{"id":1076,"date":"2016-08-01T07:23:11","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T13:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mrguitar.net\/?p=1076"},"modified":"2017-05-12T21:50:08","modified_gmt":"2017-05-13T03:50:08","slug":"new-strat-wiring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mrguitar.net\/?p=1076","title":{"rendered":"New Strat Wiring"},"content":{"rendered":"
tl;dr<\/h6>\n

The following\u00a0combination of strat mods is simple to install\u00a0and greatly increases the tonal palette of the instrument IMO. This\u00a0requires giving up the traditional 3rd position (middle pickup), but that’s a small price to pay.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Tone knob assignment<\/strong> – Connect the first tone knob to the neck & middle pickups and dedicate the second one to the bridge pickup.<\/li>\n
  2. Super\u00a0switch<\/strong> – Replace the standard 5-way with\u00a0a super switch or 2-pole 5-way w\/ the following wiring: N, N+M, N+B, M+B, B \u00a0 This preserves all the “good” strat sounds and adds the “tele” middle sound.<\/li>\n
  3. Strangle Switch<\/strong> (aka high-pass filter) – Basically just a .003 capacitor on a push pull potentiometer. This will cut out low-end frequencies and make the guitar sound so funky.<\/li>\n
  4. Treble Bleed circut<\/strong> – Add a 560pf cap & 300k resistor to the volume pot to preserve tone while using the volume knob.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Update:<\/strong> <\/span>It’s worth noting that this is setup works well\u00a0w\/ some type of hum cancelling\u00a0pickups, e.g. Dimarzio Areas, any stacked single coil, Fralin noise cancelling system, etc. There’s no harm in doing this on a w\/\u00a0traditional single coil pickups, *but* the third position will not be hum cancelling like on a tele! If you do not care about that, and if you’re using traditional single coils there’ a good chance that you\u00a0don’t, then by all means proceed.<\/p>\n

    <\/h6>\n
    The\u00a0Motivation<\/h6>\n

    I recently\u00a0borrowed a friend’s Jaguar and really<\/strong> enjoyed some of the unique sounds that are possible\u00a0with the guitar. Of course this made me want to rush out and buy one almost immediately, but that’s not going to happen any time soon\u00a0considering I recently got\u00a0another Tom Anderson guitar. …..but\u00a0I’ve still been eyeballing the Johnny Marr signature model<\/a>. Anyway, this got\u00a0me wondering\u00a0if it was possible to add\u00a0some jaguar-ish tones to\u00a0my strat.<\/p>\n

    The Guitar<\/h6>\n

    \"tuxstrat\"<\/p>\n

    My strat is a Warmoth, Mary Kaye white parts-caster. I was inspired to put this together after listening to lots of John Frusciante’s playing on Blood Sugar Sex Magic. Coincidentally, he’s also a fan of Jaguars. I wanted\u00a0a\u00a0classic strat, but with a few modern improvements like locking tuners, stainless steel frets, compound radius fingerboard, etc. I was planning to use\u00a0Fralin or Lollar pickups, but I decided to take a chance on some Dimarzio Area pickups instead. ….best move ever! They’re inexpensive, completely silent, and sound incredible. The 58s are my favorite, and\u00a0I also enjoy the 61 in the bridge. These pickups worked out so well\u00a0that I ended up neglecting my\u00a0main Tom Anderson axe for about a year until I swapped it’s pickups w\/\u00a0Areas as well.<\/p>\n

    At first, the only change I made to the traditional strat wiring is with the tone knobs.\u00a0Strats traditionally connect the\u00a0first tone knob to the neck pickup and the second one to the middle. This is useless, as the bridge pickup needs a tone pot far more than the other two pickups. It’s simple to connect the first tone knob to the neck & middle pickups and dedicate the second one to the bridge pickup. This is perfect for me as I typically leave the N+M one wide open most of the time and the B one between 7-9. Legend has it Eric Johnson does something similar.<\/p>\n

    Tone Knobs are Underrated<\/h6>\n

    A lot of guitarist, dare I say most, ignore the tone knobs completely. I can understand that, especially with humbuckers, but players who do this are missing out on so much. Guitarists like Joe Bonamassa, Eric Johnson, Scott Henderson, all the way to Eric Clapton are heavy users of the guitar’s tone controls. Is it a coincidence that these guys are famous for their great tone? People! Let’s use these knobs!<\/p>\n

    So I mentioned earlier that I typically leave the bridge tone set between 7 & 9 depending on the amp and sound I’m going for. What really opened my eyes to the potential here was something I stumbled upon during a recording session a few years ago. I was going for an ambient melody sound w\/ medium gain & lots of delay. I found that using the 4th position,\u00a0bridge + middle, with the bridge tone control at 8 and the middle tone around 4 or 5 added a beautiful\u00a0warmth to the tone without sacrificing any clarity. This thick, complex sound works in so many settings and it’s impossible to get on guitars that only have\u00a0a master tone.<\/p>\n

    Jagging up the Strat<\/h6>\n

    The default strat wiring is brilliant except it lacks the N+B combination. Think middle position on a tele sound.\u00a0The most common way to add this to a strat is with a push\/pull pot to either add the bridge or neck pickup. This is often referred to as the 7 sound strat. It’s a great mod and I’ve used it for years on several guitars. The problem I have with it is the push\/pull pot is a bit out of the way. In fact, it’s so far out of the way that every guitar I’ve had with this configuration resulted in me pretty much never using the N+B setting.<\/p>\n

    You know what else I never use on strats? Position 3, with\u00a0just the middle pickup. It’s actually a really nice sound, and players like Stevie Ray\u00a0Vaughan used the middle pickup so much that some say that was his signature sound. That said, I just never hear a guitar part in my head and want to use the middle pickup to play it. Ever. …but I do want to use\u00a0the\u00a0bridge plus\u00a0neck\u00a0pickup on a regular basis.\u00a0I always associate this sound with a tele, but using both pickups simultaneously on a Jaguar is awesome.<\/p>\n

    The other thing I really dug about the Jag’s electronics is the strangle switch. This\u00a0is a very simple circuit that would have been incredibly handy to have\u00a0available over the past twenty-something years. It’s not something I plan to use on every tune, but it can make the guitar really sit nicely in the mix for any clean-ish, Motown vibe.<\/p>\n

    A Little help from my Friends<\/h6>\n

    I sent the good folks at Dimarzio an email describing what I was after and asked a handful of questions.\u00a0They responded immediately, and after a couple back & forths with\u00a0clarifying questions, they provided the diagram below. I love it when companies stand behind their products and offer top-notch support like this. Thank you to the good people at Dimarzio! I hope this one gets added to the web site.<\/p>\n

    \"3area_ep1112\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    Jack pot!!! This diagram gives me pretty much everything I wanted.<\/p>\n

    \"20160723_174112\"
    Removing the original pot & 5-way switch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
    \"20160729_120506\"
    The new switch, pot, & wiring is now complete. It was very easy to install.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
    Results<\/h6>\n