Mayer/Malmsteen Strat Wiring Diagrams

[mikesr1963]

Got GFS overwound strat pickups for Chirstmas. Before I wired them up I studied several diagrams at Fender. I used the John Mayer Strat one that wires one of the tone controls into the bridege pickup. I really love having a tone control on the bridge pickup and it's almost like having another pickup selection. I also put in an on/off switch too.

On the Malmsteen Strat, a cap is used on each tone pot instead of hooking both tone pots to one cap. Does that do anything for the tone or is it just another way to wire it up?

[UnklMickey]

hi Mike,

i too, think those are better ways to use 2 tone controls than the usual Strat configuration.


having 2 caps will make a bit of difference, only in the Bridge and Middle position.

for instance, if you have both tone controls at minimum:

in the Mayer, you will have the cap directly in parallel with the pickups.

in the Malmsteen, you will have both caps directly in parallel with the pickups.

in all other positions they work the same.


cheers,

unk

[mikesr1963]

Hey, thanks for the reply.

[ChrisK]

in the Mayer, you will have the cap directly in parallel with the pickups.

in the Malmsteen, you will have both caps directly in parallel with the pickups.

The single cap design results in a tone cut proportional to the parallel combination of both tone pots when both tone circuits are active, but at the same corner frequency. When both are at minimum, the response of the tone circuits is in effect the same as when just one is at its minimum.

The dual cap design results in a tone cut proportional to the parallel combination of both tone pots when both tone circuits are active, but at a corner frequency that is 2^0.5 lower. When both are at minimum, the response of the tone circuits is in effect half'ish as when one is at its minimum.

The Fender 5-way switch (and the original 3-way one) used one section for pickup selection and the other for tone control selection since a single cap was used (economy is).

One COULD connect the tone pots directly to the neck and bridge pickups for instance, possibly connect the unused tone pot lugs together, use 500K pots for the heck of it (turn them down to "8" and they're at 250K), and realize neck/bridge blending via the tone pots when at "10".

Hmmm....this is interesting, I gots to think it thru.................