Removing Strat Neck Tone Control

[zedexseven]

Here is the wiring diagram for my MIM strat

http://www.seymourduncan.com/wiring...ps,neck-s,middle-s,bridge-sch,1-volume,2-tone

I have a rails humbucker in the bridge which sounds great with a 500k volume pot. But the neck/middle single coils sound way too muddy. I was going to try disconnecting the neck tone pot to see how much brighter I can get to see if I like the results before upgrading. Can someone tell me how based on that wiring diagram I should disconnect the neck tone pot? :scratchch

Cheers

 

[gregory]

Re: Removing Strat Neck Tone Control

Disconnect the wire going to the middle lug of the middle control at the switch. You might also consider changing the tone cap to 0.022.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Removing Strat Neck Tone Control

The lugs on the switch facing the pots go from left to right: neck, middle, bridge, common (output). So how it is, you have your neck pickup connected to the top tone and the middle pickup connected to the bottom tone. If you want to disconnect your neck pickup from the tone pots, just disconnect the wire from the lug on the left side of the switch facing the pots.

If you end up not wanting tone controls, there are some handy things you can use the remaining pots for. Like a neck/bridge blender control, a spin a split for your humbucker, a bass cut knob, or independent volumes for each pickup.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Removing Strat Neck Tone Control

Thats odd.....did the guitar come with a 250k vol pot originally?? And what are you other pickups....are they originals or new ones??

I ask as usually a 500k pot changes the tone for the better for neck pickups. It makes the whole pickup brighter by making the mids and treble stand out better (without changing the bass component).

Can you check to see if in the process of the rewire you don't have anything like the cap manually grounding out, or anything else that might cause the tone to become muddy.

 

[zedexseven]

Re: Removing Strat Neck Tone Control

Thanks a lot guys, this is easier than I thought. I will give it a shot and report back. Basically I bought this MIM strat really cheap for road gigs so I don't have to worry about leaving an expensive one in the truck over night. I put in $50 to upgrade the bridge pickup and was hoping to get away with tweaks until the neck/middle pickups are "usable". I have a MIA strat at home that sounds amazing and I don't need this one to sound as good as that, it just needs passable tones. When I googled MIM strat neck pickup muddy there were lots of hits so I suspect it's a common thing

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Removing Strat Neck Tone Control

MiM Strat pickups are 'muddy' or bassy compared to most Alnico/traditional singles, but I agree something seems off if you can really call them "muddy" with 500k pots. I wonder if your tone control is wired backwards... (That's actually a serious question.)

 

[chadd]

Re: Removing Strat Neck Tone Control

My two cents;
Wire a master tone and use the other tone pot as a 250k volume for the neck and middle pickups. Otherwise, put the 250k back in for the master volume and a resistor to the bridge pickup.