I have decided to replace the 3-way selector fitted on my Vintage 62 reissue for a 5 way one.

I have not done soldering work on a guitar before and was wondering if I can do this myself or should I bring it to a tech. The folks at Fender have been kind enough to include a diagram, which illustrates the required wiring. Unless I am over-simplifying, I can't see anything too complicated or tricky with this.

Anyone done this before? What risks should I be aware of?

Thanks

Hi tremolo arm: if you know how to solder then it's easy as pie. If you don't know how to solder - then Google will provide you with many guides. It ain't too hard: I recommend half an hour practicing on scrap materials (or the old switch) before going at it for real.

Cheers - C

Hello Tremolo Arm,

Sure enough soldering isn't to difficult
and as Ceri stated spend a little time practing
and you'll get the feel for it.

One suggestion stick with
electronic solders and flux.

Cheers.

Thanks guys.

I just did - much easier than what I had imagined. It's funny how little acheivements like this make you feel so good inside...

Anyway, I have a question - I noticed that with the 5 way selector switch the bridge pick up is not wired to a tone pot. I thought I had made a mistake with the wiring, but the diagram clearly shows the same.

It's kind of odd considering the bridge pick up is the brightest and can sound harsh. Is this normal? Effectively, my lower tone pot controls the middle pick up, whilst the top one controls the neck, but nothing for the bridge... In my other Strat, the lower pot controls mid and bridge.

I do not remember if the bridge had a tone connection with the 3-way selector...

yup, no tone knob for the bridge pickup is normal.

also if you're going to be doing more soldering on your guitar electronics you might wanna get some heat sinks/banana clips to draw heat away from the delicates while you're soldering.

Congrats on getting your switch installed.

Hi again t.a.: this is no sweat at all. The solution is one of the oldest, easiest and most effective Strat mods of all.

Take a look at this diagram:

http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/ ... 02CPg2.pdf

On the side of the switch facing the pots you will see between tags two and three a short little wire. That's often known as a "jumper" and serves to add the bridge pickup into the tone circuit controlled by the second (middle pup) tone knob.

Cut yourself off a half inch of wire and solder it in there. Bingo: your bridge pup now has a tone control. As you see from that diagram it is so popular that many Strats, including the American Standard, already come wired that way as stock.

Go to!

Cheers - C

There are some things you really need to be made aware of especially if you have never done any soldering before. Things can go wrong. You will discover that when you desolder the old wire going to the switch that Fender stupidly runs the wire through the hole and then wraps it around the terminal. This makes desoldering it very hard. So you either have to work with it for awhile and pull and twist and what not or you have to cut the sucker and throw the old switch away.

Something else to really be aware of. It is very easy to let a piece of solder drop into the switch. If you use too much gravity forces it to go downward. If this happens your switch is instantly ruined. I've ruined at least two switches this way. You need to take care to only use a small dab of solder here.

Do some practicing before hand with junk pots and switches to develop your soldering technique. That's what I did and it was time well spent. But soldering is a little tricky. You need to develop a method that works for you.

Thanks Ceri

Very helpful as always...

I wish I knew that before re-installing the pickguard and restringing with a fresh set of strings... But never mind, I learnt a new trick.

Known as the cheapest mode there is!!!!

_________________
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson