Strat wiring mod question

[WhiteStrat]

Yep, I'm the guy who recently started a thread on Strat pickups. Well now they're here along with everything I need to rewire the whole enchilada. I'm doing a "Superstrat" wiring approach: instead of the 'ol 5 position pickup selector, there are 3 mini toggles so each pickup can be on, off, or out of phase. (I'll play around with the out of phase sounds, but really I'm looking forward to getting the bridge and neck at the same time.)

Here's my quandary. I want to wire it so that I have on master volume and one master tone (so the tone works on all three pickups). (Yep--the third control just sits there looking pretty!) I've done this before but not with the 3 separate mini-toggles.

Is it as simple as taking the wire from the tone control and bridging it to the same point on all 3 mini toggles instead of just the one for it's intended pickup?

Thanks!

 

[Light]

Well, the switches are wrong (on-on, instead of on-off-on), but essentially it's right. You just take your tone control off of your volume control. Often as not, I just use my cap in place of the wire between the volume and tone controls, and just ground the center lug of the tone control.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[WhiteStrat]

Thanks Light! Unfortunately, I didn't get your answer until after I was done. But when I lifted out the old pickguard with all the goodies in place, I was able to see how I'd done the master tone last time. The three mini toggles didn't change that.

So yep, I took it right off the volume--but I didn't think of using the cap wire. Live and learn.

It works. No real assessment of the sound yet--just threw one of the old strings back on and plugged it all in. I did take some pics though--after I get it strung up and redo the set-up (changing guages) & intonated, maybe I'll post a "My Strat Mod Thread."

Thanks for your help!

 

[WhiteStrat]

By the way--the toggles are on-off-on. With all three in the middle postion there's no sound at all. With all three on (in the same direction) all three pickups are firing.

The second "on" position is take one of phase with the others. So the first one up, and the second in the middle, and the third down would yield no middle pickup and the neck and bridge on but out of phase.

Mostly I just wanted all three at once, and the next and bridge--the out of phase sounds don't seem real practical to me. (I accidentally wired my old setup--with a PAF Pro in the bridge--so that the fourth position had the middle pickup out of phase with just one coil of the DiMarzio. I never went back in to fix it, but I sure didn't use it either.)