I generally wire up my 5-way by swapping the hot leads for the bridge and middle at the pickup selector. The gives me: neck, neck+bridge, bridge, bridge+middle, middle. In effect, I swap one "cluck" for a Tele-like sparkle, which standard Strat wiring does not provide.
Me likee! EDIT: shopping list - soldering iron, rainbow ribbon cable, rotary switch thingy and maybe even a toggle switch instead. I was looking for a summer project so this and the Squier will do nicely.
I'm super glad I've found your channel! I've got a super strat pickup setup that came with a split switch for the bridge humbucker. I'm planning on replacing it with a 3 pole series/parallel on/on/on similar to your setup. I'm toying with the idea of maybe integrating your setup too. Thanks very much
Really appreciate you posting this Rob. I was looking for a way to include series wiring rather than the Dan Armstrong blender mod. I wired up your first version today, it works great and I prefer this to having a humbucker pickup in the bridge. Thanks again
Nice one. Thanks mate. On this red project strat I actually went back to version 1 when I wired up the black pickguard. I like being able to switch straight to it, and yeah two singles in series is great. If you are into Brian May, I believe he used the red special with bridge/middle in series a lot for many of the classic queen riffs and solos.
Huge fan of Brian May, probably why I like the sound of your mod so much. I've done a couple of jams now with the new wiring, it's very versatile. Neck and middle in series also gives a great jazz tone. Thanks again
what's the difference between middle pickup with reversed polarity and with the normal One? And to mount the 12 pole switch or the Rotary switch, do i have to remove some wood from the Guitar?
Do you know the Freeway 10 way switch? It's a drop in replacement for the 5-way switch. And has in the lower bank the regular strat tones and in the upper bank: bridge-middlein series, all three parallel, bridge-neck in series, bridge neck parallele and bridge neck in series.It's great and easy. I wanted to add some toggle switches to add out of phase possibilities, but replacing a tonepot with a rotary switch is also a nice idea. That makes that mod also invisible.
Yep, I've seen these switches, but not had the chance to wire one. They look super cool though. Another thought I had for a mod is to use one of the cheap switches that has a circuit board for its contacts, and redesign and replace the board. I haven't really thought this through though so I'm not entirely sure which options this would open up...
@@RobMods Oh, that is an interesting idea. I have such a switch lying around, because I replaced it with a Freeway switch. Never thought of disassembling it. Come out and play, switch.
I used to have a guitar with the 10 way rotary switch. I loved all the different tones but got rid of it for a simple 3 way toggle. Those 10 positions are impossible to switch to the right one in thr middle of a song.
Casino guitar is a great guitar, I got several guitars to compare, I don't know why the feeling is very comfortable to play, maybe light and balanced weight ergonomic fender strat design, I moded so many times with this guitar, I cut the headstock like you did and removed logo and that left white mark underneath, made BMG setup like yours, installed one YJM pickup with roller beneath, now original fender player pickups are installed.
Nice one. I'm liking mine more and more each time I play it. I like the fretboard too. It has quite a large radius, which suits my bass-player's hands!...
HELP PLS!!! I have experience modding, I followed the diagram, quadruple checked the wiring, but still I have a really weird issue where my bridge pickup is giving less output than the other two. Everything is working as expected except for this one weird quirk. I’ve wired in 3 different bridge pickups thinking it was a problem with the pups but that didn’t fix it. Super frustrated, any idea what could be causing this?
Hi Aaron. It's hard to say without seeing it I'm afraid. Did you use version 1 or 2? In version 2, you need a special 5-way strat switch that is not standard. Have you tapped each pickup with a little screwdriver in every setting? Also, be aware that the single coil settings will be quieter than the series settings.
Well, adding a capacitor in parallel with a pickup will lower its resonant frequency. And reducing the impedance load will raise the amplitude of its resonant peak, or reduce the treble roll-off I guess. Using a shorter cable reduces the capacitive load as well. All the components in a passive guitar circuit interact as you change the controls, so it's impossible to recommend one thing really. You really have to think of all the parts working together to create a resonant circuit. I have an old video where I use a rotary switch with different capacitors and resistors in my old P bass. It is called "how to make a DIY Tonestyler". It is a very old video, shot on my phone, and it doesn't explain itself very well TBH, but perhaps you might find this interesting.
Great job mate, excellent content, love your work. Instant sub. I'm working toward a custom strat wiring, I havent quite decided how I want it to work yet, suffice to say its gonna be utter madness. And certainly beyond my ability to design, I might hit you up when the time comes. I'm in Melbourne, where are you located if you don't mind me asking? I've seen so many of those casino strats but never happened to play one. Good to know they're well put together. I'm a big fan and proponent of well made inexpensive instruments, I've got a few by Artist, and my two main strats are by Haze, which I can recommend if you ever find one for cheap.
Thanks mate. Yeah I love fixing up cheap instruments and getting them good and reliable for gigs etc. This strat is really well made for sure. In fact the other day I realised that the pole pieces are closer in the neck pickup than the others so they line up with the strings better. A nice touch you don't often see in budget/student axes...
Do you believe that the first mod could be somehow implemented with hss strat in such a way that instead of middle and bridge in series one would get just the humbucker? I must say that I tried quite a few wiring diagrams and always end up with too few poles on switches.
The humbucker's coils should already be in series, so there's no need to have that on the custom switch. You should be able to adapt the version 1 mod switch to just give you the neck and mid in series though. In fact with only two throws required, a 4P2T toggle switch could also be used.
@@RobMods I may have not been precise enough with my description. I wanted to have all 5 classic strat position using north coil of bridge split + bridge humbucker in series + neck and middle in series and couldn't figure out how to split bridge humbucker. Fortunately after a lot of drawing I finally figured it out and by using two superswitches got additional two series positions and managed to have neck with bridge south in parallel instead of middle single coil (kinda like a middle position on tele). It would be even better if I could run a resistor between hot and ground for parallel and single coil connections only to simulate lower resistance volume pot, but I suppose I should be thankful for what I got.
Hi David. It's BluTack. It might be called something else in your part of the world. It's the sticky putty used for putting up posters etc. It is very helpful!
I have a 1983 Fender "The Strat" which I bought from new. Originally it had the top tone pot replaced with a two position rotary switch that allowed the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th positions on the 5 way switch to change to In/Out of phase. This created a total of 9 tones when moving through the positions of the 5 way switch and the rotary switch. Now, over the years though, my original 2 position rotary switch has broken and I am unable to find a replacent. Over the years differnt techs have all had a go at rewiring/replacing with different pots but to no avail.My goal is to try and get my guitar back to its original wiring and tones. Quite frankly it sounds like crap now. I have found a wiring diagram but I need someone who can help out with sourceing parts and doing the tech work. Not sure whether this is something you do? I live in Byron Bay so hopefully the planets might allign and I'll get my old girl singing again.
Hmm it's hard to work out exactly what the switch did from your description. A reverse-phased pickup will only give a new sound when combined with another coil, IOW, pos 2 and 4 for a strat switch. If you can get up to Brissy, I'd recommend a Luthier called Gary Albrecht. He is a master at his craft. I'm sure there are some good techs up on the Goldy, though, but I have't lived in Qld for more than a decade...
The body is ply wood !! If you look up the other end in the video you will see the laminations , It is surprising how well that works with a decent neck.
Yep, that's what I thought too. I have come across a lot of 90's plywood strat and tele copies out of Korea over the years. There is also a lot of old 80's Japanese axes with multi-laminated bodies that have a veneer top and bottom. But this is actually a three-piece. (I have stripped and refinished this more recently.) So that pattern is simply from the cutters. I used to operate cnc machines in a guitar factory, and I'm guessing this choice of cutter might just mean they can use higher traverse speeds for faster production. Or perhaps they are cutters that can cut well both climbing and conventionally, for tool path optimisation. I'm not sure. There might be another reason...
I got a bently series 10, has a plywood body. No complaints. It also has the best neck a guitarist could want. Of course was made in early 80s when quality was much better than cheap guitars these days.
Blu-tak, you genious!! That will free-up my left hand for a cleaner solder ! The guitar sounds excellent, better than a lot of "Branded" instruments. Keep exploring, what do you think about the "50's" Fender wiring where the tone gets wired directly to the wiper of the volume along with the out-put, they say it makes the guitar a bit louder and cleaner as you roll the volume down. I am about to give it a go so wondered if you have tried it ?
look up the dan armstrong strat mod - you can generate the N+M in series and B+M in series using a blender pot as well as parallel out of phase N+M and B+M - the best part being you can reuse the tone pot and you can have some variability rather than all or nothing (as when you have a switch) th-cam.com/video/lWF1L7GBYfU/w-d-xo.html
Since you have so many terminals why not do a switch where you enable the neck pickup when you are in the bridge or bridge and middle pickup. This way you have have bridge with neck or all 3 in or standard in series and in parallel :)
I generally wire up my 5-way by swapping the hot leads for the bridge and middle at the pickup selector. The gives me: neck, neck+bridge, bridge, bridge+middle, middle. In effect, I swap one "cluck" for a Tele-like sparkle, which standard Strat wiring does not provide.
This is a really cool channel!!!! Thank you for sharing your mods!
Thanks mate. I'm glad you like my stuff!
Great mod. I installed a series/parallel switch in my HSS and a switchable 18 volt buffer. The buffer gives a totally different tone character
Me likee!
EDIT: shopping list - soldering iron, rainbow ribbon cable, rotary switch thingy and maybe even a toggle switch instead.
I was looking for a summer project so this and the Squier will do nicely.
Thanks Rob for the tips. I get to Brisbane fairly regularly so I'll give Gary a call and see what he can sort out for me.
Thanks again✌
No probs Mark. Say hi to Gary for me.
Nice mod, and very well explained. Thanks for helpfully sharing your knowledge with us 👍
Thanks Rick. I'm glad you like my content.
I'm super glad I've found your channel! I've got a super strat pickup setup that came with a split switch for the bridge humbucker. I'm planning on replacing it with a 3 pole series/parallel on/on/on similar to your setup. I'm toying with the idea of maybe integrating your setup too. Thanks very much
Really appreciate you posting this Rob. I was looking for a way to include series wiring rather than the Dan Armstrong blender mod. I wired up your first version today, it works great and I prefer this to having a humbucker pickup in the bridge. Thanks again
Nice one. Thanks mate. On this red project strat I actually went back to version 1 when I wired up the black pickguard. I like being able to switch straight to it, and yeah two singles in series is great. If you are into Brian May, I believe he used the red special with bridge/middle in series a lot for many of the classic queen riffs and solos.
Huge fan of Brian May, probably why I like the sound of your mod so much. I've done a couple of jams now with the new wiring, it's very versatile. Neck and middle in series also gives a great jazz tone. Thanks again
Does anyone have a part number for the 4P3T rotary switch?
Great vid. Love the idea !
Thanks mate.
Is it possible to have two S-1 Push switches, one to turn on the neck pickup and the other to get the guitar into series for any of the pickups
what's the difference between middle pickup with reversed polarity and with the normal One? And to mount the 12 pole switch or the Rotary switch, do i have to remove some wood from the Guitar?
I love this. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks mate. I've just installed it on a very nice John Mayer sig strat. It will be in my next video. Works like a charm!...
Do the 2 and 4 positions still noise-cancel when switched to series?
Do you know the Freeway 10 way switch? It's a drop in replacement for the 5-way switch. And has in the lower bank the regular strat tones and in the upper bank: bridge-middlein series, all three parallel, bridge-neck in series, bridge neck parallele and bridge neck in series.It's great and easy. I wanted to add some toggle switches to add out of phase possibilities, but replacing a tonepot with a rotary switch is also a nice idea. That makes that mod also invisible.
Yep, I've seen these switches, but not had the chance to wire one. They look super cool though. Another thought I had for a mod is to use one of the cheap switches that has a circuit board for its contacts, and redesign and replace the board. I haven't really thought this through though so I'm not entirely sure which options this would open up...
@@RobMods Oh, that is an interesting idea. I have such a switch lying around, because I replaced it with a Freeway switch. Never thought of disassembling it. Come out and play, switch.
I used to have a guitar with the 10 way rotary switch. I loved all the different tones but got rid of it for a simple 3 way toggle. Those 10 positions are impossible to switch to the right one in thr middle of a song.
@@illegallystalked3119 The Freeway switch isn't a rotary switch. Darrell Braun made a video about it. th-cam.com/video/H1iCOo26bec/w-d-xo.html
Very cool switching idea.
Thanks James.
Casino guitar is a great guitar, I got several guitars to compare, I don't know why the feeling is very comfortable to play, maybe light and balanced weight ergonomic fender strat design, I moded so many times with this guitar, I cut the headstock like you did and removed logo and that left white mark underneath, made BMG setup like yours, installed one YJM pickup with roller beneath, now original fender player pickups are installed.
Nice one. I'm liking mine more and more each time I play it. I like the fretboard too. It has quite a large radius, which suits my bass-player's hands!...
HELP PLS!!! I have experience modding, I followed the diagram, quadruple checked the wiring, but still I have a really weird issue where my bridge pickup is giving less output than the other two. Everything is working as expected except for this one weird quirk. I’ve wired in 3 different bridge pickups thinking it was a problem with the pups but that didn’t fix it. Super frustrated, any idea what could be causing this?
Hi Aaron. It's hard to say without seeing it I'm afraid. Did you use version 1 or 2? In version 2, you need a special 5-way strat switch that is not standard. Have you tapped each pickup with a little screwdriver in every setting? Also, be aware that the single coil settings will be quieter than the series settings.
ROB MODS, What would you recommend as in passive components to Revoice guitar pickups?
Well, adding a capacitor in parallel with a pickup will lower its resonant frequency. And reducing the impedance load will raise the amplitude of its resonant peak, or reduce the treble roll-off I guess. Using a shorter cable reduces the capacitive load as well. All the components in a passive guitar circuit interact as you change the controls, so it's impossible to recommend one thing really. You really have to think of all the parts working together to create a resonant circuit. I have an old video where I use a rotary switch with different capacitors and resistors in my old P bass. It is called "how to make a DIY Tonestyler". It is a very old video, shot on my phone, and it doesn't explain itself very well TBH, but perhaps you might find this interesting.
Friend, can I buy this 6PDT Potentiometer on Amazon? If so, could you please give me the link?
Great job mate, excellent content, love your work. Instant sub. I'm working toward a custom strat wiring, I havent quite decided how I want it to work yet, suffice to say its gonna be utter madness. And certainly beyond my ability to design, I might hit you up when the time comes. I'm in Melbourne, where are you located if you don't mind me asking?
I've seen so many of those casino strats but never happened to play one. Good to know they're well put together. I'm a big fan and proponent of well made inexpensive instruments, I've got a few by Artist, and my two main strats are by Haze, which I can recommend if you ever find one for cheap.
Thanks mate. Yeah I love fixing up cheap instruments and getting them good and reliable for gigs etc. This strat is really well made for sure. In fact the other day I realised that the pole pieces are closer in the neck pickup than the others so they line up with the strings better. A nice touch you don't often see in budget/student axes...
Do you believe that the first mod could be somehow implemented with hss strat in such a way that instead of middle and bridge in series one would get just the humbucker? I must say that I tried quite a few wiring diagrams and always end up with too few poles on switches.
The humbucker's coils should already be in series, so there's no need to have that on the custom switch. You should be able to adapt the version 1 mod switch to just give you the neck and mid in series though. In fact with only two throws required, a 4P2T toggle switch could also be used.
@@RobMods I may have not been precise enough with my description. I wanted to have all 5 classic strat position using north coil of bridge split + bridge humbucker in series + neck and middle in series and couldn't figure out how to split bridge humbucker.
Fortunately after a lot of drawing I finally figured it out and by using two superswitches got additional two series positions and managed to have neck with bridge south in parallel instead of middle single coil (kinda like a middle position on tele). It would be even better if I could run a resistor between hot and ground for parallel and single coil connections only to simulate lower resistance volume pot, but I suppose I should be thankful for what I got.
Fascinating stuff
Thanks mate. Bridge and middle in series is a great sound. I use it a lot.
Why did you use a knob from a toaster?
But the neck + bridge combination the pickups are in push-pull?
In this wiring, there is no neck + bridge combination.
Thank you so much for this video. Is it possible to add an out of phase switch with this too?
What dpdt switch is it?
Thanks for the good video
I like your way of holding wires , was that clay ?
Hi David. It's BluTack. It might be called something else in your part of the world. It's the sticky putty used for putting up posters etc. It is very helpful!
I have a 1983 Fender "The Strat" which I bought from new. Originally it had the top tone pot replaced with a two position rotary switch that allowed the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th positions on the 5 way switch to change to In/Out of phase. This created a total of 9 tones when moving through the positions of the 5 way switch and the rotary switch. Now, over the years though, my original 2 position rotary switch has broken and I am unable to find a replacent. Over the years differnt techs have all had a go at rewiring/replacing with different pots but to no avail.My goal is to try and get my guitar back to its original wiring and tones. Quite frankly it sounds like crap now. I have found a wiring diagram but I need someone who can help out with sourceing parts and doing the tech work. Not sure whether this is something you do? I live in Byron Bay so hopefully the planets might allign and I'll get my old girl singing again.
Hmm it's hard to work out exactly what the switch did from your description. A reverse-phased pickup will only give a new sound when combined with another coil, IOW, pos 2 and 4 for a strat switch. If you can get up to Brissy, I'd recommend a Luthier called Gary Albrecht. He is a master at his craft. I'm sure there are some good techs up on the Goldy, though, but I have't lived in Qld for more than a decade...
Damn, I liked the beak
Ha ha. I'll send it to you!
On the mod with the 3pdt switch can I also use a standard 5way strat switch?
Yes, with version 1, using a 3-position rotary switch, you can reuse a standard strat switch.
link to your website and the mods?
Fantastic!
Thanks mate. And congrats on having the best first name in the world!
@@RobMods yes, indeed, a privilege to come from the “Robert” plant. 😉 keep up the good work. Thank you sir.
The body is ply wood !!
If you look up the other end in the video you will see the laminations , It is surprising how well that works with a decent neck.
Yep, that's what I thought too. I have come across a lot of 90's plywood strat and tele copies out of Korea over the years. There is also a lot of old 80's Japanese axes with multi-laminated bodies that have a veneer top and bottom. But this is actually a three-piece. (I have stripped and refinished this more recently.) So that pattern is simply from the cutters. I used to operate cnc machines in a guitar factory, and I'm guessing this choice of cutter might just mean they can use higher traverse speeds for faster production. Or perhaps they are cutters that can cut well both climbing and conventionally, for tool path optimisation. I'm not sure. There might be another reason...
I got a bently series 10, has a plywood body. No complaints. It also has the best neck a guitarist could want. Of course was made in early 80s when quality was much better than cheap guitars these days.
Blu-tak, you genious!! That will free-up my left hand for a cleaner solder ! The guitar sounds excellent, better than a lot of "Branded" instruments. Keep exploring, what do you think about the "50's" Fender wiring where the tone gets wired directly to the wiper of the volume along with the out-put, they say it makes the guitar a bit louder and cleaner as you roll the volume down. I am about to give it a go so wondered if you have tried it ?
look up the dan armstrong strat mod - you can generate the N+M in series and B+M in series using a blender pot as well as parallel out of phase N+M and B+M - the best part being you can reuse the tone pot and you can have some variability rather than all or nothing (as when you have a switch)
th-cam.com/video/lWF1L7GBYfU/w-d-xo.html
is this not similar to the brian may electric guitar selector switch with many caps?
I thought the red special had on/off and phase reversal for each pickup...
Since you have so many terminals why not do a switch where you enable the neck pickup when you are in the bridge or bridge and middle pickup.
This way you have have bridge with neck or all 3 in or standard in series and in parallel :)
I was thinking this exact thing!
Wow thank you o 👍🏻
Well wishings everytime
Thanks mate. I'm glad you liked the mod!
Interesting
You'll have a much better time using silicone jacketed stranded wire because it doesn't burn or shrink