Strat Wiring Idea

[Artie]

Sorry when I posted the diagram wasn't there for some weird reason
That's exactly what I meant
I like it since it gives you
about 9 combos
Not kissing up or anything but from what I've seen Artietoo is one of the most helpful people on this forum when it comes to diagrams
p.s. Just saying this because I might need your help soon
Dom L

Actually, its not a weird reason. The company that hosts my website has been doing a major server relocation over the last couple weeks. Sometimes the website is up - sometimes its not.

I really appreciate the kind words about my diagrams, and the reason I draw them is to help folks see a bit more clearly about how to connect stuff - but there's something that needs to be said about this:

I've been in electronics for over 30 years, but into guitar electronics for only a few months. Anytime you see someone like Robert S., or Lew, or Curly, or StratPaulGuy, or anybody, who's opinion is different than mine - take their advice over mine.

I illustrate my ignorance equally as clearly as my expertise.

Artie

 

[MattPete]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

Once again, I gotta thank ArtieToo for that incredibly elegant solution.

And if you really think you might want just the middle pickup someday, you can add a 2pole switch or push-pull that will bypass the output from the 3way and send the hot signal from the middle instead.

 

[MattPete]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

OK, I got the soldering iron fired up last night, wired 'er up, and found one problem. It turns out that my minitoggle works backwards from the way it is in the diagram. No big, deal, just a little rewiring.

Unfortunately, only the parallel and bypass positions work. I've traced and traced both the diagram, and to me, both should work, but for some reason it doesn't.

Does anybody see anything blatantly wrong with the series position? The only thing I can come up with might be that there is a fault in the switch...

 

[MattPete]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

Actually, I have one major change from that wiring diagram: I have the two tone pots connected to their respective poles on the 3-way pickup selector. Could that be screwing with serial mode?

 

[MattPete]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

bump

 

[Artie]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

Hey Matt; As I look closer at that diagram, I think I may have drawn the middle position of the switch, (bypass), backwards. (Which would explain why your switch worked different.) Sorry about that.

I'll look it over closer today, and compare it to my own. I'll get back to you before the day is over. :smack:

 

[Artie]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

As I think about this, I realize, it was really stupid of me to post a drawing that I know has something backwards in it. :smack:

As soon as I get home from work, I'll redraw this to be correct. I don't think your tone controls will hurt anything, but just to be sure, could you describe a little more in detail, exactly how, and where, you have therm connected.

 

[MattPete]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

Hey Matt; As I look closer at that diagram, I think I may have drawn the middle position of the switch, (bypass), backwards. (Which would explain why your switch worked different.) Sorry about that.

I'll look it over closer today, and compare it to my own. I'll get back to you before the day is over. :smack:

Actually, I already figured out that the switch was backwards (after I had wired it up...which is my normal pattern of luck with wiring).

So, I unsoldered the connections and mirrored them left-to-right.

The first time I got this pattern:

bypass*
cut*
parallel

where bypass and cut were the wrong outcomes (bypass in this case means bypass the middle pickup so the pickup selector switch acts like a Tele switch)

The second time, after I mirrored the wiring, I got this:

bypass* <-- should be serial
bypass
parallel

So now, 2 out of 3 positions work for the mini-toggle. This is where I'm at now, and like I said, I traced the wiring, and I'm scratching my head as to why the serial position doesn't work.

 

[MattPete]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

Hope this isn't too messy (I tried to clean it up a bit):

So, in this case, the 3-way pickup switch is wired like a Tele. The tone controls are connected to the selector switch where the neck and bridge connect.

So...tracing out the serial mode:

Middle ground goes to ground
Middle hot goes to minitoggle (middle left terminal).
...which jumpers down to the lower right terminal
...which (when switched) goes up to the middle right terminal
...which then goes to the ground of the neck and middle.

From there, the hot out of the neck and middle connect to the selector switch, which is also where their respective tone controls are connected.

 

[Artie]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

Matt; This looks like it should work. Can you tell me, when you're in the "series" position, do you get no sound, or weak sound?

Also, can you tell me what the DC resistance of the three pickups you're using are?
(Or, which are they, and I can look it up.)
Also, do you have a meter?
Oh yeah, and whats the value of your volume pot. That way I can tell you what to measure, and where.

 

[MattPete]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

Neck        6.3
middle-pu   6.3
bridge      8.3

...and the mini-switch and selector switch combinations:

    parallel    bypass    series
N    3.16        6.24      6.24
N+B  2.31        3.59      3.59
B    3.62        8.34      8.34

I went through and calculated what the values would be in series, and the values are spot on.

 

[MattPete]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

OK, now this takes the cake!

This is something that can only happen with a Twangbanger. It turns out the TB has a copper plate on the bottom, and it's grounded to this plate. I also had copper foil on the back of the pickguard, and the pickupscrews (which screwed into the plate) contacted the copper foil, and made a ground!

The only way I figured this out was by disconnecting the pickup ground wires. The neck and middle no longer worked, but the bridge Twangbanger still did.

 

[Artie]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

So Matt, where does that leave you now? Do you still have positions that don't work?
Or are you on the trail to figuring this out?

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

Something tells me the Switchologist and his Patient are starting to get a bit wired

Hat´s off to A2, and good luck, you 2 are already WAAY over my head

 

[MattPete]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

Artie (and Zerb): it works perfect now! Sweet single coils in the middle position, quack in the up position, and ballsy-thick tone in the down (serial) position. Once again, thanks to Artie and his elegant wiring that was spot-on.

I think the strangest thing was that I had disconnected the grounds from the 3-way switch, but I was still getting readings for the bridge pickup (through the quick-connects I have in my pickguard)! That's what lead me to the ground going from the Twang-banger plate, through the screws, to the copper foil on the pickguard, and then to the grounded volume pot.

Now I just need to figure out of I want to keep one of my no-load 250k tone pots, or if I want to switch it for a 250k push-pull that will allow me to add the middle by itself. I'm still waiting on a non-RWRP APS2 (there was an order mix-up) for the neck. I have an SSL-1 pulled from the neck of my kramer 15 years ago in there now.

So...right now, I have:

SSL-1 (neck)
APS-2 (middle)
Twangbanger (bridge)

...in a swamp ash hardtail Warmoth strat.

 

[Artie]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

Excellent . . . although, next time I'll try to make sure I don't have my switch drawing backwards. :smack:

 

[Kent S.]

Re: Strat Wiring Idea

Excellent . . . although, next time I'll try to make sure I don't have my switch drawing backwards. :smack:

I hate it when that happens, but it does ...
Okay, to further confuse things ... err ... I mean help (yeah, right Kent ...)
Here is a layout that I have in a Fernandez Strat of mine, I actually think I like yours (the two of you that is) a bit better. Mine is a little more switch intensive, and requires two DPDT push/pull (or push/push pots [ one could be a SPDT switch]; uses a five way switch). This was originally done with humbucking stacked singles, and a control matrix similar to the G&L set-up.
{Also a DMZ shockwave preamp ... GOD I wish they still made those :::: sigh}
This differs from the one stated in a couple areas as follows:

Yours: Middle in series with the parallel connection of the bridge & neck,
Neck & bridge in parallel, neck & middle & bridge in parallel.
Mine: Middle alone, bridge & middle in series w/ neck in parallel,
neck & middle in series w/ bridge in parallel.
So it's kinda a cool option, depending on what the player wants, just put it out there for anyone that might be interested ... :cool3: