Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

[JohnyElSucio]

Hello everyone, im new here so i'll introduce myself, im a lawyer from Mexico, father of 2 children, who plays with his band on weekends, principally we play Jazz Fussion with some elements of Prog Rock/Metal, and some covers of Return to Forever, Mahavishnu, Wayne Krantz, Jeff Beck and some others, so i tend to use lots of effects/pedals, and im fan of Orange amps i love their tone... So thats me for short.

Now to the topic of thread, i bought this Sigler Music's loaded with Hot/Vintage/Cool Rails pickguard:
http://www.siglermusiconline.com/pr...d-stratocaster-strat-pickguard-2-toggle-to-wh
Its an awesome set with 2 toggle switches (1 switch splits the pickups, and the other one turns on the bridge pup in any config so you can play with bridge and neck or the 3 pickups at the same time) its a sweet baritone configuration... BUT!!

I want to change the wiring to 2 volume and 1 master tone.

And i found that these Rails pickups have more cables than normal, plus the 2 switches, makes it everything more complicated i need help with some diagrams or something, i had wired myself my guitars in the past but this is another level for me im a lawyer not an engineer or technician i need help please :help:

This is the guitar, an American Standard.

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

Hello everyone, im new here so i'll introduce myself, im a lawyer from Mexico, father of 2 children, who plays with his band on weekends, principally we play Jazz Fussion with some elements of Prog Rock/Metal, and some covers of Return to Forever, Mahavishnu, Wayne Krantz, Jeff Beck and some others, so i tend to use lots of effects/pedals, and im fan of Orange amps i love their tone... So thats me for short.

Now to the topic of thread, i bought this Sigler Music's loaded with Hot/Vintage/Cool Rails pickguard:
http://www.siglermusiconline.com/pr...d-stratocaster-strat-pickguard-2-toggle-to-wh
Its an awesome set with 2 toggle switches (1 switch splits the pickups, and the other one turns on the bridge pup in any config so you can play with bridge and neck or the 3 pickups at the same time) its a sweet baritone configuration... BUT!!

I want to change the wiring to 2 volume and 1 master tone.

And i found that these Rails pickups have more cables than normal, plus the 2 switches, makes it everything more complicated i need help with some diagrams or something, i had wired myself my guitars in the past but this is another level for me im a lawyer not an engineer or technician i need help please :help:

This is the guitar, an American Standard.

View attachment 78556

Do you want to keep the 2 toggle switches as well? Or is it getting completely rewired?

 

[JohnyElSucio]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

Do you want to keep the 2 toggle switches as well? Or is it getting completely rewired?

Hi! thanks for the reply, yes i want to keep both toggle switches, and need it with 1 volume for neck and middle, 1 volume for bridge, and 1 master tone. I can post a photo of the insides if you need it

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

Hi! thanks for the reply, yes i want to keep both toggle switches, and need it with 1 volume for neck and middle, 1 volume for bridge, and 1 master tone. I can post a photo of the insides if you need it

That would be helpful. I have an inkling of how it could be achieved, but I don't know for sure.

 

[JohnyElSucio]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

That would be helpful. I have an inkling of how it could be achieved, but I don't know for sure.

There you go...

 

[Mincer]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

We do have some really great wiring people here who can help, so hang tight. That is cool that you are playing fusion with your band. Is there a market for it down there? Once in awhile I've thrown a Mahavishnu cover in my set. Usually there is that one guy in the audience that recognizes it!

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

You didn't say which pickups you want on the two volumes.

To wire a master tone, it needs to be wired after the switch, which is not going to be so easy to describe in text. To keep it how it is on the current two middle/neck pickups, just move the white wire from the furthest out pot over to the middle pot on the same lug where the other white wire is already connected, and clip the thin plain metal wire that is connected to the middle lug of the furthest out pot.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

he said neck/middle volume and bridge volume. i dont have a good way to draw a diagram though :/

 

[JohnyElSucio]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

You didn't say which pickups you want on the two volumes.

To wire a master tone, it needs to be wired after the switch, which is not going to be so easy to describe in text. To keep it how it is on the current two middle/neck pickups, just move the white wire from the furthest out pot over to the middle pot on the same lug where the other white wire is already connected, and clip the thin plain metal wire that is connected to the middle lug of the furthest out pot.

Hi! thanks for the reply... I need it with 1 volume for bridge, 1 volume for neck/middle, and 1 master tone, i think that i understood but im not pretty sure is there a way that you could point it or draw it on the image please?

 

[JohnyElSucio]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

We do have some really great wiring people here who can help, so hang tight. That is cool that you are playing fusion with your band. Is there a market for it down there? Once in awhile I've thrown a Mahavishnu cover in my set. Usually there is that one guy in the audience that recognizes it!

Of course there is market but here in my country is pretty limited... We play in a small but pretty jazz club, and is pretty rare to see young people around there, and the audience tend to be the same people lol, many years ago i lived in a bigger city here in Mexico (Guadalajara) and there, i was in a smaller band (3 members) that played funk/rock jazz, there we where a blast, the taste of the people is pretty different from place to place around here, but one thing for sure is that most people tend to recognize more Return to Forever covers than any other

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

Someone will have to check me, but I think this is it.

I don't understand why the middle pickup is wired black+red to hot and white+green+bare to ground. I'm not familiar with what's going on there, so I didn't change it from the photo.

The decision to have a master volume on two pickups with an individual volume on the other causes significant rewiring, because now you need one side of the blade for the two pickups and the other side of the blade for the individual bridge.

If the blade is a 5-way, I think you are going to have artifacts when combining bridge with the other two due to the master volume on the neck/middle interacting with the bridge volume. But I don't know for sure, I can't test this right now. So someone else will have to check me.

 

[JohnyElSucio]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

Someone will have to check me, but I think this is it.

I don't understand why the middle pickup is wired black+red to hot and white+green+bare to ground. I'm not familiar with what's going on there, so I didn't change it from the photo.

The decision to have a master volume on two pickups with an individual volume on the other causes significant rewiring, because now you need one side of the blade for the two pickups and the other side of the blade for the individual bridge.

If the blade is a 5-way, I think you are going to have artifacts when combining bridge with the other two due to the master volume on the neck/middle interacting with the bridge volume. But I don't know for sure, I can't test this right now. So someone else will have to check me.

WOW!! so many thanks you are the man!! Im gonna try it this way, i will tell you if it worked

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

Great job on that diagram. It looks fine. Should work as expected.

Just one thing that isn't clear on the diagram, though. The wire from the capacitor should be connected to the back of the tone pot before going to the neck/middle volume. I know, you can say it doesn't need it because the foil on the back of the guard will ground all the components. But I have experienced some failure of that type of mechanical connection over time (the pot can become slightly loose and begin to wiggle and wear through the foil). Call me OCD but I like the more permanent secure connection of a soldered wire grounding everything.

 

[JohnyElSucio]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

Great job on that diagram. It looks fine. Should work as expected.

Just one thing that isn't clear on the diagram, though. The wire from the capacitor should be connected to the back of the tone pot before going to the neck/middle volume. I know, you can say it doesn't need it because the foil on the back of the guard will ground all the components. But I have experienced some failure of that type of mechanical connection over time (the pot can become slightly loose and begin to wiggle and wear through the foil). Call me OCD but I like the more permanent secure connection of a soldered wire grounding everything.

Which wire is that?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

I think he means the leg of the capacitor should be grounded to the back of the pot, and then a wire from there going to the volume.

 

[JohnyElSucio]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

I think he means the leg of the capacitor should be grounded to the back of the pot, and then a wire from there going to the volume.

Ah ok thanks tonight im gonna do the job and will tell you how it goes

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

Yeah, I should have added a dot there where the cap leg connects to the ground-linking wires.

Anyone know what the black+red / white+green+bare is doing?

Seems like that would shut a normal humbucker off. At least I would have expected black+white to hot and red+green+bare to ground for parallel.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

north start - black
north finish - white
south start - green
south finish - red

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

I wouldn't like two volume controls on a Strat.

I use my pinky for volume swells and would no longer be able to do that for all five of the pickup selections.

In fact, I only have a master volume and master tone on my Strat. Two knobs and the five way switch.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Help wiring 2 volume 1 tone (Strat Rails Set)

I wouldn't like two volume controls on a Strat.

I use my pinky for volume swells and would no longer be able to do that for all five of the pickup selections.

In fact, I only have a master volume and master tone on my Strat. Two knobs and the five way switch.

Also, when two 250K volume pots are combined (which will happen when two pickups, each with their own volume control, are combined) the sound gets dark. Loses highs.

Kind of like how a Strat might sound with a 125K volume pot.

I dunno.

Wouldn't satisfy me.