50's guitar wiring diagram?

Ed G.

New member
I'm looking for the 50's guitar wiring diagram (stratocaster) that used to be on this site. A member named artietoo posted it, but his web site is down now. Does anyone still have that file? I want to wire up my strat like that.
 
Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

Artietoo? Never heard of the guy! :laugh2:

Check the Vault...Artie has a few of his diagrams stored there.

Lew
 
Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

Artietoo's post is still up there at the Vault. But the picture was linked to his web site, which unfortunately is no longer. Here is the thread:
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=18842

I don't know if anyone saved the pic to their HD, if so, I'd really like to try this mod as I hear it retains the highs much better when you turn down the volume.
 
Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

Life has tossed me a few hot tamales lately. ;)

Rebuilding my computer right now, and hopefully, the website will be back up soon after the first of the year.

Artie
 
Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

Good to hear that, Artie. I can definitely wait.
What's your opinion on the effectiveness of this mod?
 
Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

Ed G. said:
Good to hear that, Artie. I can definitely wait.
What's your opinion on the effectiveness of this mod?

Never done it myself, but those who have seem to really like it. Gotta do it myself when I open up my guitar next time ;)
 
Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

Actually, I'm a poor person to ask. Since I run my guitars through a mixing board, I have a dozen level controls between me and it, so I always have my guitars on "10". As a consequence, I don't generally do the 50's mod. And even when I do, I don't know what it sounds like. :D

I'm pretty sure Lew uses it a lot though.

Artie
 
Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

Ed G. said:
Artietoo's post is still up there at the Vault. But the picture was linked to his web site, which unfortunately is no longer. Here is the thread:
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=18842

I don't know if anyone saved the pic to their HD, if so, I'd really like to try this mod as I hear it retains the highs much better when you turn down the volume.

I can describe it to you because that mod is actually my invention and Artie's a bud who did the drawing for it.

What you want to do is remove the short wire that runs along the top of the 5 way switch and which connects the output of the side of the switch that has to do with the tone controls to the other side which selects the pickups.

Then attach a new wire to the middle terminal of the volume control and solder the end of that wire to the output of the side of the switch that has to do with the tone controls...same terminal as you unsoldered that little wire from.

That'll do it!

Lew
 
Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

Lewguitar said:
I can describe it to you because that mod is actually my invention and Artie's a bud who did the drawing for it.
Lew


Wouldn't there be some old guys at Gibson in the 50's that would disagree with you on that point? :) haha!:dance: :banana:
 
Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

Scott_F said:
Wouldn't there be some old guys at Gibson in the 50's that would disagree with you on that point? :) haha!:dance: :banana:

:laugh2: Well, not to brag, but as far as I know, no one figured out how to easily apply that mod to a stock Stratocaster with a volume and two tone controls before I came up with it. :) I faxed a drawing of it a few years ago to the Duncan Company to include in the other Strat wiring diagrams on the support pages...but I never saw it added. Lew
 
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Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

Lewguitar said:
I can describe it to you because that mod is actually my invention and Artie's a bud who did the drawing for it.

What you want to do is remove the short wire that runs along the top of the 5 way switch and which connects the output of the side of the switch that has to do with the tone controls to the other side which selects the pickups.

Then attach a new wire to the middle terminal of the volume control and solder the end of that wire to the output of the side of the switch that has to do with the tone controls...same terminal as you unsoldered that little wire from.

That'll do it!

Lew

Sounds simple enough!
I'd love to hear from people that have done this. Can I really get rid of the treble bleed cap on my strat now? I like using the volume control as a distortion control, and I hope this will give me better control of my sound.
 
Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

Yes, you can drop the treble bleed cap. I used the wiring mod that Lew described, and it's the best thing ever! It really opens up the sound of the pickups and makes every control setting very usable (vol and tone controls I mean). And you really do only move two wire connections!

Here's a pic of what actual mod looks like in my JV Strat. Remember, the JV has a tone control on the bridge pickup if you're tracing wires :)
 
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Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

Alvin Lee Fan said:
Yes, you can drop the treble bleed cap. I used the wiring mod that Lew described, and it's the best thing ever! It really opens up the sound of the pickups and makes every control setting very usable (vol and tone controls I mean). And you really do only move two wire connections!

Here's a pic of what actual mod looks like in my JV Strat. Remember, the JV has a tone control on the bridge pickup if you're tracing wires :)

Am I looking at the pic wrong, it looks like you have the wire from the "tone control" side of the switch going to the right hand tab of the volume pot instead of the center? I just pulled the pickguard off my strat to take a look.
 
Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

Strat_with_50s_mod_variation.jpg

I've kept a few schematics that Artie came up with. I think this is the one you want.

Sorry for the size!!
 
Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

how would you re-wire this diagram for just 1 tone pot for all 3 pickups? thanks

Are you still going to have three controls? One tone and two volumes instead of one volume and two tones?

Or are you going to use just two controls now? One tone and one volume?

Can you describe what you want exactly?
 
Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

There are two ways I can think of to do it... One, is to jumper on the right side of the 5way switch so that all three positions go through the one pot. The other would be to wire the volume and tone together in the Gibson '50s mod, and leave the 5way out of it.
 
Re: 50's guitar wiring diagram?

. . . and leave the 5-way out of it.

Exactly. Just take the end of the cap thats attached to the 5-way, and the end of the tone pot thats connected to the 5-way, and connect them together. (Not connected to the 5-way.)
 
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