Wiring 5-way switch for 3-pickup Strat, with bass cut for neck and middle

[ChristianNoir]

I was thinking of trying to achieve the following on a 3 pickup Strat with a 5 way switch, but was looking for a wiring diagram:


*Bridge wired normally

*Master tone for neck and middle Pickups only

*Master Bass rolloff/focus for neck and middle Pickups only

+Treble bleed

+I could use a no-load pot for the bass rolloff right?


I was thinking of simply wiring the tone knob for the neck pickup as a bass cut instead of treble cut, but I fear that might leave the highs too wide open.


I'm not sure how useful the bass cut for the bridge would be, which is why I was thinking of not making it a master control for the whole guitar. Basically, I'm tying to balance the neck and bridge pickups a bit more without messing with pickup heights too much, and in some scenarios, the low end in a neck pickup is a bit overwhelming. I figured the bass contour / roll off / focus or whatever might give me some options.


As far as changing Pickups, it's a no-go. It has to be this set.


Thanks

 

[shadowfire90]

Re: Wiring 5-way switch for 3-pickup Strat, with bass cut for neck and middle

Hey ChristianNoir. Any particular bass cut you were fond of? There is a few out there. I never had much luck with the G&L PTB style wiring on my guitars. The only two tone controls I really liked were the fender greasebucket and torres mid boost and scoop mod. However, I'd rather help design this diagram.

by the sounds of it so far
master volume
neck / middle tone is easy to do
neck / middle bass cut
5 way blade
mono input jack

any preference on which goes first bass or standard tone. Depending on the type of bass cut we'll see if no load is an option.

is your volume A250k or B250k? If it's A250k I do suggest the treble bleed... however. If it's B250k you already get the smooth predictable volume drop so it's not necessary in my experience.

as an update though, to have the bridge pickup not be at all in this wiring you'd need a super 5 way switch by the looks of it as there is no way I can think of to get the bridge pickup out without cutting bass. The middle and neck pickup when they are filtered through the other side of the switch is easy. However, the bridge pickup is causing a bunch of issues in this concept I'm drawing out.

one approach since it's such a small capacitor about 10% the size of a traditional strat capacitor (2.2nf vs 22nf) I wouldn't worry about it. this is looking at the diagram Joe Gore (Tonefiend) did on a Premier guitar blog a while back. The only way I see this working is the bass cut would have to be a master control across all 3 pickups and a no load tone control for the middle/neck. However since a no load tone control is off and the capacitor theoretically "Disappears" I'd just make both controls affect all 3 pickups. My 2 cents on this.

This is Joe's blog about it
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/24592-the-recording-guitarist-the-fabulous-focus-knob

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Wiring 5-way switch for 3-pickup Strat, with bass cut for neck and middle

Hey ChristianNoir. Any particular bass cut you were fond of? There is a few out there. I never had much luck with the G&L PTB style wiring on my guitars. The only two tone controls I really liked were the fender greasebucket and torres mid boost and scoop mod. However, I'd rather help design this diagram.

by the sounds of it so far
master volume
neck / middle tone is easy to do
neck / middle bass cut
5 way blade
mono input jack

any preference on which goes first bass or standard tone. Depending on the type of bass cut we'll see if no load is an option.

is your volume A250k or B250k? If it's A250k I do suggest the treble bleed... however. If it's B250k you already get the smooth predictable volume drop so it's not necessary in my experience.

as an update though, to have the bridge pickup not be at all in this wiring you'd need a super 5 way switch by the looks of it as there is no way I can think of to get the bridge pickup out without cutting bass. The middle and neck pickup when they are filtered through the other side of the switch is easy. However, the bridge pickup is causing a bunch of issues in this concept I'm drawing out.

one approach since it's such a small capacitor about 10% the size of a traditional strat capacitor (2.2nf vs 22nf) I wouldn't worry about it. this is looking at the diagram Joe Gore (Tonefiend) did on a Premier guitar blog a while back. The only way I see this working is the bass cut would have to be a master control across all 3 pickups and a no load tone control for the middle/neck. However since a no load tone control is off and the capacitor theoretically "Disappears" I'd just make both controls affect all 3 pickups. My 2 cents on this.

This is Joe's blog about it
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/24592-the-recording-guitarist-the-fabulous-focus-knob

A lot of people make the mistake of calling this an "input jack".
A lot of people refer to a coil split as a "tap".
Some people even refer to a Yugo or a SmartCar or a Fiat 500 as a "car". Some call the trunk of a car a "boot". Some call good "bad", and bad "good".

Some of this is just semantics or colloquialisms.
"Input jack", is not.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Wiring 5-way switch for 3-pickup Strat, with bass cut for neck and middle

Everyone knows what is meant
Stop being pedantic

Do you do spelling and grammar as well?

 

[freefrog]

Re: Wiring 5-way switch for 3-pickup Strat, with bass cut for neck and middle

I was thinking of simply wiring the tone knob for the neck pickup as a bass cut instead of treble cut, but I fear that might leave the highs too wide open.

If there's too much treble, just solder a 220k or 270k resistor between hot and ground in parallel with each of the mid and bass PU's. It will replace the missing resistive load of regular tone pots.

Now and to give you another idea : if I wanted the same thing than you, I'd consider 2 G&L PTB dual tone controls wired on 2 Fender TBX pots, like this: https://music-electronics-forum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44890&d=1505326646

[BUT each of these dual controls would be located between each of your mid and neck pickups and the selector, BTW... Selector whose output would go as usual to the master volume pot and from this volume pot to the female jack output plug. Oh, and... with such primary "bass cut" circuits, I wouldn't add a treble bleed on the volume control... but YMMV.]

Each single tone pot would give you EITHER a standard treble cut/ low pass filter 250k tone control, EITHER a bass cut / high pass filter control, with a "no load" center detent position as a bonus... and it would avoid any conflict between low pass and high pass filters, as it risks to happen if they are not wired in the proper order.

FWIW (= my 2 cents). Do what you want and be happy!

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Wiring 5-way switch for 3-pickup Strat, with bass cut for neck and middle

Everyone knows what is meant

Obviously not Shadowfire90. Is it more appropriate to allow mistakes to continue?

Stop being pedantic

Not really, but I AM a champion of communication...which requires correct usage of the language. Yes, maybe I'm a bit OCD about it. But if we all know that it is an "output jack" then there is no reason not to refer to it as such. Right? But we can get into trouble on a help forum if someone who may be a noobe is subjected to, and learns incorrect terminology and asks questions which are thus incorrectly interpreted, and gets the wrong answer.

I do have to admit that "coil tap" (when meaning "split") and "input jack" (when meaning "output jack") are two of my pet peeves.

Do you object to the use of correct terminology? (You are literate enough to use the term "pedantic").

Well, OK, so maybe I'm being a bit pedantic right now.

Do you do spelling and grammar as well?

Yes.

But you have to admit that there have recently been a lot of posts that have been so illiterate (incorrect spelling and word usage, poor grammar, sometimes whole paragraphs with no commas, periods, capitals letters, etc) that it is next to impossible to understand what the person is saying. How can that be helpful?!

 

[Mincer]

Re: Wiring 5-way switch for 3-pickup Strat, with bass cut for neck and middle

I am a fan of proper communication, and proper terms here, too. Being that many come here for wiring advice, or guitar electronics stuff in general, I'd like to keep this place as correct as we can be as possible. Using the right terms is a part of that, as there is enough murdering of the language outside of this forum. But when talking about wiring, I want people to come here and get correct information.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Wiring 5-way switch for 3-pickup Strat, with bass cut for neck and middle

Thanks Dave. You said what I have been trying to say but you do it in such a better way. I don't think anyone will call you nasty names for that observation/recommendation (I admit that I can be a bit abrasive and even deserve some of the criticism I get).