Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

[destroy]

I've been meaning to do something with my Strat for a while now. First off, it's stock black MIM from 2000-2001. Not sure of the woods used, think it's an alder body, maple neck, sure it's a rosewood fingerboard.

It's served me well, being my only electric. I play a variety of styles, though mainly progressive rock. I play through a fender deluxe '90 and have a Big Muff, Small Clone, Smart Gate and soon an octaver, these'll probably be the mainstay of my effects unless I can get the money for an EHX HOG, aby pedal and bass amp.

The tone I'm going for is very very varied. I want alot of variety as you'll gather from what I'll lay out below. The inspiration for this was Frank Zappa's guitars. He usually had a massive overhaul of the electronics done, often including a pre-amp, some equalization controls and coil-splitting.

I want to be able to switch from a classic rock tone in the bridge, to ska/reggae/funk in the middle and more smooth, jazzy and clear in the neck position. I also want tone controls for each pickup and have for each a mini-switch that will enable normal humbucking/parallel/single coil possibilities.

On top of this I'd like the normal 5-way switch for the pickups, a switch to select the neck pickup on aswell for more selections, a kilswitch for morello-style trickery and finally a high-pass cap added to help out with volume control.

So. I have a few questions and would be very grateful for any help and advice. I'm not highly technical though, so plain english please :thanks:

1) Pickup selection wise, I know I want a fullsize 59 (zebra, 4-con) in the bridge. I was looking at a duckbucker on e-bay for the middle tone, but thats gone.
What would you guys recommend for the middle ska/reggae/funk sortof quacky tone in a humbucker-in-a-single style, and same for the neck blues/jazz tone I'm going for. It's quite important that this one is very clear.

I'm fine with all Duncans, good reputation and wide variety, don't think I can go wrong.

2) Is what I've asked above possible? I know the humbucker/single/parallel is from the diagrams in http://www.guitarelectronics.com/category/wiringresources.1wiringdiagrams.humbuckerwiringmods/ and I can use mini-pots for cramming in an extra tone pot. Will all of what I've outlined work together?

3) I need 3 on/on/on MINI-switches for the 3-way selections, any online stores in the UK that sell these?

4) I think an on/on is needed for the killswitch, what for the neck-on switch?

5)What pots will I need for all of this? I know there's a difference between A and B pots, but should I be using 500k for all the pots including tone?

6) What capacitors should I be using for the tones? I think the .001 cap is used for the volume to smooth it out.


So yeah, I don't care about keeping the original layout for the pickgaurd. I'm buying a new H/S/S black pickguard. I expect to have the 1 volume and 2 tones in the same place, with an additional tone forming a triangle with the others (I think mini-pots and smaller knobs will help this fit), and the 3 tone switches somewhere by the tones, and the other two switches (neck-on and kill) on the side of the 5-way.

I very much appreciate any contributions to this. And yes, this is just madness, not sparta.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

I believe your wiring is possible, but pretty complicated.You might want to consider parallel OR split rather than both, but it's up to you. I believe the neck switch is just an on-on, and that should work for the kill switch too. (Send the jack either to the volume output or ground)

For pickup selection, I might suggest a Cool Rails/Vintage Rails for the neck/middle or a Lil 59/Duckbucker. (They should sound similar, and they have the same appearance, respectively) Also, you might want to check out the CC or C5 for the bridge. The 59 is a good choice, but with series/parallel/split, the hotter Custom coils would really give you a lot to work with. The 59 is a great option if that's what you're set on though.

 

[destroy]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

Main problem I have at the moment is figuring out how the wiring for 3 tones works, basicaly which connectors on the tone pots are used when capacitors are involved, any help?

 

[destroy]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

Also what caps would be used, I've guessed only one .22 cap for the tones altogether, am I way out?

 

[pinto79]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

I think this is a job for Artietoo!

 

[bert123]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

If you use 3 on/off/on mini switches you can do away with the 5 way. Just decide whether you want the switch to be series/off/parallel or series/off/split. I've got this on a strat project with master treble and master bass cut tone controls.

 

[destroy]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

I'm pretty set on keeping the 5-way and having seperate switches for tone. Can anyone help with how the 3-tones would be set up and where/what caps are used? This is the thing I'm having the most difficulty with at the moment.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

If you don't get any more responses by tonight I'll sit down and get good answers for all your questions. (Time for work now...) One question, are you pretty good with reading schematics and are you relatively familiar with the standard Strat scheme? If so, it shouldn't be that bad. One last question, do you know which toggle you want to use for the Kill Switch?

 

[destroy]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

Thanks a tonne.
Not that good, most on the web i'm ok with, but electronic diagrams I can't read. I'd be fine with reading and copying any diagrams, just sometimes I'm not sure why it would actually work.

For the killswitch, that'd just be an on/on switch? I've ordered everything already. 3 on/on/ons, 2 on/ons, 3 500k tone pots, 1 500k volume pot, wire, sheilding, an .022 cap for the tone, and new 5-way and jack. Basically I'm going to prewire this all new then do away with the old pickgaurd and assembly.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

Ok, I'm done. I'd suggest 500K audio taper pots. Also, my trble bleed is the Kinman one, substitute your own if you want.

Unfortunately I can't host the pic, so email me by clicking the link on my user name or PM me your email. If anyone else can host the pic, and would want to be so kind... I'd like Artie to look over it to see if there's a better way, but I think I've got it.

 

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

For those cleans you described, if it's alder body with rosewood fretboard, I'd go with the Vintage single coil (staggered or flat depending on fretboard radius). If it was ash and maple neck, I would've said Alnico II Pro single coils.

 

[destroy]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

This is PFDarkside's schematic, thanks again!

...and helpful accompanying text: -
"I made this for a Full size HB in the bridge, Duckbucker or Vintage Rails in the middle and lil 59 or any other standard mini humbucker in the neck. The Series/Split/Parallel works with the neck and the bridge, but the Vintage Rails/Duckbucker can only do series or parallel. If you split it, you lose half of the strings. So that's the difference in the three switches. Wiring is the same, but the switch itself is an On-On-On or an On-On depending on the pickup. Also, I think you should go with 500ohm audio taper pots and a .047uF tone control, but a .022uF would work as well, if that's your preference. Also, all the earth points and back of each pot need to be tied together, along with the bridge ground. I drew in the back of the pots being tied together, but all the points that have the earth symbol need to be common."

 

[destroy]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

Again, thanks for al this, its been very helpful, got a few more questions that maybe others can help with too: -

I have 500k pots, a .047uF cap, an 130k Ohm resistor, but could only get a 0015uF cap for the volume treble bleed. I'm hoping that should be OK?

Also, with the treble bleed, are the cap and resistor soldered together at the end and just left hanging?

I've only got one SPDT on/on, can I use a spare DPDT on/on for the killswitch or neck-on? I'm assuming it's OK, just not using one side of the connectors.

By the grounding bit you mentioned, do this mean all points which indicate ground need to be tied together and go to the back of the guitar as in normal strat wiring?

Edit: Forgot aswell, the 5-way switch I have has 7 connectors (numbered) all in line and an extra (I'm guesing ground?) connector at the end, which wires go to which connectors? The 5-way switch is still 5-way, not a super-7.

 

[destroy]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

See below awesome finished pickguard, minus pickups and wiring

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

Wow, nice job packaging all that stuff!

Of course a DPDT can be used in place of a SPDT. As you assumed, just use one side and you're fine. Your treble bleed should be fine, and yes in the Kinman version, they are just left hanging. ABout the grounding, yes, just like a normal Strat wiring. Finally, a pic of that switch might help. I'm not familiar.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Ambitious Mexican Strat scheming - LOTS of advice/help needed

i sure hope you use all those switches, man. i mean when i'm lookin at the schematic i can see what it's all for but if i was playing that thing i would get confused fast.