wiring possibilities for this project?

JohnZAH

JohnZAH

New member
strat. HH or HSS. what are some different ways I can wire it?

should I have 1 vol, 1 tone for neck, 1 tone for bridge?
1 vol, 1 tone and a blender knob or mid boost?
just 1 vol, 1 tone?
7 vol, 3 tone? :dunno:

any other cool ideas? It would be cool to have some different or unique options with this.
 
Re: wiring possibilities for this project?

Plenty of possibilities but, first, you have to nominate a few sounds that are essential for your requirements.
 
Re: wiring possibilities for this project?

ok, let me think...

I'm leaning towards the HSS configuration because A.) I don't currently own any guitars with start singles and B.) I DO already have HH guitars.

I want a volume knob (duh) but I'm not sure if I should get one tone or two. After reading the "how to become a knob tweaker" post I'd like to see if I can learn to do it naturally.

If I go with a master vol master tone then I can use the third spot for something cool OR just get a pick guard for only 2 knobs.

I basically want this guitar to be a real player. Something that I can get great clean sounds all the way to hard rock, single coil and humbucker. Something I can play the s*** out of at every gig.
 
Re: wiring possibilities for this project?

One of my favorite things to do with an HSS Strat, is to use master vol/tone, which leaves the third hole for a nice 4PDT switch. Wire up the 5-way for completely normal Strat operation, but using the stud coil of the humbucker as the bridge single. Then, use the 4PDT switch to over-ride the 5-way at any time and go direct to full bridge humbucker mode. Kinda like a "turbo" switch.

There's other options, but that one is relatively simple and painless.

Artie

(Diagram available upon request.)
 
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Re: wiring possibilities for this project?

that actually sounds like a pretty good idea. What is the 4PDT switch? (toggle, button, coil tap?) The other thing that I might like would be a mode that combines full bridge hum bucker with the neck single coil, if that's possible.
 
Re: wiring possibilities for this project?

The 4PDT, (4-pole, double-throw), switch would need to be a toggle. (Which I prefer anyway.)
Bridge HB with neck single is do-able, I'd just have to think about the best way to incorporate it.
Let me chew on that tonight.
 
Re: wiring possibilities for this project?

thanks a ton man. I really need to learn more about wiring and such. I appreciate the help.
 
Re: wiring possibilities for this project?

I love strats with duncan single coil sized humbuckers in them. I have a few and my fave wiring uses push/pull pots with master volume and tone. I usually wire the volume pull to split into single coil for the pickup selected by switch. I wire the first tone pot pull to always turn on the bridge pickup. That way in switch position 2 you can have all three on at same time in HHH, or in switch position 1 you can get a humbucker neck and bridge sound. If both volume/tone pull is engaged you can get SSH(2) or SH(1/4) neck or middle depending on switch position. The third pot I usually leave unused but you can wire it to blend series/parallel at 1/10. I found all of these wiring diagrams in the support section. My fave SD sc sized HB are the lil 59er, hot rails, screaming demon and JB jr. All of those will coil split leaving you with at least a 5k single coil pickup.
 
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Re: wiring possibilities for this project?

I find myself that an HSH will potentially give you everything, since it can covers HH, SSS, HSS or SSH tones.
I think that 1 separate tone control for bridge and neck pickups is very usefull, to remove high end from bridge without impacting the tone of the neck pickup but, I also like separate volume controls for neck and bridge pickups, that allow to blend pickups' sounds in different degrees.
Finally, I like to have a super-switch together with a 4PDT to have 2 different operation modes for the axe. In that way, up to 10 different combinations can be achieved, 5 for "normal mode" and 5 more for "alternate mode". The 4PDT can be a Fender S-1 push/push pot, that discretely integrates in the look of the axe.
Possibilities are really huge but, these are the combos I personally find more interesting:

1) Neck-split // Neck-HB
2) Neck-split + middle single // Neck-HB + Bridge-split
3) middle single // Neck-HB + Bridge-HB
4) bridge-split + middle single // Neck-split + Bridge-HB
5) bridge-HB // Neck-split in series with Bridge-split

This is more or less, an HSS normal, with an alternate mode that gives you 5 additional combos, pushing the S-1.
And, I personally went for a master volume and, dedicated neck and bridge tones.
 
Re: wiring possibilities for this project?

I've not tried them but I've most seem to prefer them with low output PAF style pickups.
 
Re: wiring possibilities for this project?

thanks for the input guys! I'm still considering options for this build because I want to have USABLE options while keeping it simple and practical.

I am leaning toward a bridge humbucker like the BK Black Dog because it would likely sound great in a strat BUT I don't think it's hot enough to get good split tones and if that's the case then I may not worry about splitting the bridge. I didn't realize there were so many options!
 
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