Dan Armstrong Series Mod Blender

[idsnowdog]

I have been thinking about trying the Dan Armstrong strat wiring which is a blender modification that blends the middle pickup in series with either the bridge or neck to create a humbucking tone. From the demos I have seen on youtube the mod ends up creating a series tone which is too dark and flubby to be useful. I think is because they are using 250K pots instead of 500K pots. Because two 6K pickups in series are 12K and this puts them in higher output humbucker territory.

So I modified the diagram to incorporate 500K pots and a push/pull treble/bass cut circuit in place of the master tone. The questions I have is: 1) Will the diagram I have drawn work? 2) Why are there two leads from the tone control pot to the volume in the original diagram? 3) Can I increase the bass cut's range by using the new wiring in the modified diagram? 4) Is there any drawback from running the hot lead from the tone to the jack instead of from the volume? 5) Is there any simplifications to improve performance?

Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKJ1whWdCu0&t=373s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DtJ-ALwycU

Source diagrams:



Modified diagram:

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Dan Armstrong Series Mod Blender

Another option would be a modified Brent Mason wiring scheme. I see that diagram has a push/pull for the middle pickup to change the stack from series to parallel. Wouldn't wiring the push/pull to do phase reversal instead create series sounds instead of out of phase parallel?

http://docshare.tips/wiring-diagram-brent-mason_5756979ab6d87f38a78b4816.html

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Dan Armstrong Series Mod Blender

Series blends work on a very different concept than your typical parallel blends and volume and tone controls in guitars.

They operate as shunts; you control how much signal goes through them or around them. It isn't a "controlled leak" to ground like a standard passive volume and tone control are.

Two standard vintage single coils fully in series will sound a bit too heavy IME, no matter what pots you are using. But that's the beauty of the blend wiring. You can just use a portion of the middle pickup's output to "goose" the neck and bridge pickups into partial humbuckers – just enough, without going too far.

But because of that, I think you won't find yourself adjusting the knob very much. I think a better way to employ it is with a switch and a hidden trimpot to preset the amount of the middle coil you want to add to the other two. That way you aren't losing your typical Strat controls to get a blend knob that doesn't get moved that much.

 

[freefrog]

Re: Dan Armstrong Series Mod Blender

But because of that, I think you won't find yourself adjusting the knob very much. I think a better way to employ it is with a switch and a hidden trimpot to preset the amount of the middle coil you want to add to the other two. That way you aren't losing your typical Strat controls to get a blend knob that doesn't get moved that much.

I agree.
I had tried the Dan Armstrong schematic with a 1M blender (the second part of a Fender TBX dual pot) and it reacted largely like an on/off switch with one single sweet spot...

My number one Strat now includes the Dan Armstrong mod transplanted on a push pull. The pot itself acts as a blender between bridge and neck PU's. When it's pushed, standard 5 ways operation. When it's pulled, I've series BM, OOP BM in parallel, M alone, OOP MN in parallel, series MN... and still the possibilty to blend in the neck PU.
I've added a resistor to make OOP less thin sounding (since my PU's have all the same resistance / inductance) and I've done another mod to avoid some positions to be silent but shame on me: I don't remember how I've done that. :-/

Related notes:
-I don't think series SC's to sound dark because of their 12k: the problem is partly or mostly due to their position under the strings IMHO;
-such series SC's are still useable with an adapted rig... I've played a part of my last concerts with 3 Tri-Sonic's wired in the Brian May fashion and they didn't sound too dark through any of my home made germanium treble boosters (I know you know that, fellow members: I'm just thinking out loud)...

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Dan Armstrong Series Mod Blender

But because of that, I think you won't find yourself adjusting the knob very much. I think a better way to employ it is with a switch and a hidden trimpot to preset the amount of the middle coil you want to add to the other two. That way you aren't losing your typical Strat controls to get a blend knob that doesn't get moved that much.

I'm thinking the 10-way freeway switch is the simplest option. Although I'm not wild about paying $45 for a switch.