Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

[Guitar Toad]

What is IYO the best control set-up for a strat?
· Blender Wiring: master volume / master tone / blender
· Vintage Wiring: master volume / neck tone / middle tone
· Modern Wiring: master volume / neck tone / middle+bridge tone
· Master Volume / Master tone with phase switch for parallel-series
· Jimmie Vaughan Mod: Master volume / neck tone /bridge tone with middle pickup hot/not controlled


What about this note I found from Acme : With a conventional guitar, when you roll off the volume control, some of the treble goes away. That is, in addition to the volume change, there is also a tonal change. Some people hate this, while other people don't perceive it as a problem in the slightest. If you are in the former camp, then this option is for you. It consists of a small resistor and capacitor wired in parallel across two lugs on the volume pot, with this in place the guitar's tonne will remain consistent even when you roll off the volume. We use Fender's values for these components: 680pf capacitor / 220K resistor.

Any comments control wise are welcome.

 

[Artie]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

I'm definitely a Master volume/master tone kinda guy.

That treble-bleed circuit is a fairly old trick. Both of my 80's Peavey's had it from the factory. I'm not sure to what degree I can tell a difference, though.

 

[FretFire]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

I went with master/master/blend, as that's what I'm using on my strat project. Very cool trick, and adds a ton of versatility. When on the bridge or bridge & middle position, the blend knob controls the volume of the neck pickup, and vice versa when on the other end of the selector switch. So with the knob cranked you can get bridge & neck tones, or all 3 at once, plus every little variation in between since you're using a knob and not a miniswitch. Plus the blend pot is a no-load so that you don't always have a tad of the unselected pickup bleeding in.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

I use a tweaked Jimmy Vaughan control scheme. On the bridge tone control, I installed a push/pull pot so that I can activate the neck pickup at any time, giving me all 7 pickup configurations.

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

I'd prefer it to have one tone for neck and middle and one for bridge. One volume.

EMG's DG20 set and Clapton's TBX sets intrigue me as well, if you count them.

 

[Brow]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

On my Fender Strat I have a Master Volume, Master TBX Tone control and a push/pull 20dB Boost on the other control.

On my Unknown brand Japanese Strat I have a Master Volume, Neck Tone, Middle/Bridge Tone control setup.

Craig

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

I'd prefer it to have one tone for neck and middle and one for bridge. One volume.

EMG's DG20 set and Clapton's TBX sets intrigue me as well, if you count them.

I hav the Dave Gilmour set in my MIA '77 strat. The controls are as follows:

Master volume, SPC control, and EXG control. The SPC controll boosts the high mids, while the EXG control boosts the lows and highs and scoops out the mids.

It's a really cool set up, but sometimes I miss the old, simple tone control. :smack:

 

[Kac]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

I choose 1 Volume knob that is a push/pull pot for pick-up selection as well. down=bridge pick-up, up=neck pick-up.
Rock On :13:

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

I hav the Dave Gilmour set in my MIA '77 strat. The controls are as follows:

Master volume, SPC control, and EXG control. The SPC controll boosts the high mids, while the EXG control boosts the lows and highs and scoops out the mids.

It's a really cool set up, but sometimes I miss the old, simple tone control. :smack:

Yep, it seems that the EXG would be quite useless to me. Maybe replace it with a master tone.

 

[B2D]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

I recently converted my '95 MIM to Jimmie Vaughn wiring (Eric Johnson does this too... I kinda got the idea from him actually) and as a result I've got a few more interesting tones out of the bridge pickup now.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

The most versatile Strat I've ever owned is the one I came up with yesterday:

neck and middle SSL-1 or Surfer single coils
bridge Tapped Tele Hot.

Master volume and push/pull master tone pot to select vintage or hot output from the bridge pickup.

Schaller 5 way mega switch. Neck and middle combined in the #3 position instead of middle pickup alone.

I get 8 killer tones from this guitar and can combine the 6.6K bridge pickup output with the neck or middle pickup for classic Dire Straits and Bell Bottem Blues tones and then switch to the 9.5K output for a hotter, thicker tone for soloing and for pushing my amp into overdrive more easily.

Highly recommended!

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

EXG control boosts the lows and highs and scoops out the mids.

where can i find more info on the EXG or buy one? this looks like something i'd like to try. can that be wired...master volume, master tone and EXG?

-Mike

 

[Rich_T]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

bridge humbucker, volume, killswitch.

 

[Rich_T]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

but for a normal strat, im a vintage man myself. I think Leo got it right first time.

 

[MattPete]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

I have my own custom switching that ArtieToo helped me with:

Master 250k no-load volume
250k no-load bridge tone
250k no-load neck & middle tone

4 way telecaster switch that selects bridge, middle, neck, or bridge+middle

A 3 way mini switch that selectively adds the middle pickup to what ever is selected by the 4-way switch:

down: serial
middle: off
up: parallel

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

but for a normal strat, im a vintage man myself. I think Leo got it right first time.

No he didn't. :laugh2:

Mistake 1: Three 6K - 6.3K pickups results in a thin and ice picky bridge pickup.

Leo should have gone with a 9K or hotter bridge pickup like Seymour uses in the Surfer set.

Mistake 2: Leo should have used a 5 way switch and not a 3 way switch right from the get go. Leo never used a 5 way during the time he owned Fender...always a 3 way.

Mistake 3: Leo should have gone with a RW/RP middle pickup for humcancelling in the #2 and #4 switch positions.

Mistake 4: Leo should have connected the second tone control to the bridge pickup...not the middle pickup.

Mistake 5: This is personal preference but .047 is to big for a tone cap. .02 leaves more mids in the signal when the tone control is turned down and I much prefer the .02 value.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

did anyone else have these kinds of enhancements or options in the 60's?

Yeah, i have to admit, my favorite strat tone cannot be achieved with a vintage strat-the postion 2 and 4 quack. But oh well, i wouldn't mind having one! The surfers and the dlx american strat do it for me.

I'd like to try a neck PUP activator so i can use all 3 pup's, or bridge/neck. That will be my next mod.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

did anyone else have these kinds of enhancements or options in the 60's?

No.

Yeah, i have to admit, my favorite strat tone cannot be achieved with a vintage strat-the postion 2 and 4 quack. But oh well, i wouldn't mind having one! The surfers and the dlx american strat do it for me.

The Surfers do it for me too.

I'd like to try a neck PUP activator so i can use all 3 pup's, or bridge/neck. That will be my next mod.

All you need to replace your current 5 way with a Schaller Magaswitch to get the neck and bridge combined. You won't have your middle pickup alone anymore but hardly anyone uses the middle pickup alone anyway.

All three on at the same time can be acheived with a Fralin Blender Pot, but all three on is not a great tone, IMO.

 

[FretFire]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

did anyone else have these kinds of enhancements or options in the 60's?

Yeah, i have to admit, my favorite strat tone cannot be achieved with a vintage strat-the postion 2 and 4 quack. But oh well, i wouldn't mind having one! The surfers and the dlx american strat do it for me.

I'd like to try a neck PUP activator so i can use all 3 pup's, or bridge/neck. That will be my next mod.

That's why I like the blend feature. In the bridge or b/n spot it controls the neck volume, in the neck or n/m spot in controls the bridge volume. That way you can either crank the knob to get b/n or all 3 pickups, or you can add just a touch of neck pickup to your full bridge, etc. Very very cool.

 

[FretFire]

Re: Most popular Strat Controls Schemes

Oh yeah, the blend pot I got for my project strat isn't a Fralin, it's actually made by CTS.