Rewire a not-yet-vintage Stratocaster

[TheRip]

Hey guys!

I recently got a 92' Fender Japan Stratocaster, and now it gets some plastic surgery. The switch already went, since it was broken and a new fender one went in. Jack the same, and single cap has been replaced for 2 new .22 tone caps.

Vintage cloth cable gauge 22 shall arrive next week.
I want to rewire the whole guitar, since the soldering is already getting a bit meh, and I want to do it PROPERLY and CLEAN.

So, any suggestion on what i should be paying close attention to? It doesnt need to be 100000000% vintage correct, I take anything as long as it looks clean and works as intended. If it matters, the body is routed SSS, so it only has this small channel for the cables to go through.
I've already seen some pickguards, though pics are welcome, and pointing out WHY it is done as its done would be nice

Also, I've seen somewhere people twisting the hot and ground wires from the pickups and the jack, why is that done and would you recommend it?

I'm confident and decent experienced in soldering, I've soldered for couple years, couple elctronics(guitar pedals) and my "old" Aria Strat, though this pickguard is better not shown, hence the post here

Thank you for your advice!!

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Rewire a not-yet-vintage Stratocaster

I assume you mean .022 uf caps.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Rewire a not-yet-vintage Stratocaster

I twist multiple wires going to a common point simply to make a tidy bundle

sonically it probably doesnt make much difference

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Rewire a not-yet-vintage Stratocaster

Twisted Pair:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_pair

When I rewired my two Strats recently I basically went vintage style with cloth push-back wire. Neat and tidy wiring, gather each of the leads from each pickup to the center of the next and secure (I used tie straps) to keep the wires in the channel. Nice short leads and jumpers to the pots/switch.

 

[TheRip]

Re: Rewire a not-yet-vintage Stratocaster

I assume you mean .022 uf caps.

yeah, of course! those 0 always get missed out...

Twisted Pair:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_pair

Thanks a lot for that link!


So I assume its more just "wire as it was" and lay the wires neatly, so everything can be taped down? no other special tricks other than twisting?
This seems easy

Thanks a lot for the advise!

 

[kilphody]

Re: Rewire a not-yet-vintage Stratocaster

When you clip the cloth wire to length, dip the ends in a little molten paraffin. Let harden. Push back and solder. The wax will remelt around the connection and there will be no frayed ends. Nice and neat.

PC

 

[TheRip]

Re: Rewire a not-yet-vintage Stratocaster

that is a good tip! I havent messed with cloth cables yet, but that sounds like something that would make it a lot easier and cleaner!

 

[greekdude]

Re: Rewire a not-yet-vintage Stratocaster

You might attempt the once legendary and classic star grounding + protection against DC electrical hazard : http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/shield3.php
Other tip : SAND THE POTS' HEADS!

Now, seriously, if you wanna loose some sleep over your strat, then instead of redoing a guitar that works, i'd suggest trying with different wiring options : push/pull pots, adding bridge to all positions mod, adding tone to bridge mod, etc....

I have done all of the above. The wiring does not pay off. Good pups and switching schemes do.

 

[TheRip]

Re: Rewire a not-yet-vintage Stratocaster

I've already done this to my Aria strat, it has all sorts of wierd stuff going on...(HSH btw, so plenty of options)
On that particular guitar though, I had tried to pushpull the series/parallel wiring option on position 2 and 4, as described by dirk wacker over at premierguitar...though it had the best mod sound yet, i decided to remove it again, it wasnt something i would use often, same with some other mods. Also, I wanna keep that strat rather stock, so the pots must stay, and the pots are very nice, the turning resistance isnt as low as on my pushpulls, where you can almost turn them through just staring at it, and it isnt as hard as the aria ones, just the perfect sweet spot for a precise action that can be done with one finger...and all 3 are the same.

anyways, it currently has a SD vintage rail neck (SVR-1N) installed in the bridge position, the stock one died and my dad wanted to get rid of that pickup...

man, i gotta concentrate on what i want to say...

shortcut version: I have looked around and tried different mods, none of which were reasonably useful to me, so the schematic won't change. The reason I want to redo it anyways is that the guitar is a sheer beauty (real aged olympic white with parchment pickguard, real aged pupcovers, topped of by a rosewood neck) on the outside, but a mess on the inside. Also, they used standard plastic insulated cable, not the cloth one, and i had to replace the stock import styled switch for a new fender one, which has the USA layout, which made the wiring a mess.

adittionally, i will do the shielding steps for the pickguard wiring, as described in your link, oh and i forgot, it has one mod, so trivial that i didnt even think about it, the second tone is wired to the middle and bridge via a simple jumper lead on the switch...seriously, this should be stock wiring for all strats!

 

[greekdude]

Re: Rewire a not-yet-vintage Stratocaster

it has one mod, so trivial that i didnt even think about it, the second tone is wired to the middle and bridge via a simple jumper lead on the switch...seriously, this should be stock wiring for all strats!

If you wanna do the bridge tone mod, then this : http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/simplebtone.php is by far the best and neatest I have found, which still retains all the rest of the positions. It needs an small extra cap to go in there. And yes I agree, this is totally dump from Fender not to have this mod stock on *all* strats. This is the only scheme that would nail the : "shine on you crazy diamond" intro solo tone.

PS
ARIA STRAT???? Are you my twin bro or smth?

 

[TheRip]

Re: Rewire a not-yet-vintage Stratocaster

PS
ARIA STRAT???? Are you my twin bro or smth?

haha, no i dont think so
also, it is a rather cheap guitar from I think 2009, aria definetly got worse in quality over time
but the wood is still "acceptable", and overall, I think those give you more guitar for the money than the squier ones do, especially for beginners...
(and sooooo made for mods, pool routing and cheap -> no hesitation to experiment!)

if you're interested, this is what it is now: only wood, tuners, and bridge are still aria: http://puu.sh/e3JPR/71c0612664.jpg

 

[greekdude]

Re: Rewire a not-yet-vintage Stratocaster

Too bad Aria does not rock the world as they did back in the early 80s. Yours is a lovely guitar! I like that blue. Mine is my first one bought in 1984, and it sustains more than my MIA neck-through Carvin. Great Axe!