Dan Armstrong Mod for Lefty Strat HSS

[1150lefty]

Greetings - It’s been a while!

I finally got around to chasing a buzz/hum in my own MIM Strat after getting back into setups and wiring for friends in COVID lockdown. I had already made a blender pot for a Tele-sound mod, changed pickguards a few times, and ultimately changed to HSS to utilize my L500XL. Then the noise (possible ground loop - fixed it last week before more mod problems), and then I didn’t play it for a while. Then I found the Dan Armstrong wiring mod, but I just can’t get it to work with the 5-way switch in left-handed configuration. I even watched where the contacts hit and even tried different scenarios in my head. The only thing I can think of now is wiring it EXACTLY like the right-hand diagram. I don’t remember how to post diagrams on here, so help with that also would be apreciated.

[1150lefty]

Nope - wired it exactly like the diagram, but switched bridge and neck positions. *sigh*

[JohnH]

hi 1150lefty

We can help with image posting, but in the meantime, how about f you find your diagram in righty form, on the web, and cut/paste us a link to it from your browser?

[1150lefty]

See if this works...

[1150lefty]

I guess this won’t work with a no-load blender pot? Something I didn’t even consider...

[1150lefty]

Meh, I tapped out and spent just over 8 minutes tearing it apart and dressing the wires neatly putting it back to Fatstrat with blender N+B, now with 500K volume and tone with 470K resistors for the single coils (in theory) to keep them at 250K resistance.

Thanks anyway, and nice being here again now on a phone instead of PC/laptop.

[JohnH]

I hope you get to settle on the best wiring to keep.

On that DA diagram, I could forsee that there is scope for mix-up's due to how the switch is drawn, with no offset between each side. And a adapting to a lefty version could add further to issues of getting the poles and lugs correct.

But actually, for a very smart and versatile design on a Strat using no extra controls, I'd prefer one of reTrEaDs zero-bux designs, discussed again in recent posts over the last few days.

If one added switch was on the table though, there are many more possibilities.

[syddd]

The only thing I can think of is making sure you are connecting to the poles of the switch correctly. Other than that, when I tried this mod, I didn't use the spare cap to the bridge