S/S/S strat clone wiring project, schematic needed badly!

[Dubbyills]

Hi all! I love the forum thus far and it has been extremely informative. I figured you guys would be the best ones equipped to help me with a problem I’m having.

I am currently rebuilding my strat clone and wanted to get freaky with the wiring as I have had some time on my hands. I’m sure this information has been covered before, but I’ve scoured the web and this forum and found bits and pieces but not the whole shebang. There are a few things I would like out of the wiring; First I would like to be able to switch each pickup in and out of phase using three push pull pots (which would also be used as tone knobs for either each individual pickup, or possibly a bass, mid, and treble function), second I would like to switch between parallel and series wiring using a 4pdt switch, and lastly I would like to use a fourth push pull pot as a master volume that when activated allows the neck+bridge and neck+middle+bridge pickup combo to be selected using the five way switch. Of course I would love to mix and match the settings however if it ain’t meant to be, it ain’t meant to be.

I am totally a newbie at this, but any help would be appreciated with this pseudo Brian May mod. Schematics are encouraged haha. Thanks guys!!!

[jeremy]

Re: S/S/S strat clone wiring project, schematic needed badly!

the phase is easy, the neck on (or bridge on) switch is also easy. the series/parallel is more tricky. when in "parallel" mode, you want the 5 way to work normally and when in "series" you want the selection of the 5 way to put whatever pups selected in series, correct?

[Dubbyills]

Re: S/S/S strat clone wiring project, schematic needed badly!

Yeah that’s correct. It seems to be the part I’m stumped on the most.

[jeremy]

Re: S/S/S strat clone wiring project, schematic needed badly!

i dont think it can be done with out a super switch and even then it would be tricky to change the behavior of the 5 way with a mini switch but i think it could be done

[Dubbyills]

Re: S/S/S strat clone wiring project, schematic needed badly!

Got it, thanks! I just ordered the super switch. Know of anybody on this site who might be willing to do a schematic? I'm still a pretty big noob when it comes to wiring and have only the basics down when it comes to five way switches, let alone super switches.

[Dubbyills]

Re: S/S/S strat clone wiring project, schematic needed badly!

Okay, so I e decided to make a few adjustments to my original plan; the master volume will definitely be a bridge on, and instead of one 4pdt switch I plan on using three on for each pup, maybe that would make it more doable?

[ItsaBass]

Re: S/S/S strat clone wiring project, schematic needed badly!

This is a bit complicated, because a regular Strat switch can't be wired to allow any pickup combination while switching back and forth between series pickups and parallel pickups.

You want to approach it somewhat like a Jaguar/Jazzmaster, IMO. Have a master switch on the guitar that chooses between two different circuits: one with the pickups wired in series, and the other with the pickups wired in parallel. One circuit uses one five way, and the other circuit uses another. Unless you want it very complicated, you want to use master volume and tone controls, located between the mode switch and the jack.

I have a custom design I came up with that offers some of what you want. You would just have to add phase switches, and accept that fact that the only pickups you get in series are bridge and middle.

Here is what my wiring gives you:

I have two variations. One uses two push-pull pots (or push-push, or DPDT toggle switches if you don't want it to be "stealth"), and the other uses three.

Switch 1: Normal mode or alternate mode.

Switch 2: Neck pickup on in parallel to whatever you already have selected

Switch 3 (optional): Master "Eldred" cap, applied to whatever you already have selected.

Normal mode is like vintage Strat wiring, except you have a five way switch instead of the vintage style three way.

Alternate mode provides the following:

1. Bridge pickup, without tone control
2. Bridge pickup, with middle pickup's tone control
3. B+M in series, with middle pickup's tone control
4. B+M in series, with N in parallel to the "humbucker", both tone controls
5. Neck pickup, with neck tone control

A few notes about the alternate mode:

1. Positions 1 and 2 are just like positions 1 and 2 on an Esquire.
2. Positions 1 and 5 are just like positions 1 and 5 in normal mode.

And a general note: With the neck on switch, you can, of course, get the two "missing" pickup combinations that a normal 5-way Strat doesn't have: B+N in parallel, and B+N+M in parallel.

My main regret is that on both guitars that I wired this way, I used push-pulls instead of push-pushes. Swapping over at this point involves re-doing many solder joints, and I don't want to do it!

FWIW, have you ever heard two Strat pickups in Series? It's a pretty fat sound. Good in and of itself, but doesn't blend well with the pickups alone IMO. Not something you'd probably want to switch between within a song, on stage.

[Dubbyills]

Re: S/S/S strat clone wiring project, schematic needed badly!

Thank you for the input itsabass and Jeremy, I really appreciate it. So I just decided I’ll completely nix the five way selector I’ll still have the push pull pots for oop stuff, and I ordered 3 on off on 4pdt switches to turn the pickups, and switch between series and parallel, that way I can turn them all on, then I have 3 on on on 4pdt switches coming in as well, so I can adjust the series or would that even be needed?