Strats. How is yours wired?

[SillyOctpuss]

Is your strat wired vintage style with no tone control on the bridge? If your bridge pickup has a Tone control is it shared with the middle or neck, or is the middle not connected to a Tone. Do you use a master volume and tone or a blender control. What size is your tone cap.

Go on spill the beans. How is your strat wired?

 

[Blix]

My YJM strat is set up to "Yngwie-spec" as in volume only, tone pots disabled.
My second strat has tone on the bridge pickup, none on the neck as the HS-3 sounds best that way to me. (Same as the YJM)

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

Mine has bridge tone control shared with middle plus a weird push-push pot to put bridge and middle into series. I haven’t found a use for it yet…

 

[SillyOctpuss]

My YJM strat is set up to "Yngwie-spec" as in volume only, tone pots disabled.
My second strat has tone on the bridge pickup, none on the neck as the HS-3 sounds best that way to me. (Same as the YJM)

Are all three pickups just going through the volume pot then with no tone caps or pot? Is that not really bright?

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Mine has bridge tone control shared with middle plus a weird push-push pot to put bridge and middle into series. I haven’t found a use for it yet…

I had a strat wired similarly to that before but it had a push push button to engage the neck and bridge together.

 

[HomespunEffects]

Mexi strat is wired with a 500k volume pot, no tone with a push button that lets me run bridge/neck or all three pickups.

My American has a tone and TBX that I’m going to remove as they stay on 10 and detent.

 

[Blix]

Are all three pickups just going through the volume pot then with no tone caps or pot? Is that not really bright?

Yes, volume pot only. The DiMarzio HS-3's aren't like your regular strat pickups, they have a relatively mild top end and are really low output, so no tone pot only helps getting closer to "normal" territory.
Here's a clip with a DiMario FS-1 with tone pot set to 8 in bridge and the unloaded HS-3 in neck:

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Mexi strat is wired with a 500k volume pot, no tone with a push button that lets me run bridge/neck or all three pickups.

My American has a tone and TBX that I’m going to remove as they stay on 10 and detent.

Have you switched the mexi back from P90s or is it a different guitar?

 

[SillyOctpuss]

Yes, volume pot only. The DiMarzio HS-3's aren't like your regular strat pickups, they have a relatively mild top end and are really low output, so no tone pot only helps getting closer to "normal" territory.
Here's a clip with a DiMario FS-1 with tone pot set to 8 in bridge and the unloaded HS-3 in neck:

That sounds great.

 

[Chocol8]

My Strats are wired with a master tone control using a 250k no load pot. Turn up to 10 and there is a click or indent that pulls it out of the circuit so you can have the bridge or any position no tone, or you can use the tone control in any position.

Otherwise standard 5 position switch, no bridge-neck or all three options as when I had them, I never used them.

I also use the Fender mid-boost circuit which adds a solid clean boost to the vintage output pickups, and I can thicken up the tone by adding mids when desired. Usually I have the mid knob in the 0-4 range to add a little fatness but nothing too dramatic.

 

[HomespunEffects]

Have you switched the mexi back from P90s or is it a different guitar?

It still has P90s but I’m putting the SSS pickguard back on. The P90s are going in something else.

 

[Sleezy E]

I have one partscaster that has one volume and one tone.. the lower tone knob blends in the neck pickup when you're on the bridge or blends the bridge when set to neck, nice for a pseudo tele tone. If you're in position 2 or 4 you can run all 3 pickups

 

[Alex Kenivel]

500k pots, Zexcoil SC-sized "humbucker" in the bridge with push-push pot on second tone knob for sc/hb. Second tone knob controls middle and bridge. Killswitch, and mini switch to activate the bridge pickup for bridge/neck or all pickups engaged.

I forgot which cap I have..

 

[Nerd]

I tried it all with Strats; blender, Armstrong, Armstrong blend, Gilmour switch. Now I have the bottom tone wired for the Bridge pickup only and the middle tone for the neck and middle pickup. No treble bleed (fucks with my octafuzz), standard 100nF tone pot. Im happier than ever

 

[Chocol8]

standard 100nF tone pot.

???

 

[SillyOctpuss]

I tried it all with Strats; blender, Armstrong, Armstrong blend, Gilmour switch. Now I have the bottom tone wired for the Bridge pickup only and the middle tone for the neck and middle pickup. No treble bleed (fucks with my octafuzz), standard 100nF tone pot. Im happier than ever

That's how I have mine wired too though I'm using a 47nf cap.

 

[SillyOctpuss]

???

0.1uf. The original value used in vintage strats. I'm assuming he meant tone cap and not pot.

 

[Chocol8]

0.1uf. The original value used in vintage strats. I'm assuming he meant tone cap and not pot.

yes, I prefer my pots have minimal capacitance and just variable resistance.

 

[Piing]

One tone for the bridge pup and another for the neck pup

I am using Free-way 10 position switch. I love it. It offers some great tones for different occasions that you would never get with the conventional 5-was switch.

I was about to install a switch to get the 3B combination (neck + bridge) like at the GIlmour Black Strat. But then I found this switch, and I am very glad that I installed it.

 

[metropolis_4]

Master volume
Neck tone
Bridge tone


I can’t remember the cap size, but it’s a wiring harness from an EJ Strat so it’s whatever that is.

I’m also using DiMarzio hs-3 pickups. Do they sound like vintage Strat pickups? No. But I love them and find them much more versatile than vintage Strat pickups and they’ve got enough of that Strat thing in them to easily get those sounds when I want them.