Post by erik on Jun 25, 2009 16:31:34 GMT -5
hey guys
First of all, I think it may have been 2 years since I posted anything here. I remember asking how to wire my Strat in such way that I had a switch to select the neck and bridge pickup in it, in series (at that time, the mid pickup was already gone).
I'm still thankful for the ones who helped me, but I never got to apply that modification: I ended up getting myself a beautiful Fender Jaguar. So now that Strat lives her life modded with just a humbucker and volume control, and tuned to Eb.
Anyway. This afternoon I decided that I never ever use the strangle switch on my Jaguar for anything relevant. Also, I found the two pickups wired parallel too thin sounding. That sound is still there, but I did the following (after opening up the guitar and studying it for a while, along with a wiring diagram from fender.com. This ain't a Tele or Strat!):
First, I cut the wire that connects the middle 'poles' of the three on/off switches, so that the strangle switch is separated from the pickups' on/off switches. At this point I got a bit neveous, as it muted the signal coming from the guitar. However, soldering the blue wire from the strangle switch to one of the other switches solved this problem. So far so good, the strangle switch is out of the wiring.
Then, I removed the resistor from the switch. And then:
I connected the bridge pickup's lead (yellow) to the right switch in the diagram (or schematic? not sure). I removed the neck pickup's ground wire from the neck pickup, and connected it to the other side of the right switch (unfortunately, the wire itself is too short for this). Last but not least, the green wire is the connection between the mid of that switch and the ground of the neck pickup.
So now, when the switch is down, the neck pup's ground just goes where it's supposed to go. When the switch is up, the neck pup's ground is connected to the bridge pup's lead.
Result in sounds:
When the rythm circuit is selected, the series switch is active. I find it pretty unuseful here though because it's way too dark sounding.
In the lead circuit, when the switch is down, the pickup selectors work like they've always done. Now comes the interesting (for me at least) part. In case the switch is up:
- 'just neck pickup' becomes 'neck and bridge in series'
- 'just bridge pickup' remains just the bridge pickup
- 'both pickups' becomes just the bridge pickup.
While it's a bit of a hassle with positions, I do find this modification very cool. Instead of being able to make a not too fat sounding guitar sound even thinner, I now have the possibility to make it sound fatter. Awesome. My favourite guitar is now even more my favourite.
First of all, I think it may have been 2 years since I posted anything here. I remember asking how to wire my Strat in such way that I had a switch to select the neck and bridge pickup in it, in series (at that time, the mid pickup was already gone).
I'm still thankful for the ones who helped me, but I never got to apply that modification: I ended up getting myself a beautiful Fender Jaguar. So now that Strat lives her life modded with just a humbucker and volume control, and tuned to Eb.
Anyway. This afternoon I decided that I never ever use the strangle switch on my Jaguar for anything relevant. Also, I found the two pickups wired parallel too thin sounding. That sound is still there, but I did the following (after opening up the guitar and studying it for a while, along with a wiring diagram from fender.com. This ain't a Tele or Strat!):
First, I cut the wire that connects the middle 'poles' of the three on/off switches, so that the strangle switch is separated from the pickups' on/off switches. At this point I got a bit neveous, as it muted the signal coming from the guitar. However, soldering the blue wire from the strangle switch to one of the other switches solved this problem. So far so good, the strangle switch is out of the wiring.
Then, I removed the resistor from the switch. And then:
I connected the bridge pickup's lead (yellow) to the right switch in the diagram (or schematic? not sure). I removed the neck pickup's ground wire from the neck pickup, and connected it to the other side of the right switch (unfortunately, the wire itself is too short for this). Last but not least, the green wire is the connection between the mid of that switch and the ground of the neck pickup.
So now, when the switch is down, the neck pup's ground just goes where it's supposed to go. When the switch is up, the neck pup's ground is connected to the bridge pup's lead.
Result in sounds:
When the rythm circuit is selected, the series switch is active. I find it pretty unuseful here though because it's way too dark sounding.
In the lead circuit, when the switch is down, the pickup selectors work like they've always done. Now comes the interesting (for me at least) part. In case the switch is up:
- 'just neck pickup' becomes 'neck and bridge in series'
- 'just bridge pickup' remains just the bridge pickup
- 'both pickups' becomes just the bridge pickup.
While it's a bit of a hassle with positions, I do find this modification very cool. Instead of being able to make a not too fat sounding guitar sound even thinner, I now have the possibility to make it sound fatter. Awesome. My favourite guitar is now even more my favourite.
