strat wiring

mickie08 · Post by **mickie08** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:15 pm

On the CIJ strat I just got, there is a loose ground wire that leads into the tremolo cavity. Where exactly should it be attacked to? I assume it is to ground the tremolo but I am not sure exactly where is the best place to do so.

filtercap · Post by **filtercap** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:49 pm

It goes to ground in whatever way you please. For example, solder it to the top of a volume or tone pot. However, on a Strat, I'd probably connect it to the sleeve-contact part of the jack. That way you don't have one more wire tethering your pickguard/electronix to the guitar body.

Post by **Doog** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:00 pm

Top of the volume pot, according to most schems.

Speaking of which, what can I do to this to make the 2nd tone control become a master tone, and ditch the other one?

filtercap · Post by **filtercap** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:30 pm

And a top-of-the-pot to you too, sir!

To take a standard 3-knorb Strat and turn it into master volume plus master tone plus a Nothingness control:

-- In that diagram, just unsolder all the white wires from both those tone potz. Leave the ground wires in place.
-- The white wires you unstuck from the tone pots.... unsolder them from the 5-way switch too.
-- Connect your "hot" signal (not to doubt that the Doog's signal is ever anything other than hot) to the center of the pot you want to use for tone. Do this by connecting a wire from the center terminal of the volume pot to the center terminal of your chosen tone pot.
-- On the tone pot, solder one end of the capacitor to the right-hand terminal. This is only right-hand when the terminals are on the same side of the pot as you, so if they're facing away from you, use the left-hand one. Right?
-- Ground the other end of the capacitor by soldering it to a pot-top.

filtercap · Post by **filtercap** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:40 pm

Actually, in the third step I just listed, you can connect either the center terminal or the left-hand terminal of the volume pot to the center of your tone pot. They should both work, but you may notice a slight difference between them. Connecting the left-hand tab of the volume pot would be more "stock" as it were.

mickie08 · Post by **mickie08** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:44 pm

It is connected to the pot, but not in the tremolo cavity. Where inside the tremolo cavity does it connect.

filtercap · Post by **filtercap** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:52 pm

I'm not sure where they connect them "by default," I'll have to look. But the idea is to ground the strings via the bridge, so anything that's got a solid electrical connection with the bridge or trem block is what you want. One of the trem spring anchor screws might do. Maybe solder the wire end to a washer or a thin piece of sheet metal with a hole in it and run the screw through the washer/metal.

purplehaze19x · Post by **purplehaze19x** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:54 pm

mickie08 wrote:It is connected to the pot, but not in the tremolo cavity. Where inside the tremolo cavity does it connect.

The little claw thingy that the springs are connected to.

bassintom · Post by **bassintom** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:10 pm

The little claw thingy that the springs are connected to.

zackley

mickie08 · Post by **mickie08** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:13 pm

thanks...

Post by **Doog** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:55 pm

filtercap wrote:And a top-of-the-pot to you too, sir!

Hahahahaha..

Thanks dude!

filtercap · Post by **filtercap** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:52 pm

Doog -- If you're in an experimental mood once you've got your master volume + master tone setup wired in, try turning that left-over empty pot into a "blend" control. This is like having a neck-on (or bridge-on) switch, but better ---- because while that switch takes an all-or-nothing approach, a knob can blend large or tiny amounts of bridge or neck pickup into all the other Strat combinations.

In that diagram, just run a wire from the "Neck+" tab on the 5-way switch to the center terminal of the empty pot. Then run a wire from the pot's right-hand terminal over to the "Bridge+" tab on the 5-way switch. (Be sure none of the pot terminals are still connected to ground from the previous wiring.)

Now, with that blend pot on 10, all the switch settings are the same as stock. As you roll the blend knob towards 0, it starts to connect the neck and bridge outputs together. So if the 5-way is set to bridge-only or bridge/middle, you start adding a little neck pickup in there. If the 5-way is on neck-only or neck/middle, you start adding the bridge pickup. With the blender at 0, you get both bridge and neck full-on when the 5-way is at either bridge or neck position, and all 3 pickups full-on when the switch is at one of the in-between positions. Middle position is always middle pickup only.

I have my Stratocaster wired this way. It may affect the sound of your plain bridge and neck pickup settings a tiny amount, even with the blend-o at 10. If you have "no-load" pots, it won't.