whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

[beandip]

If you're anything like me, I change pickups out, somewhat regularly. I still cant seem to find what I'm looking for. When I take my pickguard off, I'm always afraid of breaking the output wires or string ground, so I went to Radio Shack, and bought 3 male/female 1/4" jacks. Now, I can disconnect my pickguard every time I change pickups without soldering. I was thinking of doing it ot the pickups too, but it seems like too much of a hassle. The best thing is, I cant hear a difference. I have a felling that it might sound better or work better with the little male/female audio/visual kinda plugs on a TV or stereo.

[\m/(00)\m/]

Re: whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

cool idea!
smart too

[Frantic_Rock]

Re: whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

awesome idea. I was thinking of doing that too. But I have shielding in the guitar, so theres no need for a ground wire. I made the hot wire very long so i can just take out the pickguard and lay it beside the guitar when i'm working on it. I still unsolder it most of the time.

[italic zero]

Re: whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

Haha, this is the future. Pop out the old pickups, disconnect, and plug the new ones in. 30 second pickup change!

[beandip]

Re: whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

Zero, thats exactly what I was going for.

[Farkus]

Re: whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

Zero, thats exactly what I was going for.

Heya bro,

Could you describe in a little more detail what you're doing? Are you using RCA type plugs?

Farkus

[beandip]

Re: whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

Yeah man, just some RCA type plugs, and using them to connect my wires.

[kmcguitars]

Re: whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

Sounds like a cool Idea, BUT will It pass the florecent light test
If you happen to be pluged in on the same circuit with them lights.
( and every dive bar has Em' over their pool table) Any short coming
in your wiring will be revealed I was playing one night and the
selector switch in my strat whent bad .HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!
My bass player turned the light off over the pool table...Problem solved !!
But then every time some A-holes wanted to shoot a game instead of
listening to a great band (yeah right ) HMMMMMMMMMMMM !!!

[beandip]

Re: whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

It passed the test with flying colors (if you strat is sheilded like that on the guitar nuts website).

[Xeromus]

Re: whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

I thought about this too, but I don't own a strat so I didn't get to test it out. When I was younger Radio Control cars were my hobby, a lot of electronics and wiring goes along with that too. I was thinking about bullet plugs for this, because they are small, and have relatively good connectivity. But there are companies that make quick-connect plugs for R/C cars to go between the motor and speed control that are very solid, and lose very little signal, almost equal to a length of wire itself. I've been wanting to try that out, but Never got around to it. I like the idea of having a pickguard set up with Duncans, then another With EMG's, and be able to swap them just by loosening the strings and changing the pickguard.

[Mincer]

Re: whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

Musis Man has been doing this for years with Molex connectors- they look like power connectors on a computer. They used to sell different pickguards wired up with different pickup arrangements. They don't do this anymore, but they keep the connectors inside still to this day. I have wired up 2 pickguards (HSS & HH) and switch once in awhile. It takes just a few minutes.

[Kent S.]

Re: whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

I have a felling that it might sound better or work better with the little male/female audio/visual kinda plugs on a TV or stereo.

They are called RCA jacks ... Or as a friend of mine jokingly referred to them as RCA ... Real Crude Attachments ...
I've thought about the pup idea too, as most switches would accept quick connectors, but I never really found a size that I liked that worked well with the pup conductor's wire gauge ... Nothing like being able to rewire a rotary switch or something without redoing 42 solder points ...

[HolyDirt]

Re: whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

i did this a while ago, it works, but i dont switch pups that often, i usually wire something and use it for a while, so it wasnt really practical.

[HolyDirt]

Re: whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

They are called RCA jacks ... Or as a friend of mine jokingly referred to them as RCA ... Real Crude Attachments ...
I've thought about the pup idea too, as most switches would accept quick connectors, but I never really found a size that I liked that worked well with the pup conductor's wire gauge ... Nothing like being able to rewire a rotary switch or something without redoing 42 solder points ...

oh ya, kent, try to find some of the little non soldering stereo wire clamps(on the back of a stereo, the red and black little buttons/clamps that you stick the bare wire into to attach them) i've been thing about doing this lately so i wouldnt have to attach connectors onto every pup.. much easier

edit: BETTER YET! aliigator clips!

[Kent S.]

Re: whoa! Great Strat wiring idea!

oh ya, kent, try to find some of the little non soldering stereo wire clamps(on the back of a stereo, the red and black little buttons/clamps that you stick the bare wire into to attach them) i've been thing about doing this lately so i wouldnt have to attach connectors onto every pup.. much easier

edit: BETTER YET! aliigator clips!

Nah, alligator clips are notorious for coming undone when wires move around a bit ... I'd steer clear of those myself. The bullet and receptacle connectors, plus the female spade type connectors would seem a go way to go though. The molex connectors, well, I'm not pulling up a mental picture of those, so I couldn't say. But four conductor pups with a five pin locking (including drain wire) male/female jacks would be ideal for swapping out pups ... could even wire it so single could be used with the same connectors (swimming pool route strat with various cosmetic/functional mounting rings).