Strat wiring confusion!

Tonedef

Hi gang,

I've found the following schematic on guitarelectronics.com, for the planned upgrade to my strat's pups.

The diagram looks straightforward. However, I'm still mega unsure about certain things. In particular, the values for the tone pots, the value for the volume pot, and the values for the caps. I haven't measured any resistances or anything for what I have currently, but I'm sure all of it's pretty standard. Also, it's not clear to me from looking at the schematic whether I'll have tone control for the HB. :-\

I'd like to replace everything with quality bits, though, so any suggestions for kits/replacement parts would be much appreciated!

Also, the HB I received from rob only has two wires:

Halp! ☹

makepeace

0.047 is the general value for single coil tone caps. personal preference plays a role here though.. higher values have a darker tone, whereas lower are brighter.

HB vol pots are typically 500k to 1m, and 250k's for singlecoils. Seeing as you have a HB and single coils, i'd go for 500k, or play around somewhere between 500k and 250k.

according to your diagram, you won't have a HB tone control? tone controls for the SC's are also 250k.

cts are quality pots, but I use alpha for my needs cause they're cheap ? and they don't sound overly terrible..

Tonedef

I'm prepared to forgo tone control on the middle or neck pups and give it to the HB instead if that would be best, would I need a different tone pot value then?

Bob-Dubery

Looking at that diagram

1) No tone for the rear (bridge) PUP. Which is standard for a strat, but not mandatory.

2) The HB shown has 4 wires - 2 for each coil. What is being done is that in position 2 one of the HB coils is being shorted out so that the pickup is working like an SC. That's the wire going to the right side (in the drawing) of the selector switch. You can just omit that connection and take one of the HB wires to earth and the other to the switch - IE The connection from the HB to the LEFT side of the switch in your diagram.

HTH

There are plenty of ways to wire a strat. Google for more possibilities.

Tonedef

If I can tap the point at the back of the HB where N and S meet, then I'll have 3 wires which should do the trick as per the diagram, kirrekt?

Bob-Dubery

Tonedef wrote: If I can tap the point at the back of the HB where N and S meet, then I'll have 3 wires which should do the trick as per the diagram, kirrekt?

You're a braver man than I am!

AlanRatcliffe

I think you'll find the one wire already comes from the connection between the two coils for coil-cutting. The screen will be negative/ground, either red or white the output and the other will be the wire for the coil-cut. You can check the pickups with a multimeter first (if you have one) - measure resistance from ground to each of the two wires, and you'll find the resistance on one wire is half of the other. The higher is the output and the half resistance is the wire for the cut.

CTS pots and CRL or Oak Grigsby switch (which have the same pinouts as the diagram), Switchcraft jack socket.

Use 500K volume and 250K tones on the single-coils (the volume makes the singles a little brighter, but the tones tame it on those pickups). You can do fancy wiring to ensure the humbucker sees 500K and the singles see 250K, but chances are it'll be fine as pictured and it's simple enough for a relatively trouble-free wiring job.

Tonedef

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: I think you'll find the one wire already comes from the connection between the two coils for coil-cutting. The screen will be negative/ground, either red or white the output and the other will be the wire for the coil-cut. You can check the pickups with a multimeter first (if you have one) - measure resistance from ground to each of the two wires, and you'll find the resistance on one wire is half of the other. The higher is the output and the half resistance is the wire for the cut.

+1 Makes perfect sense, I'll measure them tonight!

Use 500K volume and 250K tones on the single-coils (the volume makes the singles a little brighter, but the tones tame it on those pickups). You can do fancy wiring to ensure the humbucker sees 500K and the singles see 250K, but chances are it'll be fine as pictured and it's simple enough for a relatively trouble-free wiring job.

? That's why I picked the diagram in question, I'd hate to do a "Stuff-up, bodge and despair" instead, and have to disassemble everything to re-do it. Q: Are tuning forks useful for stimulating pickups, in this situation?

Another question: Adding in a third, additional tone pot for the HB is child's play I reckon. But if I go that route, what values of cap+pot? ???

Thanks for the spoon-feed, Alan!

AlanRatcliffe

Tonedef wrote: Q: Are tuning forks useful for stimulating pickups, in this situation?

I have no idea. If they are ferromagnetic, they will work. I tap poles with screwdrivers or have the low E on the guitar for testing. ?

Another question: Adding in a third, additional tone pot for the HB is child's play I reckon. But if I go that route, what values of cap+pot? ???

Space is usually the issue and it gives you more to try control in a playing situation, where simple usually works best. Traditional values would be 500K and .22.

I'm the wrong guy to ask about cap values though, I only have tone controls on one guitar (the StraTele) and I ended up with a very unusual cap value - .0033 uF, which does odd things to the midrange when fully backed off.

Tonedef

Once again monsieur Stratrat demonstrates his quality. Had a close look now, the wiring on the HB is exactly as you suggested. The exit ground wire was snipped off where the black cladding ends, so at first glance I only saw the red and white wires ?