The Strat-Lover's Strat™
This modification does not alter the appearance of your guitar.
Okay, you think a real Strat has three nice chunky single coil magnetic pickups, a single volume knob, two tone knobs, a five-way pickup selector switch and nothing else. You can still get some great new sounds without sacrificing that stock appearance. No one but you needs to know your secret (I am not responsible for the mental health of your drummer if you don't tell him how you're getting so many different sounds from a "plain Strat").
I've found that the three most useful modifications using only single coil pickups are adding; 1) the ability to select the neck and bridge combination, 2) the ability to select between series and parallel wiring, and 3) the ability to put the neck pickup out of phase with the bridge pickup (phasing other combinations results in a rather thin tone that I don't much care for).
- Selecting the neck and bridge together gives a tone that is similar to the Tele "twang" of neck and bridge.
- Wiring the pickups in series gives a noticeably hotter output that is great for pushing an amp into distortion without using pedals. The tone also changes a little but that change is less easy to describe.
- Selecting the neck and bridge pickups out of phase gives an interesting tone that again is difficult to describe. It's just different, and quite useful. With hot pickups the tone might be described as "hollow," especially on the lower strings. The results in this position also vary quite widely with the pickups chosen and the construction (i.e. Tele, vs. Strat vs. something else). I have discovered that through further experimentation with modifications such as the T-Riffic™ and S-Tastic™ modifications. Incidentally, you may wish to read the sections on those newer modifications before proceeding with this Strat Lover's modification. The S-Tastic in particular offers everything the Strat Lover's modification does and more, though the controls are a bit more complex.
This modification uses two push/pull switches (one on the volume pot, one on the neck tone pot) to achieve the above switching. Total cost of this modification is about $20 and the modifications don't alter the appearance of your Strat. As always, I suggest that you first shield and re-ground the Strat as described in "Quieting the Beast." This is the modification I finally decided on for my Tex-Mex Strat and the neck and bridge in series position is a real kicker with the hot Tex-Mex pickups.
There is an optional part of this modification which changes the tone controls so that you switch from one tone pot to the other when you activate the bridge pickup.
With both of the push/pull pots pushed in the guitar functions exactly as a normal Strat, unless you have done the optional tone modification in which case the neck tone pot is active in all pickup selector positions:
Switch
Position | Pickups
Selected | Active Tone
Pots (stock) | Active Tone
Pots (optional) | Comments |
|---|
| 1 | Neck | Neck | "Neck" | Stock Strat |
| 2 | Neck/Middle
(parallel) | Neck and Middle | "Neck" | Stock Strat |
| 3 | Middle | Middle | "Neck" | Stock Strat |
| 4 | Middle/Bridge
(parallel) | Middle | "Neck" | Stock Strat |
| 5 | Bridge | None | "Neck" | Stock Strat |
Pulling out the switch on the volume pot turns on the bridge pickup and places it in series with whatever combination of pickups is selected on the stock five-way switch. If you perform the optional tone modification this switch also selects the "middle" tone pot. Note that I chose to turn on the bridge pickup, instead of the more typical case of turning on the neck pickup, for a number of reasons. First, the series position is "hotter" and will generally be used for lead so it makes sense to select the bridge pickup. Second, I wanted the "hot quack" of the middle and bridge pickup in series. Finally, I prefer the way it works with the stock tone controls. I put this switch on the volume pot because switching to series wiring makes the guitar noticeably louder -- if you need to adjust the volume your hand is already on the correct knob.
Switch
Position | Pickups
Selected | Active Tone
Pots (stock) | Active Tone
Pots (optional) | Comments |
|---|
| 1 | Neck/Bridge
(series) | Neck | "Middle" | Similar to Tele |
| 2 | [Neck/Middle (parallel)]/
Bridge (series) | Neck and Middle | "Middle" | Try it |
| 3 | Middle/Bridge
(series) | Middle | "Middle" | Sort of a hot "Strat Quack" |
| 4 | Bridge | Middle | "Middle" | Bridge only with Tone (stock controls) |
| 5 | Bridge | None | "Middle" | Stock Strat |
Pulling out the switch on the neck tone pot reverses the phase of the neck pickup. I haven't included a table because it would be identical to the first table above when the volume pot is pushed in and identical to the second table when the volume knob is pulled out (except that the neck pickup will be out of phase in each case). The most useful position with the neck pickup phased is to select position 1 (neck) on the five way and also pull the volume knob out (bridge on and series). This gives a very interesting tone, especially with hot pickups. I put this switch on the neck tone pot because it seems more intuitive -- neck tone / neck phase.
So, what are you waiting for? Print the schematics below and heat up the ole' soldering iron (but don't tell your drummer).
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NOTE – 04/2001 – I just answered an e-mail from someone who said that on the "Fender Forum" someone has claimed that one of the push/pull pots is "upside down" in the diagrams below. The diagrams below are electrical schematics. Electrical schematics do not give any mechanical information at all. That's why we use them, they isolate electronic information from mundane details such as what brand of switches are in use and so on. Because such diagrams are not intended to convey mechanical information, it's very common to draw switches in whatever orientation will most simplify the depiction of the wiring. There are two different styles of push-pull pots. One basically uses the guts of a slide switch while the other uses the guts of a toggle switch and, as a consequence, the switched terminals are in exactly the opposite positions on the two switches! If I drew this as a mechanical diagram, half of you would get it right and the other half (those who had the other kind of switch) would think I'd lost my mind. In any case, notice that there are red "bars" indicating which contacts are switched on in the normal or "in" position (and one is indeed "upside down" relative to the other). Knowing which contacts are "normal" provides enough information to build the circuit correctly regardless of what type of switches you are using.
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"The Strat Lover's Strat"
SW2 is DPDT push/pull on volume pot.
SW3 is DPDT push/pull on neck tone pot. |
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"The Strat Lover's Strat"
(with optional tone switching)
SW2 is DPDT push/pull on volume pot.
SW3 is DPDT push/pull on neck tone pot. |
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