I purchased a prewired pickguard from EBAY with the mini, Gilmour toggle switch. It is great, and looks beautiful on my strat. I have a question regarding the switch itself.
I had a guitar center tech put it on for me, as I am not yet a "strat doctor" yet, and I am female;) But I think he may have muffed the setup, or not listened to me, or set it up the way he thought it should be. But upon bringing her home I discovered:

With the switch "up" towards the neck I have
position 1 - Bridge
Position 2 - Bridge, Middle
Position 3 - Bridge, Middle
Position 4 - Bridge, Middle, Neck
Position 5 - Bridge, Neck

Switch down towards bridge
Position 1 - Does nothing
Position 2 - Middle
Position 3 - Middle
Position 4 - Neck, middle
Position 5 - Neck

I get the 7 positions, just a weird way around it. Is this ok?

Thanks everyone!

Could you post a link to the item you bought? When I think Gilmour mini-toggle, i think bridge pickup-on switch

Here ya go, thanks again

http://cgi.ebay.com/BLACK-Acrylic-1ply- ... 7C294%3A50

mcphail is right,that toggle should turn the bridge on when it is on.So with it off you should have normal use of the pickups with the 5 way switch with it on you should get the bridge on with the neck and neck/mid.So I would think that it is wired wrong.cheers

Great.....money well spent.....

Yep, your good to go! i bought that same pickguard for my strat. It looks awesome. Great quality.

_________________
American Vintage '57 Strat
Super Champ XD

IMO, the phrase, "Guitar Center tech" is an oxymoron.

The guitar is wired incorrectly:

Apparently, when he wired the mini-switch, he removed the bridge pickup's hot lead from the pickup selector switch, rerouting it to the mini-switch and then, he wired an out lead from the mini-switch in a direct path to the guitar's volume pot, thus bypassing the pickup selector switch entirely. Consequently, as long as the mini-switch is turned on, the bridge pickup is always on and when the mini-switch is turned off, the bridge pickup is always off.

The bridge pickup's hot lead should have remained on the pickup selector switch with an additional lead added, coming from that same terminal to the mini-switch and then, the out lead from the mini-switch to where he has it now.

Oh, and to avoid redundancy and/or confusion of toggle positions 2 and 3 with the mini-switch on, an alternate wiring is to take the out lead from the mini-switch and wire it to the neck pickup's hot lead on the pickup selector switch instead of directly to the volume pot. All seven combinations can still be achieved by wiring it this way too.

One last thing, I hope he grounded the switch too, and not just by compressing it against the foil on the back of the pickguard.

_________________
You dig?

Martian, thank you very much for the detailed info. I need to find someone in my area as knowledgeable as you. I don't want to work on the guitar myself, so looks like I need to hit the yellow pages.

You're quite welcome and thank you too!

If I were you though, I wouldn't hit the yellow pages. Rather, word of mouth from other satisfied players is your best bet.

What city are you in? I'm sure there are many players right here who can recommend someone near enough to you.

_________________
You dig?

Hi Correna

Just for the hell of it: I found this photo on the net which claims to be the underside of Gilmour's pickguard on the Black Strat:



If a wiring diagram would help illustrate Martian's post then try this:

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/allpickups.php

Good luck - C

Thanks a lot for this!

By the way, Correna:

My wife wouldn't stand for that for long! Guys definitely outnumber girls round here - but women are extremely welcome. No self-deprecation necessary: there's plenty of fellas here who don't do their own wiring either.

Just rock that Strat - that's all that counts!

Good luck with the switch.

Cheers - C

Thanks a lot Ceri.

I am considering learning how to be a "strat doctor"
My god, I could not have screwed it up worse than him. It really does not look like rocket science, just a matter of taking your time.

I should have tested it in the store when I picked it up. But the repair guy was not there, and I was in a hurry. I mean I trusted that the guy knew what he was doing.

I am located in NH, so if anyone knows of any good places, let me know.
It just sucks that i have to spend more money to correct the issue, unless of course I give GC another chance.

I am not happy!!

I just got an email from the guy that I bought the pickguard from.

It seems that the guitar tech did not follow the installation instructions and wired the switch as a simple on/off for the BRIDGE pickup independent of the 5 position switch.
The switch should operate the NECK pickup and it's function would not change any of my 5 position switch settings if it's in the off position. With the switch in the down position (towards the bridge), it would function normally:

This would make sense as to what Martian said.

1: Neck
2: Neck/Middle
3: Middle
4: Middle/Bridge
5: Bridge

With the switch in the up position (towards the neck), the 5 position selector switch would function as follows:

1: Neck
2: Neck/Middle
3: Neck/Middle
4: Neck/Middle/Bridge
5: Neck/Bridge

This seems easy enough for me to understand.

Correna,

Reinforcing what Ceri was saying, get this male/female thing out of your head. Males do not have a monopoly on such things. There are many excellent female techs out and about.

As to having to pay again, that GC, "tech" (and I'm using that term generously here) should repair it for free, especially if you told him up front that you wanted it wired like Gilmour's and obviously, that is NOT what he did. Consequently, he did not complete the job. If he balks, you can now provide him with instructions and pictures of how to do it correctly and once he gets over his ego being destroyed, there shouldn't be a problem. If there is, ask for the manager rather loudly.

If I were you though, I'd still take it to someone who is more competent. If you know someone who simply knows how to solder, you have all the information necessary for this person to straighten out your wiring. We're only talking about 3 solder joints here. It doesn't necessarily have to be a guitar tech either. Or better yet, get some scrap electrical components and learn to solder yourself. It only takes a few minutes to learn and this skill will last you a lifetime. Besides, think of all the money you will save when you decide to change your Strat's pickups down the road (yes, you will); not to mention fixing your own cables, output jacks, replacing pots, etc, etc. Remember, even the greatest tech on the planet started at, "square one" at some point in time.

And to take it all even one step even further, once you are confident in your abilities, you can then do it for others for fun and profit too!!

_________________
You dig?