Help with interpretation (Hastings' Mod)

[nezha]

Hello

I'm very new to all this guitar wiring business. Recently, I decided that since I never use the regular 2 and 4 positions on my stratocaster anyway, I wanted to try rewiring my pickups to be in series rather than parallel. I would prefer not to buy more switched and stuff. I came across a schematic on the GuitarNuts by a guy named Hastings but unfortunately the diagram itself is hard for me to understand. I've opened up my guitar to replace pickups before and I can sort of see which part is the 5 way switch etc. but I am unable to see what connectors on the picture correspond to which connectors in my guitar. Could someone help explain to me what is supposed to be connected to what in this picture? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

[newey]

Nezha-

Hello and welcome!

Unfortunately, I can't help you much with reading schematic, as I'm still learning it myself- slowly!

But someone will be along.

[ChrisK]

Could someone help explain to me what is supposed to be connected to what in this picture?

Yes.

Your inquiry seems to indicate that you have little experience with electrical schematics. This diagram is a schematic and not a wiring diagram. Unfortunately, virtually all of it requires a lot of prior knowledge as much is not stated nor shown, but inferred.

That being said, due to the work involved in converting this to a specific wiring diagram, I want to ask if you really want to use this design.

This design will not select the middle pickup alone. Period.

V2 is a converted tone control. It is now an anti-clockwise blender. "10" is the clockwise terminal. "0" is the anti-clockwise terminal. You turn it anti-clockwise to blend out the middle.
Tone is the master tone control.
V1 is the master volume control.
(+) on a pickup is its signal output lead (Hot).
(-) on a pickup is its signal return lead (NOT connected to ground anymore except for the neck pickup in this design).

You get;
1. Neck in series with Middle, with middle shunted/shorted (blended out) by V2. (Bridge pickup is shorted.)
2. Neck (Bridge and Middle pickups are shorted.)
3. Neck in series with Middle in series with Bridge, with Middle shunted/shorted (blended out) by V2.
4. Bridge (Neck and Middle pickups are shorted.)
5. Bridge in series with Middle, with middle shunted/shorted (blended out) by V2. (Neck pickup is shorted.)

Since you will be using pickups in series, 500 K Ohm pots should be used for the master volume and tone controls.

Is this what you want?

What model of guitar and pickups do you have?

[nezha]

It is definitely true that I have little knowledge of electrical schematics.

I'm certain that I would like to try this mod. I don't use the middle pickup by itself a lot, and the addition of the neck-bridge and all three options is a good trade off I think. The parallel 2 and 4 positions sound too much like the single coils and I only ever use them for noise cancelling if I have a lot of gain on. Plus I think it would be nice to play around with some more humbuckery sounds, especially since I'm pretty broke and not a very good player either so I don't really want to buy more guitars.

My guitar is a 1999 MIM Fender Stratocaster. My bridge pickup has been replaced with a Seymour Duncan SSL-5.

Thank you very much for your help!

[pete12345]

If you look at the back of the switch, you have eight terminals arranged something like this:

A B C D
E F G H

On the left side of the diagram, A is the terminal at the base of the arrow (common terminal) BC and D go along the top. On the right hand side, EFG go along the top, H is the common at the base of the arrow.

I too prefer the series sounds, but my strat is wired a little differently (see the schematics section) A 3 way switch controls the bridge and neck pickups, with a separate toggle (could easily be a push-pull pot) to control the middle. You lose the fader on the middle pickup, but you keep two tone controls, which is quite useful with series wired pickups.

Pete

Pete

[ChrisK]

This link will help with the selector switch.

www.alloutput.com/Wiring/5way.html

[nezha]

Thanks ChrisK and Pete for your time and effort. That explains quite a bit! I'm still confused on one point though. In the picture, I'm not sure what goes where in the areas where the lines cross. For instance, I cannot tell whether the (-) side of the middle pickup is going to the five-way switch, the (+) side of the neck pickup, or to the V2 pot. I looked at a bunch of guides to reading wiring diagrams but I still cannot tell, I was wondering if anyone knew how it was supposed to go?

[pete12345]

Jan 14, 2009 0:02:24 GMT -5 nezha said:

For instance, I cannot tell whether the (-) side of the middle pickup is going to the five-way switch, the (+) side of the neck pickup, or to the V2 pot.

Easy: all of them! Where wires join at a T, they should be connected together. In this case, you can gather the M-, N+ and the wire from V2 on the same terminal if there's enough room. Likewise B-, M+ and the other wire from V2 join together and go to the same terminal, as do B+ and the wires from V1 and tone.

Pete

[nezha]

Ahh that makes sense I think. I assume by terminal you are referring to the little connectors on the 5-way switch? Also, when you say I should connect them all, do I solder them all together first then run another wire to the terminal, or could I just solder all the wires to the terminal (including the ground)? Sorry for asking so many questions, I am very new at this

[ashcatlt]

Doesn't much matter where they meet each other so long as they do.

I'd prefer to use an actual terminal (either on the switch or the pot). Otherwise, you've got a mess of twisted wires and solder and electrical tape. Also, having the connection physically anchored to something which isn't going to move much seems like it would be more mechanically sound and last a bit longer.


Edit - Also thought I'd mention, since I don't think it's been explicitly stated here, that both the bridge ground and the sleeve connection from the jack are necessary, but not actually shown in this diagram.

[nezha]

Ok thanks. I think I have it now, but just to be sure I have drawn a diagram in "picture" format. I know this is asking a lot, but could someone check it briefly to be sure it is correct? The different colored wires are for clarity, hopefully this is readable.

Thanks for all the help you guys have given me btw.

[ashcatlt]

That is defintely not right. Maybe review that link ChrisK posted on how the switch works. Keep in mind that the arrows indicate the internal connections of the switch, you don't have to wire those.

[ChrisK]

[nezha]

ahh, yea i see now ashcatlt. i had indeed assumed that the arrows were meant to indicate connections. good thing i was paitent enough to wait for feedback.

Thanks to ChrisK for your explanations and picture, and thanks everyone else too for all your help and advice! I appreciate it very much. Hopefully this weekend there will be time for me to put this together.