinker, even more, our halfblender wiring. Wiring an import 5 way switch with images stratocaster. Buy 920d custom s5wkit 5way wiring kit for sstyle guitars. This simple mod will keep all of your strat controls as they are and keep your stock wiring. How to beef up your strat tone a simple wiring mod tutorial. Ive encountered other strat mod schematic designs that incorporate a middle pickup blend both in series and in parallel. How to do this mod is to solder in one small wire from the open terminal on the 5way selector to the terminal right next to it.
Looking for the coolest, simplest mods for your strat, tele, les paul, or super strat. Series parallel stratocaster wiring mod heres another breja toneworks diy wiring mod. A 4conductor humbucking pickup consists of two pickup coils connected by a series link. The contents of this diagram in whole or part are ed and published for. Wiring diagram fender strat 5 way switch new hsh wiring. Ive talked about strat mods before but i figured it was time to talk about mods for this very specific guitar.
Have you ever wanted to make a les paul sound like a strat. Johnhs dual sound strat does series parallel with blending in series, and with some oop capabilities. This is an easy mod and can be done by soldering a few wires, will take about an hour from start to finish. The guitar has a 5 way switch like a strat, a pushpull volume control, and the tone control is now a 5 way rotary switch.
At fralin pickups, nobody loves tinkering with wiring options more than lindy himself. Im thinking of going with a variation of the memphis wiring scheme but came across your video. However, some mods are good while others are notso good. This is a common modification used to free up the second tone pot location for an additional switch or optional control. This mod enables you to add the bridge pickup in parallel to the neck pickup or the neckmiddle combo. Strat diagrams serious tone for the serious player. There is also a ssh version which splits the hb coils. Not all guitar and bass electronics are created equal.
He is not that keen on the stock noiseless pups so has splashed out on some bareknuclke apaches which we are about to wire in. Im just about to rewire my strat and i would like something with something more functional than my current stock wiring. The signal, having to travel a greater distance, experiences more resistance, thus getting bigger and beefier as a result. How to beef up your strat tone a simple wiring mod tutorial discussion in stratocaster discussion forum started by vguitars, aug 19, 2012.
The final thing i want to do is a couple of wiring mods. Here were going to tackle my favorite mods for the four most common electric guitarsthe fender stratocaster and telecaster, the gibson les paul, and hardrock and metalfriendly super strats of various makes. Heres a way to get those 3 additions plus 1 more by adding a single toggle switch to the standard 5way strat wiring total of 9 choices. Stock strat pickups are balanced, but the stock circuit isnt, as only the neck and middle pickups bleed treble through the tone circuit. The simplicity of this qualifies this mod to make this the best easy strat wiring mod. Now its almost a completely new guitar, because of all the modding ive done.
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