The quest for a Strat that can do it all

[milkbeard]

Hello wiring experts! I’m the planning stage for my big electronic upgrade project for my MIM Stratocaster. I’m curious what you guys think before I tear in - Do you see any fatal flaws? Any major technical drawbacks to an approach like this? Just how crazy am I? I am not a wiring expert, which is why I’m coming to you guys. See wiring diagram below.

The goal of this project is to provide as much tonal flexibility as possible, in the most user friendly, straightforward package possible. In an ideal world, this guitar could be capable of playing any genre, from spanky and twangy, to warm jazz, to chugging heavy metal. In reality, I know all of this isn’t entirely possible, but I’m only “allowed” to have my one guitar for now, so I want to give it as much tonal range as possible. I want to see how close I can get to doing it all. Also I’m largely a bedroom player these days, so I’m not too worried about needing to make quick changes on stage.

Another design guideline that I followed is that the modifications shouldn’t be invisible if it makes the controls less intuitive. There are some really cool wiring schemes out there, but if I have to look at a diagram every time I want to explore different tones, I’m probably just not going to use it. Also, no hate toward push-pull pots, but in general I want controls to be what they are, obvious, ready to use, and not necessarily buried under another control knob. That said, I think added controls can be relatively minimal, in my case using Jaguar style switches and a small push button.

I went down a rabbit hole while studying all the different wiring schemes there are out there. I got pretty far into series/parallel, 7 sound, super strats, but none of them could achieve all of the things I wanted in one “simple” package. (At least that is the conclusion that I came to, could be that you guys know of something I don’t?) Then I came across the 10 way switch, which managed to do nearly everything I wanted in a clean, hidden package. Pretty amazing.

Notable features:

10 way switch - this thing is pretty amazing. Are you guys familiar with it? It manages every pickup combination that I was after, all in an intuitive package that doesn’t change the appearance of the guitar.

Direct Through Switch (aka Bright Mode, aka Blower Switch) - a button that bypasses all control pots (and their associated drain) and feeds pickups directly into the output jack, for a brighter sound.

Dedicated Humbucker control (Jaguar style switch) - I wanted more control from the humbucker than even the 10 way switch would provide, so I decided to add 3-way in the chain (settings are standard humbucker, parallel humbucker, and split). I want to locate the switch directly over the humbucker, so that it is obvious what its function is. I will need to modify the body to a small degree to do this.

Tapped Single Coils - I’d like to be able to achieve modern sounds with some hot single coils (not noiseless), but I’d also like to be able to drop the output down to achieve a vintage sound. I want to locate the switch directly under each pickup, so that it is obvious what its function is. I will need to modify the body to a small degree to do this.

Tone pots upgrade - in line with the theme of acheiving more range, I will swap all tone pots with 500k audio taper pots, even for the single coils. This will allow for a brighter sound, which I can then mellow out with a warmer .47 capacitors / tone knobs.


Right now, it is wired to have the top tone control the neck only and the bottom controls bridge only. I’d like to have the top knob control both neck AND middle, if possible. Do you guys know how that could be done?

Thanks for reading!

Wiring diagram (updated link to full resolution):https://www.dropbox.com/s/xsbmyj9guaylwvv/210307_wiring%20diagram.jpeg?dl=0

[newey]

milkbeard-

Hello and Welcome to G-Nutz2!

Mar 7, 2021 22:51:53 GMT -5 milkbeard said:

10 way switch - this thing is pretty amazing. Are you guys familiar with it?

Yes, we are, although I don't believe we've ever had anyone decipher the switch logic (apart from educated guessing based on the labels for the switch lugs), so if yours hasn't been wired in yet, and if you have a multimeter . . .(hint, hint). Actually a simple continuity tester is all that's really needed to check this.

Everything looks OK except for your series/parallel/split switch for the bridge HB. Take a look at that, and notice how the light green wire is the connection to the "hot" output? Notice that that light green wire is connected to the far left upper lug of the switch? That means that, when the switch is flipped to the opposite side, the output will be disconnected and you'll get no sound.

I can't correct your diagram without knowing the color code for your pickups, but this is the way to wire what your trying to do- the left side diagram is the one you want for an On-On-On DPDT, courtesy of Unklmickey, one of the old-time gurus around here:



Now, if you're using slide switches, you will need to translate the layout to your switch. On-On-On slide switches are different than DPDT toggles.

Your coil tap switches are fine. The connection for the middle tone should also be OK, except I foresee potential issues when you are in position 10, with the M and N in series with each other. I'll let others weigh in on that, just hold the thought.

As far as the "bright switch" goes, the wiring is fine but make sure you get a "latching"-style pushbutton rather than a momentary one, like one would use for a killswitch (if you see a switch described as "On-(On)", the parentheses indicate momentary actuation).

I do, however, question your choice of using slide switches from a practical standpoint, not from an electrical standpoint. Unless you have the proper tools to do so, it is a whole lot easier to drill a hole to fit a mini-toggle switch that to cut a rectangular slot for a slide switch, and then to drill the holes for the mounting screws in the appropriate spots. I have never done so, but I've had to cut pickguards for other reasons, and have ruined some pickguards in the process- pickguard material is tough stuff and not easy to cut unless one has the proper tools.

If your concern is that you'd hit the toggles while playing, there are subminiature toggles that won't protrude out much more than the slide switches would. And, while you said you're not concerned about "switching on the fly", it is easier to flip a toggle than to grasp-and-move a slide switch, particularly a 3-position one.

While we have had a few people use the 10-way switch recently, we don't have anyone with a track record yet with these things, they're fairly new. But the same mfr. makes a 6-way toggle called the "Freeway switch" for use on LP-style HH guitars, and we had some reports that these switches weren't very reliable or robust over time, and prone to failure. Now, I can't vouch for those reports, and the chatter on the internet is what it is- not always accurate. But just a word on that for your consideration, and it wasn't about their 10-way lever switch anyway.

[milkbeard]

Thanks so much for the thoughtful response! You’ve given me some things to reconsider, which is exactly what I was looking for. Regarding the sliding switch, I was thinking of them as Jaguar style switches, figuring that if it is playable on a Jaguar, then it will be playable on a Strat. Though on a Jag, they are slightly further away from the pickups. I think I will buy a few switches and mock them up before committing to final install.

The multimeter suggestion is probably a no brainer to most people around here, but it is something I hadn’t thought of, so thanks for that. Good thought on the potential series problem that could arise out of trying to connect the middle PU to the tone pot. I bet that’s why Freeway (same manufacturer that you mentioned for the 3 way version) does not offer a wiring scheme that does that.

On the series switch - you are totally right, the hot output has to be in the middle... I guess this diagram I found guitarelectronics.com is wrong then.



Thanks again for the prompt and thoughtful response, very helpful!

[newey]

Mar 8, 2021 10:12:00 GMT -5 milkbeard said:

On the series switch - you are totally right, the hot output has to be in the middle... I guess this diagram I found guitarelectronics.com is wrong then.

No, both you and the diagram are right, the bridge "+" (if that's what it is, I'm assuming it) is permanently connected to the output, the mistake was mine. Insufficient caffeine at 6 am is my only excuse.

But, having said that, we'll need to know the wire color scheme for your bridge pickup to know if you have the switch correct or not.

[ashcatlt]

Mar 8, 2021 7:33:21 GMT -5 newey said:

The connection for the middle tone should also be OK, except I foresee potential issues when you are in position 10, with the M and N in series with each other.

Yeah, that. It will short the neck any time they’re in that series position. Consider that in the parallel positions, both tone controls will act as master tone anyway and in series, as it’s wired, the tone is across the entire series stack, so again is just like a master tone. That then leaves us position 3 and 6 to worry about. But wait! In position 6, the bridge is at the top of the stack and its tone control is grounded, so it’s a master tone anyway, so... Position 3 is probably the one I’d use most, but then I also never use a tone control and even prefer the unloaded sound, so I’d probably just leave it. I don’t think there’s a good answer there either, with the way this switch works. Frankly, maybe just master tone period. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to have redundant tone controls unless you really intend to dial in a sound on one of the single pickup selections, and another for the other, so that you can switch back and forth mid song or whatever, but you said you didn’t necessarily need that kind of thing. Use a DP3T rotary switch in place of the bridge tone instead of the on/on/on S/P/split you were going to use.

Then that blower switch doesn’t actually do anything about the tone controls. You need at least one more pole to accomplish that.

[milkbeard]

Haha, that is totally understandable! As a newcomer to this sort of thing, it is easy to twist yourself into a pretzel trying to work it out in your head. Here is my humbucker color cheat sheet:

[milkbeard]

It doesn’t make a lot of sense to have redundant tone controls unless you really intend to dial in a sound on one of the single pickup selections, and another for the other, so that you can switch back and forth mid song or whatever, but you said you didn’t necessarily need that kind of thing. Use a DP3T rotary switch in place of the bridge tone instead of the on/on/on S/P/split you were going to use.

Then that blower switch doesn’t actually do anything about the tone controls. You need at least one more pole to accomplish that.

I like where your head is. I really don’t need individual pickup control. You’ve got my gears turning. I liked that the Jag sliding switch was directly over the humbucker, since that is the thing that it controls - but! That approach requires modifying the body of the strat, which I’d rather not do if I don’t have to. I could make the volume knob the 3 way DP3T rotary switch, which would place it right under the humbucker. Makes sense! Then volume would go where top tone normally is, and the bottom tone would become master tone. I like it! 

Not sure I totally followed your last line about the blower switch - are you saying that it doesn’t work as currently drawn? Thanks!

[newey]

Mar 8, 2021 14:39:16 GMT -5 milkbeard said:

Not sure I totally followed your last line about the blower switch - are you saying that it doesn’t work as currently drawn? Thanks!

No, he's saying that while the switch bypasses the volume pot, the tone pots are still in the circuit either way the switch is pressed. So, you're not "blowing past" those, just the V control.

Ashcatlt's idea of the rotary switch would be one way to go for the HB split/series/parallel; my thought was you could spend a bit more (around $40) and buy a Seymour Duncan "Triple Shot" HB mounting ring. They make these for flat-bodies guitars as well as for arched top ones. You get your series/parallel/split coil options with tiny slide switches right on the mounting ring, no cutting holes for the slide switch, and the controls are unobtrusive. The downside of course is that the switches are micro-sized, no problem in the studio- or bedroom- but not the thing for the quick change.

The bonus, too, with the SD ring is that you can get either of the two coils by itself, you're not limited to picking just one to be the split one. While the 2 coils probably won't sound much different, having the ability to select either coil means all the combos with either the middle or neck pickup can be hum-canceling.

[ashcatlt]

Oh hey actually if you do go with a single master tone, and can live with “50s style” wiring, the tone and volume would both be bypassed by the blower switch without needing another pole or even any change at all to that switch’s wiring. 50s wiring causes the tone and volume pots to interact in somewhat strange ways, but that kind of only matters at all if you regularly run with the volume rolled back, and even then it’s not necessarily wrong, just different. Some people like it, some people just can’t tell the difference. MyV pots (in guitars that even have them) are always either at 10 or 0, so it wouldn’t affect me at all.