Need versatility in 1 guitar. HSS strat questions.

[vocalnoise]

I am learning to mod my early 2000's Lonestar strat (American made). Not looking for a crazy pricey guitar that perfectly matches SRV or Gilmour etc. Just enough quality sound with a diversity of tone that I'm not changing guitars every song.

Current set up:
-Texas Specials in Neck and mid positions
-P-Rails humbucker in bridge position w/triple-shot (for now using triple shot, that may change)
-Stock 5-way super switch, stock volume, tone, tone

What I am considering:
1) Replace volume pot with:

A) Either a Concentric 250K-500K Solid Shaft Potentiometer IFF that allows push/pull or push/push coil tapping on p-rail. I think this may just be a volume and tone knob stacked on top of each other though, the website is not clear on that, and I'm enought of a newbie to be unclear.​

-or-

B) Fender 500K Split-shaft S-1 Control Switch for Five-way Stratocaster Guitar for tapping P-rail (this from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OI6CNQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A17MC6HOH9AVE6&psc=1 ). I know the S-1 is a tap (I'd order the knob parts too).​

-and-

C) Tweaking the wiring between the pots and 5-way switch to get more versatility when combining things: As it is, I think the 5-way super switch is wired for 1st position to be both p-rail coils active, 2nd position to be only the rail active, 3rd is mid only, 4th is mid and neck, 5th is neck only​

I need to learn tone difference between p-rail being wired in parallel vs in series, and how to easily access that in tandem with the triple shot if possible (though I have heard that adding the triple-shot can have some degradation of tone b/c adding another step in there. . . if it's not a huge thing, I'm not too concerned).

My idea is that having a tap and the triple shot will give me a lot of options, and if there are creative ways to arrange the 5-way super switch, then all the better. I actually used the 3 on/off toggles on my old Kramer Focus 6000 to have all 3 (HSS) pickups on for some tunes, but will be giving that guitar to my neice soon and it would be great to have that option in this setup, but not a big deal if it's not possible.

In the end, I'm looking to have enough versatility to do decent blues tones up to heavier rock tones available to me. I have a few pedals that can add/remove some tweaks.

I am working through the pickup wiring blog posts but would love any diagrams for the options for me to try that are easy enough to read for a newbie.

Finally, is there a way to test these setups without removing strings every time I make a change? I've seen folks slacken the strings and remove the 4bolt neck, but I don't know if that will jack up things?

Thanks, Y'all
Jon

 

[Adieu]

Re: Need versatility in 1 guitar. HSS strat questions.

Neck removal can jack things up if you have loose shims in there

If you wind strings around posts a couple turns more than usually recommended, you can slacken them enough to squeeze the pickguard out from underneath

If you're going for testing multiple setups in near future, just restring with extra turns OR restring and don't clip ends

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Need versatility in 1 guitar. HSS strat questions.

I’ve never seen a concentric push/pull, and if someone managed to make one, it wouldn’t fit in any guitar control cavity.

If you have a triple shot, other switches won’t get you additional sounds beyond that. I’ve never heard of a triple shot negatively affecting the sound either.

 

[vocalnoise]

Re: Need versatility in 1 guitar. HSS strat questions.

Neck removal can jack things up if you have loose shims in there

If you wind strings around posts a couple turns more than usually recommended, you can slacken them enough to squeeze the pickguard out from underneath

If you're going for testing multiple setups in near future, just restring with extra turns OR restring and don't clip ends

Hi Adieu,

Not sure how I'd know if there are loose shims in there. I think I see a business card size piece in there, but that's it. I plan on getting the guitar set up after I dial in tone stuff (intonation, action, and neck if need be); if that's my plan anyway, will removing and reattaching neck be an ok thing? Or would screwing and unscrewing those bolts, or seating the neck in that cutout several times create an issue that a setup couldn't fully address?

I did the slack strings technique, but the wiring is short enough in there that I couldn't get the pickguard rotated clockwise then flipped wires-up far enough to be able to do any work without puling wires out of thier posts.

If anybody knows of a pretty good setup for me to try first (that is pretty versatile from bluesy to rock) I can likely use pedals to get it dialed in further. Not really looking for perfection, and I am mostly just wanting to learn and play with this stuff.

Thx!
Jon

 

[vocalnoise]

Re: Need versatility in 1 guitar. HSS strat questions.

I’ve never seen a concentric push/pull, and if someone managed to make one, it wouldn’t fit in any guitar control cavity.

If you have a triple shot, other switches won’t get you additional sounds beyond that. I’ve never heard of a triple shot negatively affecting the sound either.

Hi Beaubrummels,

Here's the concentric thingamajig: https://shop.fender.com/en-US/parts/controls-switches/concentric-250k-500k-solid-shaft-potentiometer/0019268049.html . I am pretty sure you put chrome knobs with set screws on it, a large lower knob, with a smaller top knob on top. The description says it is for Volume and Tone, but I am wondering I could use it to control balance is between humbucker and middle pickups (lower knob), and balance between middle and neck pickups (upper knob). That feels like a ridiculous feature, but seems interesting to try. But that concentric knob is def not a tap at all.

The cutout on my guitar one large cavity . . .I think there is a small circle on there also, but I don't think anything sits in it. Wondering if I could widen it a bit (and deepen it) so the concentric knob would fit.

So the 4 setting combinations of the 2 toggles on the triple shot cannot be expanded by adding 2 settings to volume pot that control the humbucker. I was hoping that the 4 options for single coil and 4 options for both coils would add something, but thinking about it, I think one of the toggles on the Triple Shot IS a coil tap, and the other is using coils in series vs parallel, so adding a tap via knob would be redundant. I may try it to see if I stumble onto something cool, but likely won't put much time into that.

This is my experimenting strat. I'm not doing this kind of stuff with my Elite strat. I'll eventually customize that thing if I want to, but I want to learn on the Lonestar first (I'm also messing with my old Kramer).

Any diagram suggestions to try with wiring between pots, pickups (triple-shot), and 5 way super switch?

Thanks for y'alls patience with these questions and explinations.

Jon