Wiring up my strat for HSS

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JonVengeance

JonVengeance

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I'm going to wire my strat for a humbucker in the bridge and wanted to know what preference everyone has fir the values of the the pots. I was going to use a diagram from the seymour duncan site which suggests 250K for the volume, but has 500k as an option. I'm going to be using a nailbomb which I feel is a pretty balanced pickup. Should I use 250K, 500K, or even some 300K I have laying around?
 
Depending on the sound you're looking for, I wouldn't go any less than 500k. Sure the 500k will make the singles a bit brighter, but in my book, that's fine. Keeps them balanced (volume wise) with the humbucker, as best as you can. I've actually got a 1meg pot in my super strat. The single coils are maybe a little too bright, so I'm considering adding a couple of resistors on them to bring them down a bit to simulate a 500k pot to them, which is another trick I've seen people do to keep the resistance how they want with a mix of hums and sings.
 
You're going to have to listen to it. Start with the 250's
I have one guitar that is so bright it needed the 250's with the Tone Zone.
I have another that is fine with a 500.
If it's a Strat you can use one tone for the hb and the other for the singles.
You may not like the singles at 500. I've tried this as well, and it is way too bright and thin on my Strat, ash body, maple one-piece neck.
 
TeleBlaster":7v4n4wpn said:
You're going to have to listen to it. Start with the 250's
I have one guitar that is so bright it needed the 250's with the Tone Zone.
I have another that is fine with a 500.
If it's a Strat you can use one tone for the hb and the other for the singles.
You may not like the singles at 500. I've tried this as well, and it is way too bright and thin on my Strat, ash body, maple one-piece neck.
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I haven't seen any diagrams that have 1 tone for the HB and one for the singles. I guess I'll have to do dig one up. That could be a good solution. I guess it will be trial and error.

Also has anyone used 300Ks as a compromise? I have some of those from an old Gibson. I'm wondering how they would work.
 
JonVengeance":3jbkiba5 said:
I haven't seen any diagrams that have 1 tone for the HB and one for the singles. I guess I'll have to do dig one up. That could be a good solution. I guess it will be trial and error.

Also has anyone used 300Ks as a compromise? I have some of those from an old Gibson. I'm wondering how they would work.
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Do a search for Suhr wiring diagrams, or surf over to HRI and look for Bruno ....

Suhr's got some wiring diagrams that use capacitors / resistors so the Humbucker thinks it sees a 500k load and the singles think they see a 250k load .... plus if you use a super-switch you can auto split the 'hummie' too !

He's got some very elegant solutions ....
 
I would start with the stock 250k and see how you like it. Than look at changing to 500k's or a doing what I did and use 500k pots all throughout and use a super 5way switch. Switch in 500kor so resistor in parallel with the pot so the SC's get 250k.

I also like having a push-pull pot as the 2nd tone pot to split the bridge humbucker.
 
Standard5Way.gif
 
Code001":7rrh2dd6 said:
Standard5Way.gif
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THIS. Very simple wiring mod, lets the singles see 250k while the humbucker sees 500k. You can use a 470k resistor instead of the 500k.

There's a fancier way to do it with a super switch where it keeps the humbucker at 500k even in the in-between position....but it isn't necessary unless you really want to get into it. If so, you can use the Suhr diagram and buy a super switch. The DiMarzio diagram will work great!
 
Thanks for the suggestions. The Dimarzio one looks like a good solution. I found the Suhr diagram and it looks really complicated which means a lot of troubleshooting if I make a mistake. One question, are the two tone pots 250K? I don't see their values listed. also is the capacitor .047? I assume if the tone pots are 250K the cap will be .047.
 
JonVengeance":5nmsvs7k said:
Thanks for the suggestions. The Dimarzio one looks like a good solution. I found the Suhr diagram and it looks really complicated which means a lot of troubleshooting if I make a mistake. One question, are the two tone pots 250K? I don't see their values listed. also is the capacitor .047? I assume if the tone pots are 250K the cap will be .047.
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Usually the tones stay at 250k, but you can use 500k if you want to very slightly brighten it up. You can use any value of cap you want. My personal preference on a set up like that is either .022 or even an .015. The traditional .047 rolls too much highs off when you use the tone pot, in my opinion.
 
Thanks a lot for the response. Now I'll have a wiring project waiting to do on my vacation next week.
 
This allows 500K in pos #1, then 250K in #2 through #5? Their saying 250k in 1-4 which wouldn't be accurate.
 
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