SimpleMod-d - The Design

[ozboomer]

The next project in this current SimpleMod series - "SimpleMod-d" (that is, SimpleMod, Revision d).

This is another example of the significant changes in sound that can be achieved with some relatively simple changes to the wiring of the switches and pickups. Again, I've made the modifications to my 2006 Squier Bullet Strat and the sounds are very interesting and are likely to be quite useful, I think.

As always, I extend my thanks to everyone at GuitarNutz who has contributed some useful thoughts and suggestions during the development of this design.


Background

This design incorporates a lot of the features investigated in earlier incarnations of the SimpleMod series of designs. In essence, SimpleMod-d is the same as SimpleMod-b, except that in SimpleMod-d, we have:-

• a modular "Les Paul" switching method for selecting parallel combinations of Neck and Bridge pickups; and
  
  
• a modular method of adding a pickup in parallel or series to any existing sound source.
  

By including these features, we remove SimpleMod-b's "Neck on" switch and we do away with the traditional wiring of the 3 single coil pickups that uses a 5-way blade switch.


Schematic (1024x651, 62kB):

Wiring Diagram (1024x724, 88kB):

Pickup Combinations:

3-Way	Mid-Par.	Mid-Off	Mid-Ser.
1.	B+M	B	B*M
2.	(B+N)+M	(B+N)	(B+N)*M
3.	N+M	N	N*M

...with + = combined in parallel and * = combined in series... and:

... the traditional (5-way switch) sounds (M alone is not available)
... extra sounds from SimpleMod-b
... additional sounds with this mod


Sample Sounds

SimpleMod-d-P1.mp3 - The sounds available from this mod selected by only changing the positions of the 3-way switch and the "M Pickup On" switch. The MP3 file illustrates the sounds (in order): B, B+M, B+N, N+M, N, (B+N)+M, B*M, (B+N)*M and N*M.

SimpleMod-d-P2.mp3 - The sounds available from this mod when playing the (B+N) pickup combination but with variations in the Modified G&L Tone Controls. The sounds in the MP3 file are (in order): Treble Cut=10 & Bass Cut=10, TC=10 & BC=1, TC=1 & BC=10 and TC=1 & BC=1.


Discussion

As for SimpleMod-b... but there are some additional comments regarding the extra features:-

• Sometimes, we're interested in working with only the Bridge and Neck pickups, so we can have a single coil sound version of a Les Paul. Using a 3-way selector switch (with relevant internal or manually-made connections, depending on the switch) can provide the parallel combinations we're looking for, namely B alone, B + N in parallel and N alone.
  
  
• The above combinations only provide a couple of the traditional "5 sounds" available with a conventionally wired, 3x single coil pickup Stratocaster. At the expense of the M only sound (which is often replaced by the B+N in these configurations), we can introduce a "M pickup on" switch. In this case, the wiring is such that the M pickup can be added to the sound produced by the 3-way switch in parallel... in series... or not at all.
  

Here's a diagram of the modular nature of this design (see all my modules at ozboomer's Modular Library):-

It would be best to post any further thoughts, comments, etc about "SimpleMod" in the SimpleMod + ToneMod = ... thread.

Hope this proves useful...


John

Edit: 6-Nov-2010: Included sample sounds