Upper tone pot bridge middle, lower bridge

[frets]

Hi Guys,
I’m having a Cindi moment. They occur often😸 But I have you guys to make it better.

I have a guy on a 3 control Strat config that wants upper tone bridge + middle, and lower tone bridge only.

I’ve got how to do the bridge and middle but the bridge only is a conundrum for me. Do I splice the bridge hot, run one to the bridge and middle on b1and 3. And then run the tone pot wire and the second spliced bridge wire to A1? Do I have that right? Can it be done?

As always, thanks😸

[newey]

Not sure what you mean by a "3 control Strat configuration". Individual pickup toggles? Or do you just mean 3 pots, V/T/T?

With the garden-variety classic Strat wiring, you had one tone for the neck and one for the middle, with no tone for the bridge pickup. In position 5, the neck has its own tone; in positions 2 and 3, the middle has its own tone. In position 4, both tone controls are in circuit and the 2 tone pots will interact. So, switching to bridge plus middle tone controls (if wired to the 5-way like on a regular Strat) would give a middle tone in positions 3 and 4, a bridge tone in position 1, and both controls in position 2, again interacting as both are in circuit, in parallel.

Isn't that what he's asking for?

The more typical mod is to move the middle tone to the bridge pickup, so neck and bridge have individaul tones. This avoids any interaction between the tone pots as they are never in circuit together with standard Strat wiring. But if your customer just wants to move the neck tone to the bridge, as above, it's easily wired by just moving the wiring of the second pole of the 5-way.

[frets]

Newey,
I will asked for more clarification. But I know he wants a bridge + middle on the upper tone pot and a bridge only on the bottom tone pot. I havent sat down to figure that outcome yet. I wasn’t thinking at all from your perspective, I was just thinking how to wire it.

[sumgai]

frets ,


Wiring the tone controls is one thing, but when their effect should take place, that's what really counts here.  You didn't say at which switch position should either tone control be in the circuit.

Your short version of his wish-list seems to read "in Pos 2 (mid and bridge), he wants the upper control to have effect, and in Pos 1 (bridge only), he wants the lower control to be in charge". Is that about the size of it? You do realize that this implies that neither Tone control is in the circuit at any other time (positions 3, 4, or 5).

Given the specs so far, a full SuperSwitch will be needed. Actually I see it as needing only 3 poles, but.....  However, if the customer is willing to accept that the upper T-knob is always on when the Mid pup is selected (pos 2, 3 and 4), then we can do this with only a half-SuperSwitch.

Further conversation with the customer should guide us down the path to fulfillment.


EDIT: Given that I like the principle of "one position, one terminal", I now realize that where I said SuperSwitch above, a standard 3-terminal, 5-position shorting switch could also be used.  Should keep the costs down.

HTH





sumgai

[reTrEaD]

Jul 16, 2023 13:48:49 GMT -5 frets said:

I have a guy on a 3 control Strat config that wants upper tone bridge + middle, and lower tone bridge only.

If you're using a standard Strat 5-way (not a superswitch) there are limitations on what you can accomplish. You'll always end up with a duplication (both tone pots active in a position) or a gap (a position where no tone pot is active). There is no way around this. Also, any lug will affect at least two, if not three, positions. There is no way around this.

Let's label the lugs 5, 3, and 1, where the 5 lug serves the neck-most two positions and the 1 lug serves the bridge-most two positions. Here's the truth-table for when each lug is connected to the common lug (there are no 2 and 4 lugs, as those positions on the switch are served by lugs in the adjacent positions):

Position	Lug-5	Lug-3	Lug-1
5	❎
4	❎	❎
3		❎
2		❎	❎
1			❎

If we connect the neck tone pot to lug 5 and the bridge tone pot to lug 1, we end up with a gap at position 3. The Neck tone post is active in the neck-only position (5) as well as the neck + middle position (4). There is no tone pot active when we are in the middle-only position (3). Also, the bridge tone pot is active in the bridge + middle position (2), as well as the bridge-only position (1).

If we connect the neck tone pot to lugs 5 and 3 and the bridge tone pot to lug 1, we end up with a duplication in position 2. The Neck tone post is active in the neck-only position (5), the neck + middle position (4), the middle-only position (3), and the middle + bridge position (2). The bridge tone pot is also active in the bridge position (2), and is the only tone pot active in the bridge-only position (1).

---

If you want to have the neck tone pot serve positions 5, 4, 3, and 2, and the bridge tone pot serve position 1 only, you can't accomplish that with a standard Strat 5-way. You'll need a superswitch, megaswitch, or other 5-way which has at least one pole that has an independent lug for each of the 5 positions as well as enough poles to support the pickup selections.

[frets]

Thanks Guys,

Switches are my definitive weakness. I figured it would need a Superswitch but wanted to see if I was missing anything. Retread, your table is very helpful. Thank you so much.