chad3006
Joined: Aug 21, 2006
Posts: 76
USA
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Posted on Dec 08 2006 11:42 PM
I think the combination of the neck and bridge pickups together sounds particularly "surfy," but a stock Strat won't allow for that combination. Some of the Strats of the 80's had three miniature switches to allow for all the pickup combinations, but I wanted to get all the combinations and retain the classic Strat look, so I thought up this idea (though I'm sure someone's done it before). What I did was replace the 5-way switch with a 3-way and wired the neck and bridge pickups into it, much like you would a Tele. I wired the output of the 3-way into the volume and one tone pot, then wired the middle pickup into the second tone pot as another volume control. This essentially made the middle pickup selectable as a blend like Jazz Bass controls. One could wire it to blend whichever pickup you wanted, using whichever pot you wanted.
image
Switch position 1: Bridge pickup
Switch position 2: Neck and Bridge
Switch position 3: Neck pickup
Then you can blend the middle pickup in or out of any of those combinations to create the typical reverse wire/reverse polarity Strat sound.
It was late when I made the schematic, so let me know if there are any errors. 
Last edited: Jan 17, 2007 14:14:10
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Joelman
Joined: Sep 07, 2006
Posts: 1472
Redlands, CA
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Posted on Dec 09 2006 01:14 AM
chad3006
Have you actually tried this?
If so which sound from what guitar does it resemble?
Joel 
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Brian
Joined: Feb 25, 2006
Posts: 19195
Des Moines, Iowa, USA
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Posted on Dec 09 2006 09:19 AM
I would perhaps swap say the middle pickup and neck pickup first. The Jag/JM pickups are reverse wound/reverse polarity compared to each other. I would want that too on the Strat if you were going to run the "outermost" pickups together. Might be kind of noisy otherwise.
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badash
Joined: Aug 18, 2006
Posts: 1732
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Posted on Dec 09 2006 09:31 AM
Go to the G&L site. In the faq section you can find the schematics for all their wiring. The S500 has an "expander" switch that lets you select neck and bridge by switching a mini toggle any time you are set to the neck OR bridge pickup, or it allows you to have all pickups any time you are set to position 2 and 4. I love my S500...
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JeffLeites
Joined: Mar 27, 2006
Posts: 343
North Hollywood, California
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Posted on Dec 09 2006 10:02 AM
If you want to get all the pickup combinations, you can add a switch to put the tail pickup in an always on mode. If you don't want to change the look of the guitar, you can replace one of the pots with one that has a pull on switch. I just added a mini toggle switch to the pick guard on my Carvin Bolt. It's getting to look like a toggle forest because I also have a middle pickup phase switch, and a humbucker/single coil switch. And since they are not labeled, I have trouble remembering which switch and switch position does what 
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Wraydar
Joined: Apr 21, 2006
Posts: 265
San Antonio, TX
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Posted on Dec 09 2006 10:25 AM
Good idea. However it still couldn't get just the middle pickup, right? If you changed the master volume to a volume just for bridge and neck.
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chad3006
Joined: Aug 21, 2006
Posts: 76
USA
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Posted on Dec 09 2006 05:41 PM
Yes I've done the mod. Here's a picture and a download of an MP3 with the neck & bridge pickup together with roundwound strings.
Switching the middle and neck pickup would be a good idea. It's not noisy (the MP3 was done right here in front of my computer with a fluorescent light overhead). My Strat's completely shielded with copper sheet metal, but if done right it would be no more noisy than ordinary single coils anyway.
Yes you could use a push-pull switch, but I used what I had on hand, plus you get the bonus of blending the pickups in various ways.
Yes you can get all the pickup combinations (regular strat, plus all three on together or the neck & bridge together and all pickups off too). Just turn the regular volume down all the way and the "new" volume up all the way to get the middle only.
Last edited: Dec 09, 2006 18:02:54
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Brian
Joined: Feb 25, 2006
Posts: 19195
Des Moines, Iowa, USA
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Posted on Dec 09 2006 05:43 PM
Sounds cool Chad.
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cirecc
Joined: Mar 06, 2006
Posts: 292
seattle, wa
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Posted on Dec 09 2006 09:02 PM
my 57 ri strat that i play a lot with the 'verb is very similar. i used the electronics that were already in it (57's have 3 way switches already, and i hate the feel of the 5 way). i set it up so that the "volume" knob is a master volume, the first "tone" knob is volume for the middle pu, and the second "tone" knob is a master tone. the three way switch is like you're describing: neck, neck & bridge, bridge. i love this mod, this strat was probably my favorite guitar to play that i had before this mod, and it is definately after. i really like the bridge & neck (no middle) selection. it's very twangy, but kind of full at the same time. i'm also glad to have what would be the second and fourth positions of a 5 way switch strat. i really like this mod and think that you should definately do it. it makes the guitar much more versatile without compromising the tone.
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Joelman
Joined: Sep 07, 2006
Posts: 1472
Redlands, CA
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Posted on Dec 10 2006 12:18 AM
chad3006
Thanks for the picture and MP3. That sounds just like my strat. The guy that made it said he had wired it a special way and I would really like it. He was right, I do like it. That is, once I got used to the pup selector switch and the sounds it makes from the non stock pup selections.
Now I know why it sounds different than the other strats.
Thanks again.
Joel
This thread is another example why I like this forum so much. There is just so much info here! Man o'man!
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Dane_Brammage
Joined: Jun 14, 2006
Posts: 203
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Posted on Dec 11 2006 08:39 PM
If you want to try the neck+bridge sound without re-wiring your guitar, just swap the neck and middle pickups. Now your switch goes:
1 (all the way forward): middle
2: middle + neck
3: neck
4: neck + bridge
5 (all the way back): bridge
You lose the middle + bridge sound, of course. Or you can swap the middle and bridge pickups and lose the middle + neck sound.
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PhatTele
Joined: Jun 05, 2006
Posts: 445
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Posted on Dec 12 2006 01:59 PM
There's another version of this called the "Hendrix mod." You use a 3-way Tele switch, master volume, master tone, and a blender. The blender is hooked up to the middle PU. In addition to the regular Strat tones, you gain the neck+bridge and all three together, but you loose the middle by itself.
I did a variant on this set up using a 4-way Tele switch. That way, I get neck+bridge (like a Tele), all three together, the quacky 2 and 4 position tones of a regular Strat, and the neck+bridge in series...which is a great fat tone. It's basically a 4-way Tele setup with a blender for a middle PU. I've set all my Strats up like this (country, blues (in series works great for this), and surf).
ps - You can buy a blender pot (from Lindy Fralin or others) or you can use a Fender 250K or 500K "no load" pot. Antique Electronic Supply has them.
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JoshHeartless
Joined: Jun 17, 2006
Posts: 1010
Bay City, Michigan
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Posted on Feb 20 2007 07:41 PM
couldnt you do something similar to dick dales strat?
have a 3-way instead of a 5 way, and have a toggle switch somewhere on the guitar that switches on only the bridge and neck.
and, of course, i would switch the middle and neck pickups for polarity purposes.
personally, i do not use the tone knobs at all, so i would take them both out and put the volume knob down at the bottom and have the toggle in the middle hole, and have the top hole blank-if there is anything there it gets in my way.
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Kawentzmann
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 1055
Berlin, Germany
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Posted on Feb 21 2007 02:29 AM
Surf era strats did not have reverse wound pick-ups. And the guys who had that mod (Dale, Messina) did alter the look of their guitars. Oh and nobody was tatooed like today.
jm2c
KK
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chad3006
Joined: Aug 21, 2006
Posts: 76
USA
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Posted on Dec 12 2007 02:09 PM
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Kawentzmann
Joined: Feb 27, 2006
Posts: 1055
Berlin, Germany
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Posted on Dec 12 2007 04:37 PM
chad3006
Crap!
The pick-up part or the altered look part?
— The Exotic Guitar of Kahuna Kawentzmann
You can get the boy out of the Keynes era, but you can’t get the Keynes era out of the boy.
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tander
Joined: Apr 13, 2007
Posts: 7
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Posted on Dec 13 2007 10:47 AM
Check out this site for a bunch of combinations.
http://deaf-eddie.net/
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spy
Joined: Mar 29, 2007
Posts: 815
Athens, Greece
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Posted on Dec 15 2007 02:21 PM
Nice mod Chad! I'll try it in my strat..... really thanks!
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MadScientist
Joined: Jan 17, 2008
Posts: 2188
Atlanta, GA
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Posted on Mar 14 2008 12:40 PM
Opening this one back up....
I just did a mod on my Strat with a push/pull pot on the volume. It worked brilliantly! I really didn't want to lose my Strat sound, but DID want to put the bridge and Neck on at the same time, and that totally did it. Basically, when pop up the volume knob, it turns on the bridge pickup no matter what switch position I'm in. So fifth position gets me neck and bridge, and 4th position gets me all 3. It's a cool mod, and so far I'm glad I did it!
—
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eddiekatcher
Joined: Mar 14, 2006
Posts: 2767
Atlanta, GA
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Posted on Mar 14 2008 12:52 PM
I've had Dane's mod in my strats (yeah, i got some) for years but I swap the wiring at the switch to keep the pick up registration stock.
ed
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