Strat wiring question

WhoGivesAPluck

WhoGivesAPluck

New member
I think this works but I just want to see what you guys think about it, putting a jumper from the 5-way switch on the pot side lugs 2&3 3&4 will be a tone for both of those pickups. if i use a cap instead for a jumper will effect them both? or will the signal to thru the pickup with the wire from the switch to the pot? and bypas the jumper completly? or will it only work when the switch is in the position between the two?
 
Re: Strat wiring question

What are you trying to do?
Do you just want a master tone control?
Or are you trying to have one tone for the middle and neck, and the other tone for the bridge?
 
Re: Strat wiring question

well the way I have it wired now, is 2 P/Ps for series variations and I'm just trying to avoid putting a cap in there somewhere and have it mess up the rest of my circuits because I'm not that good I've been trying to put it in there but there's just too much going on there for me to get it right, So i'm trying to avoid all that and just give me a tone for the Neck and Mid, but the bridge has a Different brighter cap on the bridge To put it out of the way of that mess and on the switch lugs would just be easier to do, probrably save me a headache or two. yes! the bridge has it's own tone pot and it's own cap there
 
Last edited:
Re: Strat wiring question

Yeah, so you can use the cap itself as the connection from the switch to the tone pot, assuming the cap legs are long enough. The order of cap > pot or pot > cap doesn't matter. (Was confirmed in another thread recently. Fender typically does pot > cap. Gibson typically does cap > pot.)

I would use some spare insulation off another piece of wire to cover the cap legs so they don't touch anything and ground out the whole works.

I have a no-load tone on my bridge and I have the middle/neck on the separate tone on my Strat. I jumpered the middle/neck tabs on the switch, then connected the neck tab to one tone control, then ran a separate wire from the bridge tab on the switch to the bridge tone control. I'm using the same cap for all, however. But you certainly can use different caps (sounds like you are already).
 
Re: Strat wiring question

Nice! thanks! A noload pot for the bridge I might try that! it's still going to suck getting it in there. that's right in the middle of everything. I'll seen videos how to make noload pots by opening up the pot and cutting some of the carbon off the disk in there, is that hard to do? is that how you did it?
 
Last edited:
Re: Strat wiring question

I bought a no-load for my bridge. I did that so I could still have the normal Strat sound of the bridge going straight out with no tone. I have it in the furthest out tone knob position, so there's little wiring around it there.

Personally I don't recommend opening up pots and modifying them. You can do it and maybe get away with it, but in my experience the metals used in pots have already been bent once to assemble them, and once you bend it twice again (to open it up then reassemble it), the metal gets weaker and never bends back into position tight like it needs to be for a reliable, long-lasting pot - sometimes it even tears trying to get it back together. No-load pots are available on the market so there really isn't a strong reason to 'make' one, IMHO.
 
Re: Strat wiring question

Yeah I hear ya, That just me being lazy and waiting 3-5 days for a pot, but I think it best to wait, I have plenty to do in the meantime
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top