Series/parallel strat wiring help please!

[jimijazz]

I'm new here and in the middle of building myself a strat, and would love some help with the wiring.
What I'd like to achieve is all the standard strat tones (N, N+M, M, M+B, B) and with the addition of 1 switch, be able to get BxM and BxN. If there are any others that I could get as a bonus that would be great, but that's all I *need*.
I've seen something similar in the strat lovers other strat wiring, but I can't isolate the bit I want as it has a whole load of stuff I don't need and I struggle to read wiring diagrams (much better with wood!).

Thanks in advance

[newey]

Jimijazz-

Hello and Welcome!

Somewhere around here such a scheme exists. I can't help you find it at the moment, as it's off to work I go . . .

Probably the most straightforward way to do this (at least, that occurs to me offhand) would be to use a DPDT switch to put the bridge pickup in series with whatever is selected by the 5-way switch. This would give you BXN, BXM, and also (N+M)XB. The switch could be a push/pull pot to avoid any drilling.

[jimijazz]

Yup, that's exactly what I want. Now to go hunting...

[JohnH]

Hi jimijazz. The Strat Lovers Strat is very close to what you want:

guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?board=schem&action=display&thread=3130

On that version of it, just eliminate the phase switch. That means that the central pot is just a standard pot with no switch on it. The bridge pickup, instead has the green wire going to the ground on the back of the volume pot and the red wire goes direct to the 5 way switch, where currently there is an orange wire connected.

Green and red wires from the pickups are just a convention for that drawing, they may be black and white instead or whatever.

Just be aware of what 5-way switch you have. If it is a normal Fender-style one with 4 lugs on each side, then all is well. If it is one with all contacts inline, then let us know beacuse there are several versions and they are not all the same.

cheers

John

[jimijazz]

Jan 12, 2009 14:26:45 GMT -5 JohnH said:

Hi jimijazz. The Strat Lovers Strat is very close to what you want:

guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?board=schem&action=display&thread=3130

On that version of it, just eliminate the phase switch. That means that the central pot is just a standard pot with no switch on it. The bridge pickup, instead has the green wire going to the ground on the back of the volume pot and the red wire goes direct to the 5 way switch, where currently there is an orange wire connected.

Green and red wires from the pickups are just a convention for that drawing, they may be black and white instead or whatever.

Just be aware of what 5-way switch you have. If it is a normal Fender-style one with 4 lugs on each side, then all is well. If it is one with all contacts inline, then let us know beacuse there are several versions and they are not all the same.

cheers

John

Great - I knew that part of the "Strat lovers..." was what I wanted, but I couldn't figure out which bits and how to get them. I'll let you know how I get on.

Just one thing - what happens to the green and blue wires leaving the top left and bottom left lugs on the remaining DPDT?

Oh, and I've got a regular Fender 4-a-side switch so no worries there.

[JohnH]

Good point!

The blue wire leaving the the remaining switch to go to the deleted switch can just be deleted. The green wire that went from remaining switch top left to the deleted switch can go straight to the 5-way, at the lug where the orange wire is connected. In fact, if you follow through its current connections, it is already electrically connected there, via a more circuitous route through the orange wire (which works, but it would have been neater wiring to make it direct - but it doesnt matter)

Let me know if this is getting unclear - I could do a simpler version of the diagram if needed.

John

[ChrisK]

While I don't want to inadvertantly confuse things ( ;D ;D), this will do some interesting things.
3 Single Coils and The "S-None Switch"

It's the last picture in the post. It does the following:

"For those that want to use the traditional Strat 5-way switch.

The Fender Switch alone realizes the following combinations:
1. Bridge
2. Bridge + Middle
3. Middle
4. Neck + Middle
5. Neck


With the addition of only a DPDT switch (the S-1 is a 4PDT switch), the following additional combinations are realized, almost like a Fender Am Dlx SSS Strat does:

1. Middle * Bridge
2. Middle * (Bridge + "Special Cap")
3. Middle * "Special Cap" [different, brighter sound than middle alone]
4. Middle * (Neck + "Special Cap")
5. Middle * Neck"


If you want to wax esoteric, try the Mike Richardson wiring with phase. I use it in The Padouk Caster.

This is what it does ("+" is parallel, "*" is series):

Mode switch down
A. Bridge (Middle + Neck are shunted)
B. Bridge + Middle
C. Bridge + Neck
D. Middle + Neck
E. Neck (Bridge * Middle are shunted)

Mode switch up
A. Bridge + Middle + Neck
B. Bridge * Middle
C. Bridge * Neck
D. Middle * Neck
E. Bridge * Middle * Neck

[jimijazz]

one final question (yeah right I hear you say!), is it possible to eliminate one of the caps and keep the original tone setup, or is this the only way it can be done?

[JohnH]

jimijazz - Chris' suggestions are good ones and are worth checking out.

But if we are still talking about the Strat Lovers Strat, yes you can keep the standard tone controls for neck and middle. Actually, in series mode, having dedicated tone controls just on the neck and middle pickups can make a very cool result, wherby the neck is reduced to just a bass component and bridge retains its full bite. Its like a bridge sound with more weight.

However, at this point, I at least, am losing track of the diagram in my head and so need to sketch it again. Im not yet sure whether you should have one or two caps. Back tomorrow.

John

[jimijazz]

Jan 13, 2009 5:02:33 GMT -5 JohnH said:

jimijazz - Chris' suggestions are good ones and are worth checking out.

But if we are still talking about the Strat Lovers Strat, yes you can keep the standard tone controls for neck and middle. Actually, in series mode, having dedicated tone controls just on the neck and middle pickups can make a very cool result, wherby the neck is reduced to just a bass component and bridge retains its full bite. Its like a bridge sound with more weight.

However, at this point, I at least, am losing track of the diagram in my head and so need to sketch it again. Im not yet sure whether you should have one or two caps. Back tomorrow.

John

Actually, I've been thinking and I quite like the idea of having a separate tone for series and parallel. Is it essential to use 2 caps though, or could the circuit be reworked to use just one?

[JohnH]

OK, you could have the series an parallel tone controls with just the one cap. The cap would replace the blue wire that is shown between the middle pot and the back of the volume pot. The two tone caps currently shown would be replaced by wire links. But caps are very cheap. The series tone is quite interesting with a very small cap, such as 5nF, fully rolled off. But if you use just one cap, a 22nF is a good value.

You'll also see a third cap on the volume pot, this is to maintain treble at lower volume, but it is optional and could be omitted. More recently, Ive been using a 1nF cap in parallel with a 220k resistor in this position, but see how you like it.

[jimijazz]

Jan 13, 2009 19:56:11 GMT -5 JohnH said:

OK, you could have the series an parallel tone controls with just the one cap. The cap would replace the blue wire that is shown between the middle pot and the back of the volume pot. The two tone caps currently shown would be replaced by wire links. But caps are very cheap. The series tone is quite interesting with a very small cap, such as 5nF, fully rolled off. But if you use just one cap, a 22nF is a good value.

You'll also see a third cap on the volume pot, this is to maintain treble at lower volume, but it is optional and could be omitted. More recently, Ive been using a 1nF cap in parallel with a 220k resistor in this position, but see how you like it.

Awesome. I've got a treble bleed cap on my tele, but thanks for pointing it out.

I just wish I could figure this stuff out myself

[ChrisK]

Stick around here, you'll learn how to.

[warmstrat]

Try this:



It's something ChrisK showed me along time ago, here: guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?board=wiring&action=display&thread=1635

You may Find large parts of that thread useful to you - I ended up building something similar to that but with extras.

Good luck!

[jimijazz]

Thanks for the additional suggestion, but for all my liking of options and tinkering, I have to say that blend pots don't do it for me and I get confused :-) I want to be able to switch out any mods and have the stock strat sounds (albeit with modified tone controls) so I've decided to go with just a series/parallel switch.
I've commenced the wiring, but it's going slowly as I have a body to refinish at the same time. I'll let you know how I get on.