I have a pre-wired harness & 2 .022 caps from Six String Supplies. I want to test out some other configurations and since I'm using Radioshop Black One pickups, the first thing I want to try is the following:
Masterbuilt Blk1 dual cap config. with Neck + Middle on tone 1 and bridge on tone 2.
As seen here:
Since I like to retain some high end when rolling off the volume, I also want to use Gibson style 50s wiring. (much prefer this to a treble bleed.)
I can find wiring diagrams for these options separately but not combined and due to my primitive understanding of wiring guitars, I would be extremely grateful if someone would very kindly help me out with step-by-step written instructions to convert to this wiring scheme. Here's how it is currently (standard strat wiring but with tone 2 controlling middle + bridge):
There is a single piece of wire soldered across all 3 pots for grounding.
Cheers,
Matt
Comments
1) On the selector switch, detach the black insulated wire that connects to the lower tone pot.
2) Solder in a short jumper connection between the terminal that you have just freed up and the one with the black insulated wire that connects to the upper tone pot.
3) Solder the loose black insulated wire to the (currently) unused terminal on that side of the selector switch.
Take no notice. Do what thou wouldst.
And LOL, I'm the opposite to you about the tone controls... I like it with one on the bridge pickup (so I can roll it off a little) and the other one for the neck and middle since I usually use them up full!
I'm the opposite aha - I almost always use the neck and middle with the tone wide open and almost always use the bridge rolled off so I like to switch between the two.
With regards to the 50s wiring - I've seen several companies offering looms wired this way and Simon Law of SVL has said that he wires Matt Schofield's strats this way which is why I'm interested in trying it. I've attempted a diagram of my own below, would this be correct?
Cheers!
50s wiring is simple, it’s exactly the same as normal except that the tone control side of the switch needs to be connected to the volume control output (centre terminal) and not jumpered across to the pickup side of the switch.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Cheers!
The series tone controls method will help - on your diagram above, undo the ground end of the cap on the bridge tone control, and connect that end of the cap to the hot end of the cap on the other tone control (terminal 3). That will give you .011uF/250K in the bridge alone (perfect for just knocking it back slightly), and .022uF/250K in the other four positions.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Let's take bets on whether I can hear it's too dull now I've been told it should be. It sounded fine before...
EDIT: Ah I've just had a thought. It might not be too dull with 0.022, right? (I prefer .047 usually) I think I have .022s in one guitar, and them on a push-push in the other. So it might be ok. (Granted, it still might be relatively too dull compared to the cap alone in the other settings...)
(b) Not for me it's not! (But seriously, I understand now what you mean )
The great thing about either original or modern Fender wiring is that it puts this in the neck/middle position, so that ends up inherently softer than the bridge/middle.
Series wiring the tone pots fixes this too, by avoiding the parallel load in the bridge/middle position. It does mean the effective cap value for the bridge is lower, but that’s almost always what you want anyway, whether the bridge pickup is S or H.
(I have an even more complex scheme I like, which is to have the standard tone arrangement, but use .1uF for the neck, another .1uF in series for the middle, and a .047uF in series again - replacing the link wire on the switch - for the bridge, giving .1uF, .05uF, and .022uF for the neck, middle and bridge respectively.)
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
It's pretty subtle, I'm not sure I can be bothered changing the wiring- both the guitars have push-push pots so it's a bit of a pain to get at. The other thing I'm thinking is- with the standard Strat tone pot wiring, I usually (from memory) found the neck + middle setting too soft... I actually prefer it now the way I have it wired I think! (Unfortunately with standard wiring I probably preferred bridge + middle, which admittedly I think now sounds worse... I think a master tone actually might be the best!)
That complex scheme you have sounds good, though I wonder if I might prefer it the other way? I seem to prefer a lower cap for the neck pickup (when I bother, usually I just use the same value).
The reason I prefer neck/middle to be the 'softer' one is that otherwise, the two in-between sounds are too similar to each other. However, some people (like Eric Johnson apparently) prefer that.
Overall I do prefer a master tone though, not least because it allows the volume control to be in a not-ridiculously-annoying place .
I very much like bigger caps for the neck pickup, I like that super-deep sound that everyone seems to be trying not to have now, with smaller cap values. It doesn't work so well on the bridge, it just takes away too much volume.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
If so, that's another reason to try to convert the Tokai to a no-load tone knob... bit of a pain when it's a push-push, lol. I haven't managed to successfully open even a standard pot...
Regarding the other stuff- I know what you mean about the two settings sounding too similar. My problem is just that if the neck + middle is too soft-sounding that it's kind of unusable for me anyway! I'd rather have two subtly different settings which I can still use.
The Strat volume knob never really seems to annoy me. I can understand why it could, though, it's definitely very close!
I must actually try a bigger cap, just to see. I think the biggest I've tried is 47nF. I like both sounds (22nF and 47nF) for certain things... it makes the wiring more of a pain, but having the two options can be handy.