Strat control layout

JCA2550

Fiftyshadesofjay said:

Yep, considering it’s quite a well designed guitar otherwise, that placement is a complete mess. 

I’m sure it’s fine for some people but if you do a lot of palm muting or naturally play with your hand near the bridge for that reason or another then it makes it virtually unplayable. 

and

skullfunkerry said:

I play with a lot of palm muting and I absolutely can't get on with it at all.

I think this is probably it for me, I play with a lot of palm muting and a lightish touch. This also why I replace the traditional pressed steel bridge pieces with the much smoother and kinder Highwood ones.

ICBM

I prefer the volume control further away from the strings - although not as far as where the neck tone knob is normally - and a single tone control. The switch being slightly further back/down is good too.

This is close to perfect...



The only problem with the single tone control is that you don't get the nice effect where the neck/middle sound is automatically softened compared to the bridge/middle by having both tone pots in the circuit.

RustyShackleford

It's an easy mod if you don't mind squashing the controls closer together.

Philly_Q

^^ Way too squished.

sweepy

I think the Strat is pretty much ergonomic perfection, everything is exactly where it should be

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

For me I think it's ideal. Most of the time I don't really use any dirt pedals, so use the volume all the time when playing live. Playing with my pinkie just hovering over the volume, ready to adjust up/down when needed has now become second nature for me.

RustyShackleford

Philly_Q said:

^^ Way too squished.

Works with nimble fingers

Philly_Q

RustyShackleford said:

Philly_Q said:

^^ Way too squished.

Works with nimble fingers

I'm sure it does if you get used to it, but I've got skinny fingers, I mostly use my little finger to turn the knobs... and that's still too squished.

Neil

I find the control placement on Strats ideal. 

OilCityPickups

I used to constantly knock down my Strat volume control live ... utter pain. Then I bought a reverse taper pot and wired the volume backwards ... this means those power chords can only turn the guitar up louder ... RESULT

mesatele

I have recently returned to playing a strat after playing teles. I also keep knocking back the volume by accident.
I am making a drop top strat at the moment and can put the controls wherever I want. I have been looking for a wiring diagram for a volume and 1 master tone controls. The guitar is going to be HSS with 500k pots and coil split on the humbucker. Might someone be able to help? Thanks.

Jonathangus

@mesatele - here's how I did mine (using a CTS push-pull with the little circuit board).  Bear in mind that different manufacturers use different colours for the HB wiring, so yours may be different if it's not Seymour Duncan.

JCA2550

ICBM said:

I prefer the volume control further away from the strings - although not as far as where the neck tone knob is normally - and a single tone control. The switch being slightly further back/down is good too.

This is close to perfect...



The only problem with the single tone control is that you don't get the nice effect where the neck/middle sound is automatically softened compared to the bridge/middle by having both tone pots in the circuit.

Looks familiar, is that an Aria Wildcat?

mesatele

@Jonathangus Thank you very much.

CaseOfAce

strat control layout is damn near perfect.

The proximity of the telecaster pickup switch and volume knob however...

Offset

RustyShackleford said:

Philly_Q said:

^^ Way too squished.

Works with nimble fingers

I'd imagine Donald Trump would find the close knob placement easy to navigate.

Kurtis

I like it.

I've never really had a problem with the knobs, but I did used to hit the switch sometimes and wonder why it sounded weird. 

Got used to it pretty quickly though and wouldn't change it now. 



The bridge pickup, without tone control, is spot on too. 

ICBM

OilCityPickups said:

I used to constantly knock down my Strat volume control live ... utter pain. Then I bought a reverse taper pot and wired the volume backwards ... this means those power chords can only turn the guitar up louder ... RESULT

Genius .

JCA2550 said:

Looks familiar, is that an Aria Wildcat?

Nearly - it's an RS Standard, an earlier model with the same body shape. The Wildcat had the volume control in a worse place even than the Strat, further forward so it's directly below the pickup.

One of those was my first electric guitar - I had no idea at the time it was so perfect, but when I later played a Fender Strat for the first time the control layout seemed much more awkward. (That one is a replacement for my original, which I got about ten years ago.)