Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

[Lewguitar]

Thought this would be the place.

This guitar has been my #1 Strat for many years and I bought it in a pawn shop around 1990. It has a nice resonance and notes seem to ring longer both unplugged and plugged in. Just a lucky break.

I put a new neck with medium jumbos on it a couple of years ago.

It has two Antiquity Surfers and an Alnico 2 Hot For Tele Tapped bridge pickup that MJ wound in the Custom Shop.

The 5 way switch is wired for:

1. HOT Tele bridge pickup
2. HOT Tele bridge pickup and Surfer neck pickup
3. Surfer neck pickup
4. Vintage Tele bridge pickup and Surfer neck pickup
5. Vintage Tele bridge pickup

The mini switch adds the MIDDLE pickup to whatever the 5 way switch is set for and I can get TEN tones with this arrangement.

Something similar could be achieved with a tapped Strat bridge pickup like the Quarter Pounder. But I wanted to use a Tele pickup like Lowell George used.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

I like it!

 

[Synapsys]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

My Jackson DK2 with a Freeway switch and a series/parallel pot does eleven different tones, and I also own a Tele copy that does nine. I'm all about getting the most versatility out of a guitar.

Awesome axes you've got there! Rock on!

 

[MikeS]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

Nice. I, too, am a fan of the strat bridge and neck tone. I always appreciate a switching scheme that is simple to operate and yields lots of usable tones. My contribution is a strat with a superswitch and one push/pull. Switch down, it acts like any other strat. Switch up, I get N+M(series), N, B+N(parallel), B, B+M(series).

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

What’s great there is you have both a Tele and a strat in one guitar with the comfort and ergonomics of a strat.

I like the 1959-looking tobacco burst to the right. (Or is it a 54 with a 62 neck?)

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

What’s great there is you have both a Tele and a strat in one guitar with the comfort and ergonomics of a strat.

I like the 1959-looking tobacco burst to the right. (Or is it a 54 with a 62 neck?)

Thanks! That's just how I think of it: a light 54 ash body and a 62 neck with medium jumbos. That guitar has Duncan Antiquity Surfers for the neck and middle and a Lindy Fralin Steel Pole 43 for the bridge pickup. The SP43 has a little of a P90 flavor.

The Tele Custom is a Fender Japan model and has a Duncan CS Jerry Donahue and a Fralin Vintage Hot for the neck pickup.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

That's a cool switching idea. Which three positions do you find yourself using the most?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

That's a cool switching idea. Which three positions do you find yourself using the most?

Neck only. Neck and middle. Hot bridge and Middle. Hot bridge only. Those are my favorites. I don't miss not having the Middle pickup by itself - I've never liked that sound.

If I ever do another one of these Strato-Teles I'll just order an untapped Alnico 2 Hot For Tele from the Custom shop and use a three way switch for Neck, Neck & Bridge, and Bridge. I'd still need the mini switch or a push/pull pot to add the Middle pickup.

I could use one of those Schaller Mega Switch 5 ways to get Neck, Neck and Middle, Neck and Bridge, Middle and Bridge and Bridge only, but they seem to wear out quickly.

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

Ha. It's funny that after all the effort to get those switching options you ended up pretty much using the four good standard strat sounds. I've done similar before myself with complicated wiring schemes.

 

[playas]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

Is it just me or is the size of the burst a little smaller than your white strat?

Sent from my Redmi Note 8 using Tapatalk

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

Is it just me or is the size of the burst a little smaller than your white strat?

Sent from my Redmi Note 8 using Tapatalk

No, they're both the same size.

 

[playas]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

It's just me so.

Sent from my Redmi Note 8 using Tapatalk

 

[Mincer]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

I've built Strats with many switching options, too, and then over time realized that I use 3 sounds: neck, neck and middle, and bridge. The other ones are superfluous to me. But those multi-option Strats got me to understand what I like, and so it was worth it.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

Ever since I've seen your Strat with the Tele pickup in the bridge, that has intrigued me. If I ever go with a SSS Strat setup again, a Tele bridge pickup would definitely be an option. I don't mind a Strat middle or neck pickup much but the bridge definitely has room for improvement. I prefer the spank and growl that can be had from a good Tele bridge pickup.

 

[Artie]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

Hey Lew; LTNS. That's a sweet axe. I'm curious . . . did changing the neck not affect it resonance and sustain?

 

[Artie]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

Ever since I've seen your Strat with the Tele pickup in the bridge, that has intrigued me. If I ever go with a SSS Strat setup again, a Tele bridge pickup would definitely be an option. I don't mind a Strat middle or neck pickup much but the bridge definitely has room for improvement. I prefer the spank and growl that can be had from a good Tele bridge pickup.

That brings up an interesting question: Strat with a Tele bridge vs Tele with a Strat middle pup. I wonder how they'd compare.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

That brings up an interesting question: Strat with a Tele bridge vs Tele with a Strat middle pup. I wonder how they'd compare.

That would be a really good comparison.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

Hey Lew; LTNS. That's a sweet axe. I'm curious . . . did changing the neck not affect it resonance and sustain?

Hey Artie! Yes it did. The rosewood warms up the tone and it had more spank with the original one piece maple neck. I have that neck but the frets are worn out.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

That brings up an interesting question: Strat with a Tele bridge vs Tele with a Strat middle pup. I wonder how they'd compare.

I think the magnets in Strat pickups choke the tone of the steel strings. The Tele has no middle pickup and I've compared Strats with no middle pickup to Strats with all three pickups and they do seem to ring differently.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Wanted to show you my Strat with TEN TONES

I've decided what I'm going to do with the guitar that started this thread.

Going to remove the strings and the pickguard and rewire the 5 way switch for neck, neck & middle, middle, middle & HOT TELE bridge, HOT TELE bridge. I'll use the mini-switch to combine the neck and bridge pickups. I'll just tape off the wire that is the tap for the "vintage output" of the bridge pickup because I never use it.