A no-solder option, if the strat is a standard SSS-type, is to unscrew the middle and bridge pickups from the pickguard and swap positions. Then the bridge pickup has a tone knob! You also get the Telecaster-style setup where the forward three positions of the blade switch gives neck, neck+bridge, bridge then the last two give middle+bridge and middle. Telecasterize your Strat!
+Notinserviceij Most standard Strats have the exact same coil in all three positions with the same kohms. Those that don't, there is a tone knob now on the bridge to adjust if an issue is perceived. A bit brighter pickup can cut easier through the mix anyway, but at practical levels it's a non-issue. This is a slick change for those that don't like to solder and is easily reversible, again with no soldering - so a worthy experiment.
I wired my bridge pickup into the neck tone pot, along with a neck on switch. In position 1 and 2, that pot works the bridge. In 4 and 5, it works the neck. With the added neck+bridge combo, in new positions 6 and 7, it becomes a tele style master tone for both pickups. The middle pickup keeps its independent tone in all positions.
I just need to find my soldering iron. I was going to move it to the middle pick up tone knob but I like your idea with it on the Neck and having more flexibility. This is perfect, thank you!
Great video. The ”empty slot connects to the pot of choice” worked just fine with the standard Fishman Fluence Single configuration too. Just did it 😊 Thanks for posting this!
You betcha!! It's the dang bridge pup that is always shrill, not pleasing to me. I have a closet full of cheap strats to feed my refinishing/upgrading obsession. Thanks to your helpful instruction they are suddenly ALL in line for this much needed revision. Thanks for showing me how Dr. G.
I really like the idea of wiring it to the neck pu. I have never seen that before nor thought of it. That is definitely going to be the next project. Thanks so much.
What you should also make sure of is that your Volume control is an A type e.g . A250kohms and that your tone controls are B250kohms . That will ensure that the volume is more responsive and the tone more useful. A type are logarithmic whereas B type are linear. If you play flat out all the time you won't hear a difference but if you want more control over your tone Crank your amp to 11 and use the GUITAR volume control to find a sweet spot . This is what the |Tone Merchants did in the early days before pedals and modelling devices. How to tell an A Type from a B type if the markings are obscured ? Simple measure the resistance from prong 1 to 2 at full off . You should get the max reading if not turn the pot fully the other way. Now turn the knob as close as you can to half way . A B Pot will show half the reading you just took : An A pot won't !!. You can go complete gonzo-geek and plot a graph of all the positions and readings 1-10 and you should get a straight line (or nearly) for the B pot and a curved line for the A pot. Remember - Max Volume is when resistance is least . You will be suprised how many bought guitars are wired correctly but to the wrong type pots !! I always check and re wire accordingly. I have checked my newest guitar to finf that the pots are all B type so it will need two As for the volume to work properly. So if you are a Tone Merchant like me you will want to check your wiring. Remember this technology is from the 1930 days of radio and Leo Fender was a radio repair man who used to visit peoples' homes to fit a guitar socket to their radios to achieve a low power valve guitar amp when plugged in and back to radio when you unplugged the guitar .
thank you Tamsin for this usefull info. Most videos state there is no difference between tone & volume pots & the premium wiring kits I have been buying(SM) all have the same type of pot in them. I am having consistant problems with CTS pots. Absolutely no response on volume until 1 and a half on the knob - then sound cuts in with some volume - no fade in. This is not acceptable to those of us who like to use the vol. while playing(easier on strats than Gibsons). Also the vol pots are quickly becoming scratchy - especially at the cut in point. I tested about a dozen pots straight out of the packet on a multimeter & all show no response until 1.5 level. Can you recommend a decent quality pot & a brand that provides both A & B types? At 60+ I am a skilled woody but have only recently started building guitars. So much bad advice on utube - happy to find someone who really knows their stuff(+Scott). Lastly - any thoughts on treble bleed capcitors on vol pot? Once again thank you so much. Dean Sibley ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-inFAndmhUOI.html
Great imformation Scott. I have an old squire I am going to modify. I have one humbucker and one single coil to work with. Kindly keep it country. Frank Oh and thank you.
Great video, very informative, thanks for the tip to get the knobs off too, they are so difficult and i did grab a screwdriver and did end up marking my pick guard but luckily just a tiny scratch but still really annoyed about it, Thanks for sharing.
I know this video is almost two years old and I'm late to the party, but I just want to say I just completed this mod to my guitar recently and it worked perfectly. Big thanks to Dr. Groovy! Cheers!
Scott this was very helpful. this would have came in handy about two years ago when I got new pickups and stuff for my grandfather's old straight copy. I had to redo that intire setup
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with these useful tips. Very clear instructions as usual. Be well Dr. Groovy. I hope people behave because it's good to see your vids here.
my daughter just got back from seeing Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke doing a small Bad CO Concert. they had a few autographed Strats there for sale with all the proceeds going to an animal sanctuary and she bought me one. I came online to see how to add the tone knob to the bridge pup. I had the electronic 5 way switch but it is wired the same way. (middle on tone pot to unused tab next to the other tone wires.) thanks!
And for us fishermen, you can also use a foot long piece of 20 lb. test monofilament fishing line, if you don't have a zip tie handy. All my zip ties got used up replacing the metal basketball rim clips that holds the net on, since my son is learning to dunk and keeps breaking them off in the process. :)
I just added the greasebucket to my Strat neck mid and bridge pups. It decreases overall volume of each pup and pulls the icepick treble down noticeably even with tone at 10. While I like the fact it does not add muddy bottom, it (to my ears) does take some of the touch sensitivity and definition away. With the Switch position in (2) bridge and middle, I noticed the famous Strat "quack" was not as pronounced. the 5 position switch right hand side from top to bottom are as follows 1, signal out to vol pot. 2, bridge pup, 3. Mid pup, 4 neck pup. I added a jumper from 2 to 3 to include the bridge and mid pup. Normally the bridge has NO tone control, its wide open. . My bottom line is I rarely ever use the tone knobs on the guitar. I use the amp settings. So, I will go back to stock tone controls. I did add the treble bleed mod, and I like that. It was an interesting experiment. Thank you for the great video!!!! I had to look 5 other places until I found this video with the best explanation of switch positions. You are a great teacher.
I like to use a 3 way switch and wire the middle pickup to the tone knob at the bottom (so it turns the middle pickup on and off), much easier to controll during a song. I wire the middle tone pot to be an all tone pot for all pickups, but usually never use it.
Dr. Groovy, thanks for the great Tips on how to do a simple wiring job, and how to remove knobs without doing any damage. This is great info for people who did not know how to do this until now. Many Thanks Bro, Ya i like your shirt too. I hope all is well , or getting Better with Time, It' Great to see a video on whatever from you, Cheers Man, Cousin Figel
Cool to see you again. Thanks for the video. If you get a chance, how about a video on how to wire the three position for the tele sound instead of just the middle pickup?
Nope, it won't stop the buzz. You can use some noiseless pickups. Tons of those out there. You can do the whole shielding of the entire inside of the guitar to cut out some of it. There are 100% cures to kill the buzz. Adding a pickup to a tone control is simply adding a pickup to a tone control.
weird, I usually see the capacitor on middle pot not on the bridge pot. also seen people who wired 2 capacitors, one on each pot. OR is that capacitor actually connected to the bridge tone pot and to a wire that goes to the middle pot?
thanks good info. GOOD TO SEE YOU ! I always leave it all on 10. Can you do a follow up on LACE SENSORS, what year did the son take over for the father and sent it all to heck? I was going to do a new build with a ES 335 style body ( I know, not your cup of tea) with strat pickups and wanted to try 3 Silvers, But not if the new ones are dreck. Have you heard the Fishman FLuence? Just looking for a new thing. If not may go with MIM ceramics since hearing how great yours sounded. Regards, Stefano
Will I gain any tone by removing the tone pot wires from my switch? I always leave my tone knobs on 10 anyway. I just don't care for the sound with the tone rolled off. Strat.
What I found out is that i do not like it, when a tone pots works on two pickups.. RIght now I wired the pots so the middle tone pot works on the neck pickup and the bottom tone pot works on both bridge and middle pickup.. This severly darkens the second position when the bridge and middle pickup are run in parallel as that pickup position will have more highs send to ground as the combined load is 125k instead of 250k.. Another trick is that the tone cap can be varied between 0.1µf, 0.047µf, 0.022µf for a different response on the tone dial.. A large cap will send highs to ground quickly on the dial, a smaller one more gradual.. The funky effect you get with a 0.022µf small cap is that if you turn the 250k tone pot all the way off there is a notch boost in the highs mids giving you almost a cooked wah effect similar to the "money for nothing sound" played on a les paul..
My pleasure Chris. It would have been cool if at some point, Fender would just use 3 stacked knobs....volume and tone for each pickup without having to change they visual layout at all. I might as well go ahead and put one together like that and maybe someone will send the link to Fender and they may dig it.
+Infamous619 I do that too with pretty much every other knob type other than these. I don't own a single pair of shoes that have laces, so.....I have to raid my wife's closet now and then. lol
+Infamous619 It's been that way since "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" at the movie theater. I got my checkered Vans slip on shoes and it's been a pair of those every single year and a pair of New Balance velcro shoes and I'm fine. lol I'll never pull any muscles putting on my shoes for sure.
How...?Do you just explain it so easily and cut all the bull and make it understandable to even a Dunderheed like ME..!! Like The Theory Lesson...!! That was...! Phew...! HotDiggityDamn ..!! Ciao Scotty..!!Bb
Great job thanks! Area these strats nowadays shielded on the scratch guards, or was that your custom made? US fenders? MEX fenders shielded? Talking about most recent ones..
Hey Scott, thanks for that. Could you please tell me if this would work with a HSS having auto split on position 2, meaning position 1 is the bridge humbucker and position 2 is the middle + 1 coil of the humbucker ?
Nice video Scott. Good to see you again. Just wondering, did you switched that Mexican loaded pickguard for an American. What do you think about these Mexican pups. Do you prefer Alnico over these Ceramic. Wish you well and good luck.
I have a 62 reissue with vintage wiring and the 3 way switch. How would I wire a tone to the bridge? Is it the same as you show or is there anything different? Should I use the middle tone or bridge tone for the bridge on a 3 way switch?
Scott, I just watched a video of the super player, Jack Pearson, in which he says his Strat mod is to have 1 tone for the neck, a 'no load' middle and the second tone for the bridge. That sounds very interesting. Do you know how to make that mod? Thanks
Hi Scott. I recently did a slightly different version of a blender in which all of the wires (pup and tone) are soldered onto one side of the 5-way switch and you have to turn the knob counter clockwise to get the pup to "blend" into the mix, which is very odd to roll the knob to the "off" position to get it to come "on". It also seems as if sometimes the bridge is blended in, while other times it's the bridge. It works, but it's rather confusing. Does this version work the same way, or will the bridge pup blend in as I roll the knob "on" regardless of position? Thanks again for all the great vids. I hope you're health is improving too. Stay Groovy!
+kfa4303 Sorry, meant to say sometimes the bridge pup blends in while other times it's the neck, depending on the position of the 5 way switch. Thanks.
+kfa4303 Blending...! Huh...! I bought this old Peavey "Milestone"..Like a sorta Jazz Bass Copy..! And it`s a blending thing..!! Wiring broke like a couple of hours after I got it home from this little grubby S/H shop..!! Little prick charged me £80 for that and a broken Tuner..!Saw a brand new one (Or Near As) for same price...!! Kinda prefer the "Played In" look anyway I suppose...!! Was Like "Spaghetti Junction" in there man..!!
just wondering i have5 humbuckers and want toget the best setup out of them i want to change my less paul epic phone pickups even know they sound ok what would you and where bridge neck i have a trembucker jb model,seth lover ,dirty fingers and a fat cat and a jazz model humbucker,i allso have 2 demarzio,usa pickups,and i have a ibanaze humbucker single single witch humbucker would suit this ,as i realy dont know a lot about the different sounds that these humbuckers put out i would be very interested in your opinion on what i should use and position as in bridge neck,on my ibanaze i was going to change it from hss to hsh is this a good i dear or not hope to here your imput on these humbuckers,the epic phone sounds good with the pick ups that are in it but i hear seth lover singe 2 wires sounds beter,await reply befor i do any swaping out of pick ups ,as i got these 5 pickups new for $300au worth about double
I have a question for you Sir. I understand that the key to Strat sound is proper scale length and pickup position. That in mind, what do you think of the 3/4 scale Mini-Strat? Thinking about getting one cheap and upgrading the pickups. But, will the different scale prevent it from sounding as good as a standard strat?
+Tiny Rex I actually like those little axes. I honestly can't tell you for a FACT if the stock pickups were voiced any differently to make up for the short scale length. The longer the scale length, the more bass a guitar will naturally produce, but who knows if the pickups will amplify that. lol If it it goofy sounding and thin, then new pickups MIGHT help or simply adding in a small resistor on the volume pot or just the hot wire from the jack in order to calm the treble down on the whole guitar at once. You might grab a few resistors for a few pennies and attach them via alligator clips to see what brings it to life over all before soldering one in. I've been looking at some of those tiny Ibanez Iceman guitars and such. Just something fun to pull out during a gig. Cheers and let me know if you grab one and what ends up working out best for you. Scott
+Groovy Music Lessons "Hot Wire From The Jack"..What !How !Why !Where! When...? I`m scoobied...! Betcha want a Ibby `cause of Paul Gilbert....! Mmm...No...!OK Bro`..!
Thanasis Choul I just tried this, the downside is you lose the hum cancellation of the humbucker. I suppose the workaround would be lose your tone control for the middle pickup and just wire in the humbucker to the tone control.
Thanks, Meatloaf. I won't tell anybody your name is really Scott. (Oops! Sorry) Your looking like you've trimmed down to just the Meat without the all the bread crumb filling and whatnot. I mean that you look fabulous! You've really aged well. You probably had to dump Betty Boop because she was starting to look like the old bat out of hell? But boy did she have some glass cutters back in the day! It's a miracle that you didn't lose an eye in a motor boating accident. LOL! It was great seeing again! I still can't get over your full head of hair! You look like you haven't aged one bit!
SHOULD HAVE BEEN WIRED LIKE THIS EVERSINCE. THAT POT ALONE COSTS A FORTUNE. The reason why 2 pots? cos the full backed tone pot for the neck when combined with the middle tone POT reduces the initial tone EVEN MORE. 😂
