HSS Strat Wiring 1 Vol 1 Tone - 250k/500k pots

[brisimmons105]

Is it possible to wire an HSS Strat with the two single coils seeing 250k and the HB seeing 500k with 1 volume and 1 tone?

I've come across a few diagrams online but none of them specify which pot value each pickup is seeing, and most have 2 tone pots.

I've got SSS guitar that I'd like to add a Dimarzio Pro Track to. I'm very happy with the neck/middle pickup tone, I don't want that to change at all (seeing 250 now , but I would love to add this HB to the bridge that would see 500k if possible.

Would be nice to be able to split the bridge pickup to use with the middle pickup in the 4th position on the 5 way switch, but not a requirement.


Any links/info would be helpful. Thanks!

[newey]

brisimmons105-

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

Nov 24, 2024 22:41:10 GMT -5 brisimmons105 said:

Would be nice to be able to split the bridge pickup to use with the middle pickup in the 4th position on the 5 way switch, but not a requirement.

This part is easy. Fender does this with most of their HSS designs. You can find that on Fender OEM diagrams, but if you need help we can certainly provide it. One pole of the 5-way switch is used to split the bridge at position 4. With a master V and T setup, one pole of the 5-way switch is probably not being used anyway.

As for the 500K/250K tone pot, a "dual gang" pot is what you would need to do this right. This is a pot with 2 resistive tracks attached to a common shaft/knob. I believe these can be found in 250K/500K values, but they may be tough to find. However, if you get a 2-500K dual gang (easier to find), you can use a resistor to reduce the value of the one side to approximate the 250K. This is not a "free lunch" however, as adding a resistor will change the "sweep" of the pot a bit, but probably not enough so you would really notice, unless you're very finicky with your tone knob. a 500K/250K concentric pot would also do the trick, and would give a separate tone for the bridge HB, but some people dislike concentric pots as they can be "fiddley" to adjust and also change the look of the guitar.

Any other option is going to require switching a resistor in/out of the circuit, which would mean having to manipulate a switch before you'd get the other value.

Obviously, you want what you want, and we never try to dissuade people here from having what they want if it is feasible. But if it were I, I'd just wire the HB to the existing pots and see if you like it or not. The 250k pot will darken the HB a bit but maybe not enough to be a deal-breaker. Or, use a 500K pot for all three and just turn the tone knob down to about a "7" when using the neck or middle pickups, that would approximate the load of 2 250K pots. The SCs might actually sound fine with the knob at "10", too.

Keep in mind that there is nothing magical with having 250K pots for single coils or with 500K for HBs, those are just typical values.For example, Gibson used to use 300K pots for their HBs- that could be another compromise value. The point is, what sounds good to you is the definitive matter, not what someone else says is "usual".