What harness would you build?

[frets]

Hi Guys,

I built this body with the idea that it would become one of my main guitars.  It’s a one piece swamp ash.  I’m not quite finished with the top coat although what look like flaws are just light reflections.  Anyway, it will have a 6 way rotary pickup selector.  That leaves me with three pots.  And I don’t want to do anything “standard”, I want a modded harness.  I don’t really know what I want.  It could go a lot of directions.  But I thought some of you could tell me if you had the body, what type of harness would you build.  I think it will be fun and also will help me figure it out.

I’m  putting Seymour Duncan’s in it (SSL1’s) and going with a roller bridge and hard tail Trem (Mosrite type).

So I want it to be killer.  Don’t hold back.  The only thing that is a certainty is the 6 position rotary pickup selector.

Thanks guys 
😺😺😺

[JohnH]

That looks SOOO nice!

So three classic alnico singles?

For me (but assuming it'd be wired up by you!), I'd review my SP Strat design, adapting to a 6 position switch. This would get each single and each pair. Then push-pulls to get series-parallel on the pairs, and maybe phase. Pots for volume, tone and series blend, or maybe bass cut.

Concerns would be if a 2 layer rotary would fit, and would it be too stiff? In Oz, the Maton brand is one of the most well known makers. They do electrics with a rotary switch that has a long lever, like a motorbike gear shift. My friend has one and it works pretty well.

[newey]

Jul 6, 2022 16:15:21 GMT -5 frets said:

hard tail Trem (Mosrite type).

While I can visualize a Mosrite whammy, "hard tail" usually means no bar of any type.

But as far as pickup combos, assuming a 6-way rotary switch with enough poles, I'd say the regular SSS Strat selections would be 5 of the six, plus N + B for the sixth selection. Add a P/P pot to put the bridge pickup in series with whatever the 5-way selects. in positions 3,4 or 5.

Of course, I seem to be in the minority as to the Strat position 3 (middle alone) setting- I use that a lot on Strat-ish guitars. If that's not your cup of whatever, then the N + B can go at position 3 instead, and the 6th position could be, say, N X B (series), eliminating the need for a P/P pot.

Of course, you could do a master V and T and use the extra hole for a second rotary switch This would open up a vast number of posibilities, again depending on the number of poles. This seems to come back to the old debate here, do you want a guitar to "do everything" at the expense of simplicity in switching, versus one with your "go to" combos, easily accessed?


Digging around in the root cellar here, I'd refer you to these designs, buried deep in the schematics section. Neither is exactly what you propose, but may offer some food for thought.

ChrisK's 3-pickup rotocaster is a bit of a demented exercise with multiple rotary switches.

There is also markd's Righteous Rotary Strat This uses a 5-position rotary in conjunction with the regular Strat lever 5-way switch, but a second rotary switch could easily be substituted. This is slightly less demented than ChrisK's version.

[thetragichero]

Jul 6, 2022 17:58:58 GMT -5 newey said:

Of course, I seem to be in the minority as to the Strat position 3 (middle alone) setting- I use that a lot on Strat-ish guitars.

early 2000s squier strat that brought me to the forum i learned to like the middle position because that was the only one that gave suitable output (i believe at one point i even duct taped the lever in the middle position so that my maniacal flailing wouldn't knock it into one of the weaker settings. I've since settled down quite a bit so that's not much of a problem anymore)

as far as wiring goes I'm generally in the "simpler is best" camp (preferring three-way selectors for strats) so I'm not sure how much help I'll be. bridge and middle in series is a favorite combination though because you can turn an sss strat into something that works for heavier tones

[ashcatlt]

Yeah I use the middle pickup pretty regularly, even when I also have N+B (S or P) available. It’s pretty unusual for me to use either N or B alone on any guitar, actually, and I almost never use the “quack” combinations. Frankly, I could live just fine with a single pickup in the middle position most of the time.

I also never use the pots on my guitars at anything other than the extremes, so would probably replace them with switches (rotary or otherwise) to do…something. Probably use 4-wire HBs and have individual switches for series/parallel, but idk.

[frets]

Thanks Guys,
😺😺😺
I appreciate the input. I’ve got the 6 way pickup selector built. It gives me:
N
B+N
B
B+M
M
M+N
Oh, and Newey, I knew it wasn’t a hard tail, you know me, too many guitars to keep up with. The Trem loads from the back and then you have a roller bridge. At $118.95, I feel pretty good about it.

I looked over the Rotocaster, holy moly!! I do think I’m going to stick with pots. I am moving closer to doing a push/pull passive boost pot using the 7.5H transformer that I have previously posted the diagram of it. The one from the new Revstar. I tried a mad scientist harness that just didn’t work. Ha!!

I do use the middle pickup a lot like Ash mentioned. I also like the idea of a Bridge + Middle Series but with the boost, I’m wondering if I need it. Tone-wise, I do have an EQ concentric pot I’ve shared but that begs the question as to what to do with that last pot. I could do a middle “on” but I’m not a big fan of B+M+N. Any thoughts on the last pot?
Thanks!

[newey]

Well, the hole could be filled by a DPDT toggle switch instead of a pot. A std. pot shaft is slightly bigger than the shank on a Gibson-style toggle but they will fit "if'n ya tight 'em up right good", as they say in some parts . . .

Never really seen the use of the two tone pots on a Strat-style guitar, so I'd rule out that option. Although if the two are on the neck and bridge pickups instead of neck and middle, they are marginally more useful

[thetragichero]

frets if you need multi-henry inductors i should have some here pulled out of the tone-generation sections of solid state organs. i know i have at least a stack of 4H, possibly larger. they're about the size of wah inductors. not sure how big your transformer is

[frets]

Thank you Trag, that is very kind of you, but I have so many transformers in the 4ish range. What I’ve been trying to find at a reasonable cost are 7+H that are relatively small, like the Xicons. I did buy two off a guy in the UK but man, they were expensive.

But thanks for the generous offer.😸

[gckelloch]

In the interest of cost-benefit, would there be a reason to buy an SD SSL1 set instead of this Tonerider Pure Vintage set for ~1/3 the price? tonerider.com/product/pure-vintage/

The PV set has weakened AV poles for a "sweeter" note timber, like that used by Fender in the 60s, as well as AIII for the bridge plain string poles for an even warmer tone (where it normally sounds too thin). They have HF wire with a wind tension/pattern programmed to be like the hand-wound pickups from that era (but without losses from excess tension). It's pretty standard classic Strat stuff. I'd look into a Steel baseplate for the bridge for better punch and warmth, but that can be added later. If you use a pickguard, you might also consider an Aluminum pickguard shield to reduce the harsher upper-mids without affecting the highs. I have it on several guitars. It was part of the Pre-CBS sound. GFS sells them cheap. Beautiful finish, BTW. Congrats!

P.S. You may well need to shim the neck if you use a trem with a roller bridge.