The Original Mike Richardson Strat Wiring Diagram

[newey]

I have reproduced one of the classics here, snce I got tired of searching the original Guitar Nuts site to find it.

[b4nj0]

This is indeed a classic.
It's flexible in its tone pallet, intuitive in the way that it goes from series to parallel, meaty in the series settings- especially all 3 together- and the only real compromise is swapping the middle for a neck and bridge "Tele" arrangement.
I was impressed enough to wire a second "Strat" that I had the same way, but I recall that some Nutz had a degree of trouble with it...
It deserves to get another airing.

e&oe...

[4real]

It's a fantastic scheme that I used to do my strat, using a master vol and tone and the other as a variable 'select split' and a neck phase, looks stock, intuitive and offered up over 30 combinations . The N+B is one of a stats best hidden features and superior IMO than middle alone. I remember fondly this drawing for the basis for that project and worked out perfectly for me

[JohnH]

I noticed our reference to the classic MR mod went down with the old GN site recently. Ive grabbed this one from elsewhere, the clearest I can find. I think it is the original, plus a bit of helpful volume wiring. I added it to the first post too.

[Mike Richardson]

I'm happy you guys like my little diagram! I have several more that are at least as good, but for other pickup configurations. Of course, it's been quite a while since I did that Strat diagram, so you guys have probably come up with way cooler stuff by now! And yes, I always try to make the switching as simple and intuitive as possible. I'll see if I can't send along some newer stuff very soon!

[JohnH]

Always delighted to show your designs Mike. Thanks for that classic and we would love to have more.

[b4nj0]

The MR layout is the most comprehensive scheme that I came across that is also intuitive in use and doesn't alter the guitar's appearance at all. I wired two Strats this way. Thanks Mike.

e&oe...

[Mike Richardson]

You know, on the original Guitar Nuts site, I posted a version of my diagram with the middle pickup in position 3, just like a regular Strat. Sadly, it seems that GN1 is no more. I'll see if I can find that diagram and post it as well.

[b4nj0]

I remember that layout too, I think you designed it after requests from those that couldn't accept losing the middle pick up option, but I recall that it compromised the original design in the switch-up options? Did it duplicate in some positions? I had a copy of it myself, but I deleted it in one of those (rare!) cathartic moments of casting "never to be used" ideas away.

I accepted your logic that the neck+bridge combination "a-la-Tele" was a more useful option and so it has proved to be the case (for myself anyway).
I procurred my copy of the MR wiring from the original GN site. I remember emailing JA with a question regarding which way up the pots were intended to be. His reply was sketchy and he declined to offer any further help, indeed he issued just such a disclaimer on his site so on reflection, I don't blame him one iota. There was a significant time lapse between the two that I wired and I managed to get the pot wiring reversed both times!

e&oe...

[reTrEaD]

Apr 16, 2016 15:29:05 GMT -5 Mike Richardson said:

You know, on the original Guitar Nuts site, I posted a version of my diagram with the middle pickup in position 3, just like a regular Strat. Sadly, it seems that GN1 is no more. I'll see if I can find that diagram and post it as well.

Well Mike, it seems your work has made the rounds on teh interwebz. A google image search led me here:

(Edit by Yogi B 2020-11-28: Hermetico's redrawn version at the link below contains an error: the blue & pink wires on the DPDT have been transplaced -- Mike Richardson's original is still good though!)

Caution: this contains errors:
hermeticoguitar.blogspot.com/2012/11/wiring-diagram-mike-richardson-mod-03.html

It includes his own drawing based on your V 2.0 as well your drawing.

(this drawing is correct)

[angelodp]

Hi are there any links to what this sounds like ?

Looks cool.

Ange

[mark]

Hello Mike,I'm Marco i writing from Italy and I need your help, I using your mod2 on my strat style guitar... But the tone pot works only for the neck pick up and not for middle... Bridge pick up has his and works well

The wiring under

[mark]

Sept 4, 2013 6:11:23 GMT -5 newey said:

I have reproduced one of the classics here, snce I got tired of searching the original Guitar Nuts site to find it.

[newey]

Mark-

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

First of all, Mike Richardson, whose scheme this is, seldom logs in here anymore, so the rest of us will help you with this.

I don't quite understand your question. The MR diagram doesn't show any tone pot wiring, and he notes at the bottom that the tone pots can be set up as per the user's preferences. On a Standard Strat, there is a tone pot for the neck and another for the middle, and no tone pot for the bridge. How is yours set up currently?

[mudtaco]

I have spent hours wiring up Mike's Mod 3, which is very similar. But it failed big time. I have gone back and make sure every point was soldered well and that nothing was touching that shouldn't be and that everything matched up to the diagram. I am sure there is something I am missing. Can you please point out what that might be. I am pulling out my hair over here and kicking myself for taking on a job beyond my skill set.

Now, I will admit that I made a couple changes to his design. I moved the 2nd tone to the mid pup, added a treb bleed and used a mini switch instead of a push/pull pot. I will upload the diagram I was working from and the one I made with my changes. Also, the mini switch doesn't need the body grounded does it?

Oh, what I have going on is this: switch up 1-no tone 2-no tone 3-no tone 4-neck tone 5-neck tone, switch down 1-neck tone 2-dead 3-neck tone 4-dead 5 no tone

thank you in advance for any help you can provide!!!

[newey]

MT-

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

Nov 24, 2020 14:58:04 GMT -5 mudtaco said:

But it failed big time.

What do you mean? No sound at all? Sound in some positions but not others? Some pickups operating but others not?

Grounding the body of the toggle switch might reduce some noise, but would not factor into your description of "failed big time".

[mudtaco]

That's correct, in some positions there is no sound at all.
switch up 1-sound/no tone 2-sound/no tone 3-sound/no tone 4-sound/neck tone 5-sound/neck tone
switch down 1-sound/neck tone 2-no sound at all 3-sound/neck tone 4-no sound at all 5 sound/no tone

I can't imagine that adding the treble bleed could be the cause and certainly not moving the 2nd tone from the bridge to the mid pup. But everything else is the same and I went through it thoroughly with a magnifying glass (literally). It has to be either one of my changes or the design itself. I just don't know enough to spot the problem if it is in his design. Do you see anything that looks off?

Thanks

[newey]

OK, reading back through this thread, I see that we had Mike Richardson's first and second versions, but not the 3rd version, from which you drew your diagrams. SO, I'm not sure how the original differs from the prior versions, or whether your drawing of it is correct. (I assume both diagrams you posted are your work).

At first glance, I do not see any obvious problems but I haven't traced through the entire thing yet.

Now, your description of some of these issues leaves me scrathing my head. At position 1****, with the switch down, you have the neck pickup and the neck tone control, which is as it should be. When you pull the switch up, now you have the neck pickup but the neck tone control doesn't work? In this scheme, the neck tone control is wired directly after the pickup itself, it is not switched by any of the switching. So it makes no sense that pulling the switch up should cause you to lose the neck tone pot while keeping the neck pickup (unless it's not the neck pickup you're hearing).

Your description also suggests that you have no middle pickup tone pot at all, since it doesn't seem to be operative in any of the positions where the middle pickup is selected. That could be caused by a fried or faulty pot, or by a wiring fault to the pot.

But basically, your description of getting "sound" at certain positions doesn't tell me much. We will need to know what pickups are sounding out at which positions. Therefore, please post the original MR diagram from which you were working, and then use a screwdriver or other magnetic metal object to tap the individual coils at each of the switch positions. Report back your results, we'll go from there.

Additional testing beyond that will probably require a multimeter. Do you have one?

Please understand that this is a fairly complex scheme and troubleshooting over the internet is difficult, since we can't have the guitar "in hand". We will certianly try to help you work through these issues, but it may take some time, and a good deal of back-and-forth.

****For clarification, note that MR's diagrams (and mudtaco's reiterations) reverse the typical 5-way switch numbering scheme, designating the neck position as #1, bridge as #5. This is opposite of Fender's usual desgnations, and we here have typically followed Fender, designating the neck as #5, bridge as #1

[mudtaco]

To answer your question, no, I didn't come up with that diagram. I found it here: hermeticoguitar.blogspot.com/2012/11/wiring-diagram-mike-richardson-mod-03.html Some nice fellow took Mike's design and made it pretty. So, what I posted was that and then the one photoshopped to reflect the changes I made. I will post Mike's original hand drawn diagram of his strat wiring mod 3 or "the modded mod".

You wanted more details about which pups... Alright sir, here goes:

(5 being selector toward the neck, 1 being selector toward the bridge)
switch up: 5 - all on w/ neck tone, 4 - dead. 3 - all on w/ neck tone, 2 - dead, 1 - all on w/ neck tone
switch down: 5 - bridge, 4 - mid, 3 - mid, 2 - neck w/ neck tone, 1 - neck w/ neck tone

I also got some readings with my ohmmeter at the output jack (the 1st number is set at x1k and the second is set at x10)
switch up 5 - 23/17, 4 - dead, 3 - 30/26, 2 - dead, 1 - 90/100
switch down - all five read 34 in both settings

BTW, I double checked every reading and did every test twice and got matching numbers.

Something sure seems to be way off. As I said before, I went over it many times to check every solder point, to compare it to the diagram and to make sure there was no cross connections. Everything matches the diagram every solder point is solid and nothing is touching. Also, every part is top quality and brand new.

One question did come to mind. It doesn't matter that the plate on the back of the selector is facing out (as opposed to rotating the selector 180 degrees and have the plate facing in) does it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am near scrapping it and going stock. But i have put so much time into this and really wanted those series options. So, I really hope there is a fix.

Thanks

PS if you PM me, I can reply with a Word doc that has all the diagrams on it for printing and easy comparison. I tried to upload the file, but it didn't work.

[Yogi B]

Nov 28, 2020 3:49:57 GMT -5 mudtaco said:

To answer your question, no, I didn't come up with that diagram. I found it here. Some nice fellow took Mike's design and made it pretty.

Made it pretty, but unfortunately made it wrong. The two unlabelled wires going to the DPDT switch (pink & blue) have been swapped -- in Mike's original it is (that which becomes) the blue wire which should connect diagonally across the switch, not the pink. So they'll need to be swapped back to how they should be.

(reTrEaD, I've edited your post linking to the Hermetico version to include a warning noting this error.)

---

The other issue I see is that you have the middle tone control wired between M+ & ground, this won't work correctly. For example in the bridge only position the middle pickup is hanging from hot, which would cause the middle tone control to be in the circuit when it ought not to be. Instead the middle tone control should be wired between M+ & M-, in other words: the lead of the tone cap that you've currently soldered to the pot's back should instead be joined with the terminal connected to M- on the 5-way switch.

I'm not sure that will solve everything, as I don't think either of those should cause completely dead positions, but at least it's two steps in the right direction.

[reTrEaD]

Nov 28, 2020 4:54:50 GMT -5 Yogi B said:

(reTrEaD, I've edited your post linking to the Hermetico version to include a warning noting this error.)

Thanks. I punched it up even harder with a border and cautionary image.

[mudtaco]

Wow. I can't believe I missed that switch he made. I am so very grateful that you did sir. You da maaaan!

I photoshopped it further to reflect that change and moved the mid tone cap leg from the back of the pot/gnd to the mid neg on the selector, as you said. Does this look right? I probably can't the get the soldering iron out till Monday evening. I'll get back to you when I can on how it worked out.

So, I don't need the back of either tone pot grounded then right?

Thanks again.

[reTrEaD]

Nov 29, 2020 5:18:53 GMT -5 mudtaco said:

So, I don't need the back of either tone pot grounded then right?

Hi mudtaco

I see you have a foil-backed pickguard. Use an ohmmeter to be sure the cases of both tone pots have a low resistance connection to the case of the volume pot (through the foil). If not, you could use wires to ground them. Without the cases of the tone pots being connected to ground, the circuit will work but you'll have a small opportunity for hum and noise to enter the system.

[mudtaco]

With the busy Thanksgiving weekend over, I finally got to get to work on this late last night. But doing the work after everybody was in bed, I had to wait to test it till just now. Well, positions 2 and 4 with the mini switch in super-special mode aren't dead anymore, but the other issues still remain.

For some reason one is five and five is one... In standard mode (switch up) there aren't notch positions. The 2nd tone still doesn't do anything at all. There is also a pretty bad buzz when the body is flat (face up or down), but on it's side (in playing position) it is cut way way down. That buzz is consistent in standard mode, except where the neck tone is engaged. Then it is bad with the tone wide open, but with the tone rolled all the way down the buzz is almost gone. With the mini switch engaged the buzz is different for each position. 

Switch up:
5 Bridge - no T - buzz, 4 Mid - no T - buzz, 3 Mid - no T - buzz, 2 Neck - neck T - buzz (open), 1 Neck - neck T - buzz (open)
Switch down:
5 All - neck T - less buzz (changes), 4 B/M - no T - no buzz, 3 All - neck T - buzz (open), 2 N/M - neck T - buzz (closed), 1 All - neck T - buzz (open)

If anybody can offer any help for any of three problems (why I don't have notch positions, why the 2nd tone doesn't work and the terrible buzzing), I would be ever so grateful.

Also, is there a fix for the selector is working in reverse, without rotating it 180 degrees (there isn't room to do so)? Can I just switch the pickup leads from one end to the other without causing other issues?

Thank you

[newey]

Can I just switch the pickup leads from one end to the other without causing other issues?

Yes, but it sounds like you've got bigger issues. It sounds like multiple wiring issues happening, it's not just one thing. It's devilishly difficult to diagnose these problems from afar.

You mentioned a change in the "buzz" depending upon the position of the guitar. This doesn't necessarily mean anything (apart from meaning that you having a noise issue). Noise is often highly directional- move around and it changes. But the fact that it's worse when laying the guitar down could mean that something is touching your shielding when in that position- plastic pickguards can flex a bit. First thing I would do is test the circuit with the pickguard off the guitar, see if that changes anything.

[Yogi B]

Dec 3, 2020 3:12:19 GMT -5 mudtaco said:

For some reason one is five and five is one

That's due to a difference between how Mike chose to label the switch positions (neck=1, ..., bridge=5), and the definitions you are using (bridge=1, ..., neck=5). newey noted this in an earlier post, but I think both of us assumed that you were already aware of this, and following the same convention. That would also mean that both of us then went on to miss that you confirmed the opposite in your following post, so I'm sorry for that.

Also, is there a fix for the selector is working in reverse, without rotating it 180 degrees (there isn't room to do so)? Can I just switch the pickup leads from one end to the other without causing other issues?

That depends, swapping just the pickup leads will change 8 of the 10 selections, the two which won't change positions are the all-series and all-parallel settings which will remain at the 'wrong' ends as per Mike's original design. Additionally, position 3 would become (N × M) + B, rather than the originally intended (B × M) + N. Whether that matters or not is up to you.

Furthermore, swapping literally only the pickup leads would mean de-soldering the neck pickup from its tone control, and re-soldering the bridge pickup in its place, thereby causing that tone control to instead apply to the bridge pickup. What would need to be done is leaving the neck pickup and neck tone control connected together as you have it now: neck white 'hot' wire to the wiper (centre lug) of the tone pot; the tone capacitor wired between the first lug of tone pot and the neck black 'ground' wire -- and swapping those two connections with those of the bridge pickup.

In other words: the neck ground wire and lead of the capacitor currently soldered to it should be grounded, and taking their place on the 5-way switch would be the bridge black 'ground' wire; also the wire connecting from the neck tone pot and neck white 'hot' wire to the volume pot, should be swapped with the bridge white wire that is currently connected to the 5-way switch.

Alternatively, if you want it with all the positions as per the original, it is unfortunately quite a bit more that will need swapping: each group of five terminals on the switch will need to be mirrored (i.e. for each pole terminals 5 & 1 would need to swap with each other, and as would terminals 4 & 2). Some wiring schemes are nicely symmetrical making reversing the order as simple as just swapping the pickup leads, but alas, this isn't one of them.

In standard mode (switch up) there aren't notch positions.

	5	4	3	2	1
Switch up	Bridge - no T - buzz	Mid - no T - buzz	Mid - no T - buzz	Neck - neck T - buzz	Neck - neck T - buzz (open)
Switch down	All - neck T - less buzz (changes)	B × M - no T - no buzz	All - neck T - buzz	N × M - neck T - buzz (closed)	All - neck T - buzz (open)

Observing which pickups you list as currently being selected in the 2 & 4 positions of the standard Strat mode, and that the series selections in the alternate mode appear to work correctly (excluding their reversed positions), I would be lead to believe that the red & green wires that are attached to the toggle switch ("A" & "X" as per Mikes original labelling) and that should be connected via the switch when it is up (standard Strat), are currently not being done so.

The functional series settings suggests that the green & blue (what was previously pink) wires are connected when the switch is in the other position, so that points the finger towards the red wire, "A".

Having any output whatsoever implies that the points connected to "A" on the 5-way switch are connected to the volume pot. Looking at your previous photograph, I think I can see that (like the Hermetico diagram) you've run the wire from the 5-way switch, to the toggle switch, and then onto the volume pot, so I don't think you're missing a jumper between the toggle switch and the volume pot -- although you have made modifications to that switch the since then, so things may have changed.

So that leads me to my current conclusion that while the connection between the two sections of that wire is fine, either the connection to the switch's terminal isn't, or the switch itself is internally faulty.

The 2nd tone still doesn't do anything at all.

This I should've at least partially spotted earlier: that Hermetico diagram has (what was) the bridge tone control wired 'backwards' between terminals 2 & 3, rather than terminals 1 & 2 -- in other words the bright green wire in your latest diagram should be connected to the terminal on other side of the pot.

That doesn't fully explain it doing nothing at all -- a backwards wired tone control will do effectively nothing through almost all it's range from 0% to 95%, but on 10 should give the equivalent of what would normally be 0. It apparently doing truly nothing suggests either a further error, or that you're using a no-load pot -- if the latter, then swapping the wire to the other terminal should be all that is necessary to fix this particular issue.

[oettam]

Nov 29, 2020 5:18:53 GMT -5 mudtaco said:

Wow. I can't believe I missed that switch he made. I am so very grateful that you did sir. You da maaaan!

I photoshopped it further to reflect that change and moved the mid tone cap leg from the back of the pot/gnd to the mid neg on the selector, as you said. Does this look right? I probably can't the get the soldering iron out till Monday evening. I'll get back to you when I can on how it worked out.

So, I don't need the back of either tone pot grounded then right?

Thanks again.

I’m reopening this thread as I would like to try this mod too. Is this diagram correct or should I look to the original Mike’s drawings?

[Deleted]

From reading the last few comments it doesn't sound like it does fully.

But the text does suggest how to fix things
==========
How the hell do you guys work off a diagram like that!! I'm looking left and right as it comes out of one point!!

[bes]

Hello Everyone.

I would like to share an improved version of the original Mike Richardson Strat Mod, that eliminate the noisy "still on load neck coil" on Bridge positions of the normal mode. It consists of using a 3PDT MiniToggle instead of a DPDT or Push/Pull. I drew it with some arrangements thanks to DYLayoutCreator for one of my Strat. I think it is really more readable like this.

Let me know what you think :

[newey]

bes-

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

Your diagram is beutifully drawn. Did you build this into a guitar? I didn't get the chance to proofread this yet, but you weren't really asking for it to be checked, and no need if it's been built and works as advertised.

I'm a bit confused by your reference to a Fender concentric pot as your diagram doesn't show a concentric pot. Also there's really no need to designate coils as N or S with single-coil pickups, given that tthe middle pickup is designated as being RWRP.

But nicely drawn, and eliminating the hanging neck coil is worthwhile, although 3PDT switches are harder to come by than double-pole ones.