I have perfected my Strat wiring

[Chistopher]

Over the years I've experimented with quite a few Strat wirings and they have all missed the mark slightly, funny thing is I think the factory model wasn't too far off to begin with.

I have a standard 5-way switch with a tone control for the neck and middle pickup, and a master vintage taper (30%) volume. The tone control is 0.01 uF (NOT 0.1 uF) in series with a 4.7k resistor on an audio taper pot. With the tone at 8 it sounds like I have a 30 ft cable, with the tone at 5 it sounds like I have Texas-hot pickups (I have Ant Surfers), with the tone at 3.5ish it's just barely dark enough to where chords don't work too well, and at 0 it's the perfect sound for really dark clean/light OD sounds. With just two pots the volume doesn't get in the way of my hand, all positions except the bridge see 125k of resistance, and I only have to mess with a single tone control. The vintage taper pot is right between linear and audio, but closer to audio. I still haven't tried it in a band setting yet, but I definitely like it better than my usual audio pots in bedroom setting. It's not part of the wiring, but I would like to comment knob pointers are a very useful addition to a Strat.

Obviously this post is not breaking new ground in anyway, but I think it's worth pointing out that many times even though they are less flexible, a simpler wiring scheme is more effective and enjoyable than a more complicated one. I even debated going down to a 3 way switch, but the Surfers had much too good a notched sound to get rid of them.

 

[GuitarStv]

It took me a while, but I've actually grown to like where the strat volume pot is. I would miss not being able to do volume swells with my pinky if I moved it.

Totally agree about knob pointers though. Any guitar with knobs with numbers on them should have pointers.

 

[Mincer]

I absolutely love where a normal Strat volume is. It is hard for me to play other guitars because of that.

 

[jeremy]

you covered everything except how the tone control is wired

 

[Chistopher]

you covered everything except how the tone control is wired

I simply mislabeled it, I have fixed the original post.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I like having the master volume handy. It's a little less in the way on PRSs - for me that's the perfect placement.
But I mostly used superStrats for a long time and it never bothered me being right next to the bridge.
I do miss that convenience when playing with Gibson type control arrangements.

 

[Gstring]

Might try that cap and resistor in place of a 22 . I have my single tone pot wired as a master to the output 50s style. It is also a Fender no load on 10 . Can't see that this will be adverse to the replacement cap/resistor.

 

[Chistopher]

I like having the master volume handy. It's a little less in the way on PRSs - for me that's the perfect placement.
But I mostly used superStrats for a long time and it never bothered me being right next to the bridge.
I do miss that convenience when playing with Gibson type control arrangements.

I got pretty big hands, so volume swells are no problem for me in the knob 2 strat location. I can't use the full range of the knob and play fast, but that's not what I usually use it for

 

[Chistopher]

Might try that cap and resistor in place of a 22 . I have my single tone pot wired as a master to the output 50s style. It is also a Fender no load on 10 . Can't see that this will be adverse to the replacement cap/resistor.

Yeah 50's wiring won't cause any problems, the smaller cap might however make the inherent 50s wiring interactive pot drawback less obvious, so it may actually help that too.