Strat wiring mod

Barney

Does anybody know off the strat can be wired to neck and bridge pickup together...from what I read it seems as though you need to fit a  toggle switch ..which I would rather not off it can be done with what's existing ...

Also any views on what it sounds like and worth doing 
.thanks 

Revolting1

With good pups my favourite strat option.

   you dont need a toggle.

 with what's existing

   use one tone pot to blend in as a volume-bridge or neck pup.

Use other as tone for all pups - unless you want to keep 1 or 2 uncontrolled..

   Happy with a toggle myself.

koneguitarist

One great way of doing it is using a 3 way switch instead of 5 way and using 2nd tone as volume for middle pickup. keep all the original sounds plus two more and guitar looks stock. 

Winny_Pooh

You can use a 5 way superswitch which will have neck & bridge together in the middle position. I have a new unused one FS.

thegummy

Another way to do it could be if you swap the middle and bridge pickups on the selector switch, it would mean position 4 is neck+bridge, position 3 is bridge and position 1 is middle.

Yet another option is if you change your 5 way selector switch to a super switch you could wire it so that all the other positions are the same but position 3 is neck+bridge and you sacrifice the middle pickup solo.

I think the best option is what Revolting1 already said - it's known as the blender mod. The selector switch stays as it is at the moment but one of your tone pots becomes a master tone and the other becomes the "blender" which, if left off, lets the pickup selector work as normal but when you turn that knob it gradually adds the bridge pickup if the neck is selected and vice versa.

The 2 advantages of doing it this way are that you don't need to buy any additional parts (though a no-load tone pot is recommended if your guitar doesn't already have that, but it's not required) and that you can choose to only add some of the other pickup in; e.g. have the full bridge pickup but just a touch of the neck pickup to warm it up. Some people like that but it's not something I found useful, I only used fully on or fully off.

Barney

Revolting1 said:

With good pups my favourite strat option.

   you dont need a toggle.

 with what's existing

   use one tone pot to blend in as a volume-bridge or neck pup.

Use other as tone for all pups - unless you want to keep 1 or 2 uncontrolled..

   Happy with a toggle myself.

This sounds good ...I need to find a wiring diagram

thegummy

Barney said:

Revolting1 said:

With good pups my favourite strat option.

   you dont need a toggle.

 with what's existing

   use one tone pot to blend in as a volume-bridge or neck pup.

Use other as tone for all pups - unless you want to keep 1 or 2 uncontrolled..

   Happy with a toggle myself.

This sounds good ...I need to find a wiring diagram

Barney

thegummy said:

Barney said:

Revolting1 said:

With good pups my favourite strat option.

   you dont need a toggle.

 with what's existing

   use one tone pot to blend in as a volume-bridge or neck pup.

Use other as tone for all pups - unless you want to keep 1 or 2 uncontrolled..

   Happy with a toggle myself.

This sounds good ...I need to find a wiring diagram

Awesome ...thanks mate

Revolting1

^ You can also swap pup polarity around depending on which pairing you want 'humbucking'.

      Nice diagram.

thegummy

Revolting1 said:

^ You can also swap pup polarity around depending on which pairing you want 'humbucking'.

      Nice diagram.

I wonder if it's possible to set it up in such a way that the normal in between positions are humbucking as well as the bridge and neck together.

As far as I'm aware it's not possible with normal wiring but maybe there's some kind of elaborate fancy scheme that would allow it. Suppose it's not really worth it since the soloed pickups won't ever be hum bucking anyway.

Zoolooter

I’m about to do the same. Just use an Oak Grigsby 6 way switch giving you the extra position that will be neck and bridge. Very simple and you keep the standard controls.

Lebarque

Zoolooter said:

I’m about to do the same. Just use an Oak Grigsby 6 way switch giving you the extra position that will be neck and bridge. Very simple and you keep the standard controls.

What sorcery is this?! Never heard of that!

Henrytwang

I usually fit a pot with a pull push switch in one of the tone positions, it effectively gives me the David Gilmour setup without having to drill any holes anywhere.

prowla

https://www.freewayswitch.com/products/

5B5-01                                               Free-Way Blade 

The 5B5-01 model delivers 10-position Free-Way switching in a Blade format which is directly interchangeable with conventional 5-way selectors. The lower bank of 5 positions delivers all the familiar pickup combinations just as normal - but the upper bank contains the missing parallel combinations (neck + bridge) and (neck + middle + bridge) together with three 'in series' combinations to provide higher output tones which you may not expect to hear from single coil pickups and which greatly expands the tonal range of any three pickup guitar. Visually undetectable when fitted, the 5B5-01 delivers incredible tonal flexibility in a completely intuitive, familiar package. 

boogieman

prowla said:

https://www.freewayswitch.com/products/

5B5-01                                               Free-Way Blade 

The 5B5-01 model delivers 10-position Free-Way switching in a Blade format which is directly interchangeable with conventional 5-way selectors. The lower bank of 5 positions delivers all the familiar pickup combinations just as normal - but the upper bank contains the missing parallel combinations (neck + bridge) and (neck + middle + bridge) together with three 'in series' combinations to provide higher output tones which you may not expect to hear from single coil pickups and which greatly expands the tonal range of any three pickup guitar. Visually undetectable when fitted, the 5B5-01 delivers incredible tonal flexibility in a completely intuitive, familiar package. 

I can just imagine the chaos that could cause if you knocked it from one bank to another, mid song. 

elkay

Some years ago I fitted a Deaf Eddie switch to my main strat, which gives a total of 11 tones, including all the original five plus 3 options of the neck/bridge combination you're after, in parallel, in series and out of phase. This is a rotary switch which replaces one of the tone controls. Check this out here http://www.deaf-eddie.net/buyit.html. I don't know if this is still live, but as payment is by Paypal, you should be able to get your money back if anything goes amiss. There are all sorts of variations on offer, including one that gives a total of 16 tones (which I tried but wouldn't recommend, as many of the tones available are not really usable, and too many options can be very confusing in a live situation). Neck/bridge on a strat sounds amazing, more like a jm than a tele.

Funkfingers

Henrytwang said:

I usually fit a pot with a pull push switch in one of the tone positions, it effectively gives me the David Gilmour setup without having to drill any holes anywhere.

I habitually do the seven sounds mod using a push-pull pot under the neck PU tone control, to introduce the neck PU to whatever is selected on the regular five-way lever switch. 

Unfortunately, as the years pass, I find that I make almost no use of the neck + bridge in parallel, in phase sound.

On a slight tangent, does anybody have any evidence of when Gilmour ever used the neck + bridge sound on record or on stage? (I have The Black Strat book. While it illustrates two different instances of the switch, it offers no explanation of the uses to which the extra sounds were ever put.)

Lebarque said:

Zoolooter said:

I’m about to do the same. Just use an Oak Grigsby 6 way switch giving you the extra position that will be neck and bridge. Very simple and you keep the standard controls.

What sorcery is this?! Never heard of that!

In the words of Nigel Tufnel, "that's one more, innit?"

thegummy said:
maybe there's some kind of elaborate fancy scheme

With a 4PDT on/on switch, it is possible to flip from whatever the five-way switch is selecting to two of your pickups, connected in series, for a boost. A blower switch of sorts.

If one of the coils is reverse wound, reverse polarity with respect to the other, the combination will be hum-cancelling. It will not have the same output and tone as a humbucker. 

crunchman

As others have said, use a push-pull or push-push pot on the neck pickup tone control to add the neck pickup in.  Keeps the guitar looking stock, and with it down you just have normal Strat switching.

I did try some kind of wiring option with a blend pot for a while, and I didn't like it.

boogieman

Funkfingers said:

Henrytwang said:

I usually fit a pot with a pull push switch in one of the tone positions, it effectively gives me the David Gilmour setup without having to drill any holes anywhere.

I habitually do the seven sounds mod using a push-pull pot under the neck PU tone control, to introduce the neck PU to whatever is selected on the regular five-way lever switch. 

Unfortunately, as the years pass, I find that I make almost no use of the neck + bridge in parallel, in phase sound.

On a slight tangent, does anybody have any evidence of when Gilmour ever used the neck + bridge sound on record or on stage? (I have The Black Strat book. While it illustrates two different instances of the switch, it offers no explanation of the uses to which the extra sounds were ever put.)

Lebarque said:

Zoolooter said:

I’m about to do the same. Just use an Oak Grigsby 6 way switch giving you the extra position that will be neck and bridge. Very simple and you keep the standard controls.

What sorcery is this?! Never heard of that!

In the words of Nigel Tufnel, "that's one more, innit?"

thegummy said:
maybe there's some kind of elaborate fancy scheme

With a 4PDT on/on switch, it is possible to flip from whatever the five-way switch is selecting to two of your pickups, connected in series, for a boost. A blower switch of sorts.

If one of the coils is reverse wound, reverse polarity with respect to the other, the combination will be hum-cancelling. It will not have the same output and tone as a humbucker. 

On the Gilmour thing, ask the guy on the Gilmourish site, he seriously seems to know everything!  http://www.gilmourish.com/