Is this wiring possible?

thegummy

Is it possible to wire a Strat so that the middle position is just the bridge and neck together (and every other switch positive is stock) but still have the ability to have just the middle pickup via a switch or pot?

Funkfingers

Yes. There are several ways. Depends what your priority is for what position 3 on the lever switch offers.

thegummy

Funkfingers said:

Yes. There are several ways. Depends what your priority is for what position 3 on the lever switch offers.

The priority would definitely be the bridge and neck ("tele" like) as I use that a fair bit.

I rarely use the middle pickup alone but would be wary of sacrificing it all together in case I want it some times.

Funkfingers

Assuming that you are modifying a regular SSS Stratocaster with two tone controls, the simplest option is to add a DPDT on/on switch (either as a mini toggle or a push-pull pot) to the existing circuit components.

Google Stratocaster Seven Sound Mod. I prefer to have the neck pickup be the one that gets switched.

First, I feel duty bound to ask, how often have you used the neck + bridge sound on a Stratocaster type guitar? 

thegummy

I actually love that sound. Before I got a Strat I loved the split coil middle position of a dual humbucker guitar so installed the mod on the Strat.

The middle pickup alone is something I barely use but ideally I'd like to leave it as an option if possible.

So it would only take a switch? I'd have thought the middle position I want would also require a super switch?

ICBM

Yes, you will need a Superswitch and a separate switch to select just the middle pickup.

It's much easier to use the standard wiring and a switch to get the bridge+neck, there are several ways of doing this depending on exactly how you want it to work.

Funkfingers

Depends on how much time and money you wish to invest. Also, on whether your guitar is SSS or HSH.

In my opinion, it is easier to add the Neck Pickup On switch to the conventional wiring harness than it would be to break and remake a bunch of connections to employ a Superswitch and, then, have to add a more complex on/on switch to flip between the neck + bridge pairing and the centre pickup alone.

From your perspective, the downside of the simple approach is that the neck + bridge combination requires the flipping of a switch or the pulling up of a push-pull knob.

thegummy

At the moment I have the blend mod and a couple things I dislike are that turning the knob all the way is a bit cumbersome compared to switching the blade and the other is that it's not immediately obvious if it's on or off.

Maybe replacing the blender with an on off switch would solve those problems in an easier way.

Ideally the middle position would be the b+n with the switch activating the middle pickup but I take your points that it's significantly more complicated to implement that.

Thanks for the advice.

Funkfingers

thegummy said:

At the moment, I have the blend mod

Er, it might have helped if you had mentioned this in your O.P., already. 

The blend mod negates a good deal of what was posted earlier because there are several ways to wire up a blend control. (You have omitted to mention which pickup gets blended in or where.) Until the starting point is known, remote wiring problem solving is next to impossible.

thegummy

Funkfingers said:

thegummy said:

At the moment, I have the blend mod

Er, it might have helped if you had mentioned this in your O.P., already. 

The blend mod negates a good deal of what was posted earlier because there are several ways to wire up a blend control. (You have omitted to mention which pickup gets blended in or where.) Until the starting point is known, remote wiring problem solving is next to impossible.

Funnily enough, I had initially typed an opening paragraph about what I have at the moment but deleted it to make the post more succinct.

The mod I have blends in either the neck or the bridge pickup into the other one. It only involved moving a couple of wires around and adding 1 extra wire in, took about 5 minutes to do and could be reversed to stock in the same time so it's irrelevant really.

Was really just wanting to know if the setup I want is impossible or unrealistically complicated to implement.

After reading the replies I'm thinking using an S1 switch instead of the blend knob might solve the problems I was having. Unless it's reasonably easy to do it the way I ideally want?

WezV

i was going to suggest the 7 sound mod, but if you already know about that how about something stupidly simple to do.  

Swap the neck and middle pickup wires on the switch to give neck and bridge instead of middle and bridge in the 2nd position.  

normula1

I'd use a superswitch and do something like this with a push / pull. The lower tone is only active in the bridge and centre positions. All other positions use the upper tone control.

ICBM

You could always do the classic 80s mod and drill it for three mini-switches, two through the screw holes and one in the middle of the slot…

thegummy

Thanks a lot normula1, looks complicated as I'm not familiar with the super switch but I'll do some research and work it out. Really appreciate it.

ICBM that's actually a thought, I wouldn't like the switches but an s1 switch for each pickup could be an interesting idea.

Couple of trivial downsides would be that the s1 switches only come with volume printed on them and also having the redundant blade switch.

CasperCaster

Floating a few ideas here:

Firstly, a Schaller Megaswitch model 'E' is a doddle to wire and gives sounds exactly like a stock 5-way Strat except position #3 is neck and bridge together - easiest way if you could sacrifice middle pickup alone (I know you said you want access to the middle pickup alone, I'm  just putting the easy option out there!)

Next, with respect to the neck adder switch, think carefully about what sounds you want accessible easily. For me, I always need to be able to get to the bridge pickup alone easily, so I have used the bridge adder switch instead - identical concept to the neck adder, so dead easy to do, identical seven sounds too, but in 'adder' mode the sounds are arranged differently and the bridge adder works better for me.

Final point. Although I've never used them,  Northwest Guitars sell a metal bracket to hold a mini toggle switch (recessed) and matching pickguards with a small slot for the end of the toggle. Very discrete and very Gilmour. I was happy with a regular toggle, but if it gets in your way then this may help. Mini toggle switches themselves are cheap, and importantly, reliable. I wouldn't necessarily say that of S-1 switches or push-push pots.

thegummy

Nice one. I love that Schaller make switches that are pre wired internally like that. Does seem I'd have to import it from America though (bit ironic if it's made in Europe lol).

Does anyone foresee any problems with wiring up a super switch like that and connecting the output of it to one side of a toggle switch then connecting the other side of the toggle switch directly to the middle pickup? Would that allow me to select between just the middle pickup or the output of the super switch?

CasperCaster

Gunther Eyb in Germany designed the switches for Schaller, so it might be worth checking out his web site. In the past I've bought them from Thomann, but it seems they mostly have Goldo/Eyb switches now, so perhaps he's switched allegance to Goldo? I've not used the Goldo variant and didn't realise this had changed.

What you propose r.e. the Superswitch + toggle should be easily achievable.

hywelg

I have a push/push on the volume knob that puts the bridge in series with the pickup selected with the 5-way. Extremely versatile and a decent volume boost for solos. No need to sacrifice the middle either. 

thegummy

Normula1 - I learned how the superswitch works (I was expecting it to be a lot more complicated for some reason - it's actually simple and seems very useful). Thank you very much for that diagram, it seems exactly what I'm after and I really appreciate it.

CasperCaster - I still couldn't find anywhere to get a Goldo/Eyb switch - I found one of the ones that link the b + n pickups in series but not parallel. Oh well, at least the superswitch seems easy enough to wire up manually.

Thanks to everyone who posted advice and suggestions 

Garthy

Just to piggy back on this as I have a similar question but with a pair of humbuckers, I've seen this:


https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/24551-mod-garage-strat-prs-crossover-wiring

For the superswitch, I saw the Schaller Model E mentioned:

https://www.allparts.uk.com/products/5-way-switch-schaller-model-e-blade-megaswitch

As it's out of stock, would this do the same job? If so is it as good or would it be better to special order the Schaller?

https://www.allparts.uk.com/products/4-pole-double-wafer-5-way-superswitch-for-guitar-w-screws

Thanks

Funkfingers

@Garthy The Dirk Wacker Strat-PRS hybrid circuit is only possible with a 4-pole double wafer, 24-contact five-way selector switch.

Clever as its design is, no variant of the Schaller Superswitch can perform the task.

Some of the OTAX 4-pole switches associated with Ibanez would suffice. 

In my opinion, there is a downside to the DW circuit. Only four of the ten selections will sound right. Any permutation involving a split humbucker will sound fake. (Dirk pretty much admits this in the article. "Depending on the humbuckers, this can work quite well." Faint praise, methinks.)