Strat wiring - can this be done??

PonchoGreg

OK, my total ignorance of anything beyond a simple three-way switch is gonna show here...

Just got a very nice Classic Player 50s strat, and one of the USPs is that position 4 on the switch is actually neck + bridge as opposed to the traditional neck + middle.

It's actually a very interesting position... But I'm also a massive neck+middle fiend and while it can be hit by nudging the switch in between positions 3 and 4, I'd rather have that on position 4.

Now... Could the switch be wired in such a way that position 3 is not middle p/u on its own (which I never ever use), but neck+ bridge instead, while 4 would be neck+middle? Would also be OK if 4 is neck + bridge, and 3 is neck+middle if that's easier.

I'm just not familiar at all with that "stacked" 5-way switch...

This is the wiring:

Thanks a lot in advance for any insight you can offer!

SteveRobinson

Yes with the 4-pole Superswitch you can have any combination you like in any position.

ICBM

Yes. With a full 4-pole superswitch like that, you can select any one or two pickups, plus either or both tone controls, in any position of the switch.

(Or even three pickups plus one tone control, if you wanted - basically any combination of four things can be connected at once.)

It's a bit difficult to explain, but if you look at the diagram you should see that there are four connections at the extreme outer ends that are are all linked together and back to the volume control - these are the switch rotors. There are then four banks of five connections each which are the ones which are what you're selecting - they go in the opposite order from what it looks like, ie the ones closest to the neck are active when the switch is in the bridge position.

On bank 1 you need tags 1, 2 and 3 for the bridge pickup, and tag 4 for the middle.

On bank 2 you need tags 3, 4 and 5 for the neck pickup, and tag 2 for the middle.

Then you need to decide which tone controls you want active in each position... if you're with me so far you may be able to work out how to do that .

PonchoGreg

Cheers @ICBM and @SteveRobinson !


My head hurts... Will try and figure it out though.

Just clarifying, by bank 1 do you mean the one closest to the left switch screw hole in the diagram above? And then counterclockwise for 2, 3 and 4?

PonchoGreg

Aaaah OK I think I got it. This should help me figure out what tags are active in what position:

Funkfingers

Yes, it can be done … but it is also possible with a basic CRL five-way switch plus one SPDT or DPDT on/on switch. This is usually referred to as the Seven Sounds Mod or the David Gilmour Mod. 

ICBM

PonchoGreg said:

Just clarifying, by bank 1 do you mean the one closest to the left switch screw hole in the diagram above? And then counterclockwise for 2, 3 and 4?

PonchoGreg said:

Aaaah OK I think I got it. This should help me figure out what tags are active in what position:

Yes, exactly. It doesn't actually matter what you call each bank, that's just for convenience.

All the '0' terminals are connected to the volume control, then the (up to) four things you want connected in each position go to the tags with that number. It's obviously easiest to dedicate two poles to each of the tone controls, and the other two to the pickups.

PonchoGreg

BOOM! It's actually super intuitive once you put it to pen and paper... Very powerful switching solution without faffing with individual switches, I must say.

I think this could do it:



The only thing that puzzles me is that it seems that the position "names" are reversed vs the usual strat denomination (i.e. neck is actually 1 and not 5, etc). But given the existing wiring and what the various positions do, that's the only thing that makes sense.

@ICBM if you have a sec, does the above look OK to you? (the little oblong shapes are the actual tabs and not jumpers, I just couldn't be arsed with drawing rectangles )

SteveRobinson

You've joined your neck and middle together. Use a separate pole for each pickup and put the tones on the fourth pole.

PonchoGreg

SteveRobinson said:

You've joined your neck and middle together. Use a separate pole for each pickup and put the tones on the fourth pole.

Aaaah yes that would make most sense (especially as there is no overlap between the tones since I want only one active per position). Smashing, thanks Steve

PonchoGreg

Will probably do it thusly, then (in case that can ever be useful to anyone)

ICBM

PonchoGreg said:

@ICBM if you have a sec, does the above look OK to you? (the little oblong shapes are the actual tabs and not jumpers, I just couldn't be arsed with drawing rectangles )

All you've done wrong is connected the middle pickup to the wrong Terminal 2 - it needs to be on Pole 4 (the bridge pickup selector).

Steve's method will work as well, since you don't want to have the two tone controls active in any position.

SteveRobinson

Yes that would work but it's nice to have each section perform a single function.

High cohesion, low coupling (I used to be a software developer.)

ICBM

SteveRobinson said:

Yes that would work but it's nice to have each section perform a single function.

High cohesion, low coupling (I used to be a software developer.)

I agree in this case - but I would want both tone controls operating in the neck+middle position, which needs two poles. (I didn't realise PonchoGreg didn't need this when I posted originally.)

But the real beauty of these switches is that once you see how they work, even very complex wiring combinations are easy to work out.

PonchoGreg

Yeah, you can literally make a little plan of what component you want for each position and then check position by position to make sure everything is there.

I shall have fun doing this (although I hate making/soldering little jumpers)

Funkfingers

PonchoGreg said:

The only thing that puzzles me is that it seems that the position "names" are reversed vs the usual strat denomination (i.e. neck is actually 1 and not 5, etc). But given the existing wiring and what the various positions do, that's the only thing that makes sense.

You are trying to match the terminal positions directly with the lever switch cap positions.

Mechanically speaking, the lever switch action is a rotation about a central hub. Obverse it sideways on whilst moving the switch tip. You should soon see what is happening. 

normula1

I've wired a couple of Strats like this and tend to have the neck, neck + middle and bridge + middle on the upper tone control with neck + bridge and bridge on the lower one. I find the latter two need a similar level of rolloff.

exocet

The other approach to this is to use a blender pot to mix the neck and bridge pickups together. You loose a tone control in the process but that’s how one of my Strats is wired. 

PonchoGreg

As an update, I can confirm the above worked a treat. Well, minus a few choice swear words for whoever does the electronics at the Corona factory...

I should have remembered from rewiring one a few years back that they love to twist the wires through eyelets (literally a full couple of turns, with the strands all tangled up). Absolute pig to make new clean connections. I reckon next time I might just start afresh with new pots/switch!

But all fine and dandy now. Thanks everyone for your help!