Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

PizzaMaker

PizzaMaker

New member
Hey all - I've finished with my LP Jimmy Page wiring with 4 push/pulls & 2 toggle switches, now it's time to play with something else.

The next project involves a strat & 3 push/pulls with the standard 5 way switch.

I was thinking:
Volume knob pulls out to turn Neck pickup on when in the bridge or bridge/middle position (always on)
Tone knob 1 puts neck (or bridge) pickup out of phase
Tone knob 2 puts middle pickup out of phase

I'm also considering the following, but don't know if it's even possible:
Volume turns neck pickup on and out of phase when switch is in the bridge or bridge/middle position
Tone 1 puts bridge out of phase
Tone 2 puts all pickups in series

I can do the first option without the need for external help, but I have 2 questions:

1 - Is the second setup even possible?
2 - What would YOU do with 3 push/pulls and a standard 5-way switch?

Any feedback, thoughts and opinions would be appreciated...
 
Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

1 - no idea

2 - put three hums in there and wire them to split or go parallel

But I'm kooky like that.




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Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

darthphineas said:
2 - put three hums in there and wire them to split or go parallel
Click to expand...
If it were my guitar it would already have humbuckers in it, along with a super-switch and push pulls and possible jaguar style sliding switches - I'm kooky like that, too. I like having the craziest wiring possible.

Unfortunately this isn't my guitar and the guy I'm doing it for has given me the following criteria:

It has to use the pickups in it
I can't change its appearance
He wants push/pulls

Other than that he's given me free reign to do what I want...
 
Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

PizzaMaker said:
I'm also considering the following, but don't know if it's even possible:
Volume turns neck pickup on and out of phase when switch is in the bridge or bridge/middle position
Tone 1 puts bridge out of phase
Tone 2 puts all pickups in series

I can do the first option without the need for external help, but I have 2 questions:

1 - Is the second setup even possible?
2 - What would YOU do with 3 push/pulls and a standard 5-way switch?

Any feedback, thoughts and opinions would be appreciated...
Click to expand...

Volume turns neck pickup on and out of phase when switch is in the bridge or bridge/middle position
Easy

Tone 1 puts bridge out of phase
Easy

Tone 2 puts all pickups in series
I don't see how with a DPDT because you've got to connect the ground of two of the pickups to the hot of their nearest neighbor - you're moving 4 connections at once. I don't think all 3 in series would be a useful sound anyway. It would be awfully muddy. My Brian May guitar does that and I haven't found a use for that sound yet. But maybe it's just me.

What would I do?
Put neck and middle on the same tone, put the bridge on it's own tone (maybe higher value pot?).
Then do the push-pulls just like you planned.
 
Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

That's what had me stumped - using one switch for all in series.

I might stick with option 1 as it's what I suggested prior to him saying "do whatever you want". But with a slight twist. I'll have the neck pickup turn on and out of phase, and have phase switches for the other two so it can run all 3 pups in whatever phase combinations he wants (ie all knobs up is all 3 pups on and in phase, dropping middle or bridge down puts that pickup out of phase).

Should make for some interest in noises at any rate.

He's not the most experienced guitarist but likes to play around with different sounds. He writes a lot of 80's style synth music so phase switching will be right up his alley.




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Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

If it were me?
1 push pull to activate the neck
2nd to throw the middle out of phase
3rd ACTIVE CLAPTON MID BOOST!!! but if he wants another push pull, then it would probably be what your #1 is.
 
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Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

I don't really find phase switching all that useful without independent volumes.

if it was me...

master volume (pull to turn on neck pup)
neck tone (pull for phase)
bridge tone (pull to put middle and bridge in series)


the Clapton mid boost is a cool thing but requires routing to put the credit card size circuit board in there and you need to use one odd value pot which you probably cannot find with the push/pull function
 
Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

Now, what I would do would be to have each pot turn on a pickup and the selector switch set up to work kind of like a varitone.
 
Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

Bulinski102 said:
Now, what I would do would be to have each pot turn on a pickup and the selector switch set up to work kind of like a varitone.
Click to expand...

I do like the sound of that. I was going to stay away from a Super Switch on this one but for the experience I might throw one in there for him.

Damn it! Now I have to re-think the whole thing! :firedevil

Anyone got any super switch ideas or diagrams they'd like to share?
 
Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

Bulinski102 said:
Now, what I would do would be to have each pot turn on a pickup and the selector switch set up to work kind of like a varitone.
Click to expand...

I did something similar to that years ago and I really liked the result.
 
Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

Bulinski102 said:
Now, what I would do would be to have each pot turn on a pickup and the selector switch set up to work kind of like a varitone.
Click to expand...

Pulling up Strat-style knobs is kind of a pain, because of the shape of the knob and the flat surface it's set against, and, at least in my cause, when the vol knob is pulled up, it's much to hit by accident with the palm of my hand, so I'd have that volume push/pull knob do something less important, like out-of-phase, B+N, etc.
 
Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

DreX said:
Pulling up Strat-style knobs is kind of a pain, because of the shape of the knob and the flat surface it's set against, and, at least in my cause, when the vol knob is pulled up, it's much to hit by accident with the palm of my hand, so I'd have that volume push/pull knob do something less important, like out-of-phase, B+N, etc.
Click to expand...

Abso-dodgamn-lutely. I got the chrome tele knobs specifically for that reason.
 
Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

I have a standard push/pull setup I use on pretty much any Strat I get. It uses two push pulls, and a third could be added for a phase switch on one of the pickups. One push/pull is a neck on switch. The other push pull gives you a very different (and very useful) range of tones from a standard 5-way switch:

1: bridge pickup as normal (no tone control)
2. bridge pickup with tone control (the middle pickup tone control)
3. bridge and middle pickup in series with tone control (humbucking if one pickup is rw/rp)
4. all three pickups on (position three "humbucker" in parallel with the neck pickup)
5. neck pickup as normal

It's a great alternate five-way scheme to use. Here are the things I like about it:

- Positions 1 and 2 expand your standard Strat bridge pickup into Esquire territory, with the ability to toggle back and forth between a wide open bridge pickup and the same pickup with a pre-set treble roll off.
- Related to the above, but not the same, is that you get a tone control on the bridge position of a Strat, without having to sacrifice (or share) another pickup's tone control.
- It's also nice because positions 1 and 5 (most players' most frequently used positions on a Strat) are just like a normal Strat. Flip all the way one way, and it's the full-on bridge. All the way the other way, and it's the neck with a tone control. So even though it's not stock, for most people, it is effectively is stock in real-world use.
- You get a hot, but not too hot, humbucker sound in position 3, without losing positions 1 or 5 from the normal Strat setup. The reason I am not big on HSS is that the loss of the Strat bridge sound is too great a price to pay. This wiring gives a great compromise between single coil tones and humbucker tones in the same guitar.
- Position 4 sounds great. You get the great sonic effect of having all three pickups on, but without the huge output drop you would have by using all three in parallel.
- In conjunction with the neck on switch, positions 1 and 2 are out-frigging-standing.
- It's simple to operate, and easy to get used to.
- Sacrifices nothing of a standard Strat. Want a standard Strat? Just flip the switch back to normal.

The only sort-of flaw with it is that the middle pickup tone control works in both positions 2 and 3. That means that if you want to use the bridge pickup alone with a tone control, your b+m in series position will also be affected by that tone knob setting. That's kind of a drag, as I usually would want to squeeze as much treble as possible from that b+m in series. However, I would normally choose position three for a whole song, not flip to/from it in the middle of a song. So for me, it's really no big deal.
 
Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

DreX said:
Pulling up Strat-style knobs is kind of a pain, because of the shape of the knob and the flat surface it's set against, and, at least in my cause, when the vol knob is pulled up, it's much to hit by accident with the palm of my hand, so I'd have that volume push/pull knob do something less important, like out-of-phase, B+N, etc.
Click to expand...
i've got a push pull on the vol to coil tap my quarter pounder and another on the first tone to pull the neck pup in. with the sexy, smooth, rosewood knobs i have it would be horrible to pull em up if they were mounted low down against the (also sexy rosewood) scratchplate. however, i mount the pots so that a bit more stem pushes through, so there is a nice little gap underneath the pot, whereupon the pull suddenly becomes trivial :)

i can see your point about the volume knob getting in the way of your picking hand when pulled up, but i actually find it's always in the way anyhow. i'm used to 1 or 2 knob superstratty, evh inspired type guitars, with the vol probably around halfway between the vol & first tone spots on a normal strat. ho hum.
 
Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

Sounds like SOMEONE is a Brian May fan!

Get one of these? Problem solved.

F128.jpg
 
Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

I can't relate to the affection for out-of-phase tones, it makes your pickups sound like Fran Drescher through a talk box.
 
Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

jeremy said:
the Clapton mid boost is a cool thing but requires routing to put the credit card size circuit board in there and you need to use one odd value pot which you probably cannot find with the push/pull function
Click to expand...

I had one Strat where the Fender mid boost card was installed with no routing. One edge of the circuit board was cut off to make it fit in the bottom of the control cavity.
 
Re: Single coil strat - What would YOU do?

I've got a guitar with 3 mini toggles - Owned it since 1984. I still remember longing just for a simple 5-way back in the day. More options (while nice to have) is not necessarily better.
 
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