Is this wiring possible?

[misterwhizzy]

I have a Fender HSS Player Strat with a 5-way blade. I also have some sort of superswitch that came standard but seemed overly complex for my desires in case that needs to be put back in to make this work. I also pulled out one of the tone pots because I hate the way my palm feels on the bridge when all three knobs are installed. So right now, it's HSS with 5-way blade, one volume, one tone.

Here's what I would like to do, and someone tell me if it's possible. I don't know if position 1 is towards the neck or the bridge, so I'm labeling it as toward the neck. If I have to install the third pot because it's the only way, I'll do it, but I'd rather have some switch-installed resistor or something like that to make it work.
Position 1 - neck single coil
Position 2 - neck and middle
Position 3 - Middle
Position 4 - Middle and one coil of bridge
Position 5 - Full bridge with 500k pots instead of the 250 I'd like to see in the other positions

 

[freefrog]

Below is my take.

Hastily botched schematic.

Standard 5 ways switch.

One side is used for single coils AND resistors going to ground in parallel with the single coil pickups. The bridge lug of this side is connected to the "common" lug (named here "B 0") of the other side. This other side has the black wire of the HB on lug 1, red+white connection on lug 2: by short-cutting the North coil , it enables the South coil (the coil with screws) in bridge + mid position...

If ever I've done an error, some generous soul will correct me. ;-)

FWIW. HTH.

EDIT - 1st version deleted because flawed. Correction to come...

EDIT 2 - See below version 2. TWO resistors are needed (one per single coil) and not one like in my first absurd version.

 

[Chistopher]

Also worth noting, if you have no need for the tone control on the bridge pickup, wiring it with standard Strat will see the "correct" resistance on the bridge position. If you wire the 2nd position to autosplit, both pickups will also see the "correct" resistance.

 

[freefrog]

Yeah, many things can be done with tone pots connected or not.

And while I'm at it: actually, the resistor hasn't to be a 510k or 470k. If the volume is a 500k and the tone another 500k, they give 250k once in parallel with each other and in order to give the same overall load than with two 250k pots, the added parallel resistor would have to be of a lower value (220k or 270k for instance).

 

[freefrog]

Damn it, there's a stupid error in my schematic! When I said it was botched...

Misterwhizzy, stay tuned, I'm going to cancel the first version and to post a corrected pic.

OK, 1st version corrected now. Hope I've not done a new mistake. Sorry, I was buzy and tired.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Damn it, there's a stupid error in my schematic! When I said it was botched...

Misterwhizzy, stay tuned, I'm going to cancel the first version and to post a corrected pic.

OK, 1st version corrected now. Hope I've not done a new mistake. Sorry, I was buzy and tired.

Are both resistors 510/470k?

 

[freefrog]

Are both resistors 510/470k?

In the pic, they are both 510k, but you can adjust their value to your needs.

If your pots are both 500k and if you put twice 270k or 220k, you'll end with the same resistive load than in a Strat with two tone pots (one for mid PU, one for neck PU): each resistor will basically replace the missing 250k tone pot for each pickup, while your two 500k pots in parallel will emulate altogether the resistive load of a 250k volume control. IOW, this solution would mimic the resistive load of a standard Strat with three 250k pots.

If you increase the value of your two resistors, the sound will get brighter. You can also put a 220k with the mid PU to make it mellower and a 510k with the neck PU to give it more sparkle. Or conversely. Depends on what you want.

For the record, I've such a network + 500k pots in my Strat number 2.

HTH.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Thanks so much for the help. I need to order a pot to make this happen, but I'm happy it can be done. I hope it doesn't cost me a set of strings too, but it probably will, and that's not the worst thing in the world.

 

[misterwhizzy]

I’m going to keep a copy of the diagram in case I change my mind, but when I picked that guitar up today to play, I didn’t want to change anything about the tone that I couldn’t do with the knobs there already. Thanks again for the help I probably didn’t need.

 

[freefrog]

I’m going to keep a copy of the diagram in case I change my mind, but when I picked that guitar up today to play, I didn’t want to change anything about the tone that I couldn’t do with the knobs there already. Thanks again for the help I probably didn’t need.

Cool! Enjoy with your new guitar...