Strat Mod's

DetroitBlues · **Joined:** Thu Oct 08, 2009 7:58 am **Posts:** 2187

I'm sure this has been covered, but I would like some advice on a couple minor strat mods:

Switch tone control from middle pickup to bridge
Treble Bleed mod on volume (2 parts)
Part 1: just use a .001uf cap
Part 2: use a .002uf cap and 100k resistor
Which, if any, is better?

I play rock and blues. Would either benefit me?

nikininja · **Posted:** Fri Dec 03, 2010 1:21 pm

Volume pot treble bleeds are pretty much a waste of time. Lower the volume to 8 and get a complete absence of bass and nothing but a load of treble. If you look at how Martian has wired the Fratocaster in his thread, I'd suspect that to be a far better way of wiring your tone controls. And like he says, making the treble bleed mod defunct.

As for the bridge/mid tone control. You could be better off to wire a jumper cable and get both bridge, mid and neck tone control.

Personaly I think theres nothing better than a vintage wired strat. No bridge tone control and keep the middle pickup same wind direction and polarity as the others. Thats just me though.

bluesky636 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 03, 2010 3:33 pm

nikininja wrote:

Volume pot treble bleeds are pretty much a waste of time. Lower the volume to 8 and get a complete absence of bass and nothing but a load of treble. If you look at how Martian has wired the Fratocaster in his thread, I'd suspect that to be a far better way of wiring your tone controls. And like he says, making the treble bleed mod defunct.

I disagree. I have both a treble bleed and Greasebucket tone circuit on my SCN equipped MIM Standard Strat and the tone is fantastic wide open and stays that way as you turn the volume down. I even have treble bleeds on both volume controls of my humbucker equipped parts guitar and they work great.

shimmilou · **Posted:** Fri Dec 03, 2010 4:19 pm

I like the tone control moved to the bridge pickup, leaving the middle pickup wide open, both pickups sound better to me that way. I usually move the tone control on every Strat that I take apart. It is easy enough to try, just move the wire for the bottom tone control over to the next connection on the selector switch. I have never used a treble bleed, so I don't know much about them, except that they aren't good when using a circuit with multiple volume pots. :idea:

bluesky636 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 03, 2010 6:08 pm

shimmilou wrote:

I have never used a treble bleed, so I don't know much about them, except that they aren't good when using a circuit with multiple volume pots. :idea:

From my post just above yours:

"I even have treble bleeds on both volume controls of my humbucker equipped parts guitar and they work great."

shimmilou · **Posted:** Fri Dec 03, 2010 6:52 pm

Hi bluesky636,

If you have any pickup selector switch positions where two volume pots are in the circuit at the same time (one volume pot for each pickup, two pickups), that is where the problem can occur. The treble bleed circuit on one pot will supply a path through the bleed circuit to ground with that pot turned all the way down and the other pot turned up, which will bleed some of the signal for the other pickup through the bleed circuit to ground instead of out to the amp. You might be surprised at the difference in the output from the pickup, in the above mentioned case. :idea:

bluesky636 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 03, 2010 8:47 pm

shimmilou wrote:

Hi bluesky636,

If you have any pickup selector switch positions where two volume pots are in the circuit at the same time (one volume pot for each pickup, two pickups), that is where the problem can occur. The treble bleed circuit on one pot will supply a path through the bleed circuit to ground with that pot turned all the way down and the other pot turned up, which will bleed some of the signal for the other pickup through the bleed circuit to ground instead of out to the amp. You might be surprised at the difference in the output from the pickup, in the above mentioned case. :idea:

It has been my experience that with both pickups selected and one volume knob turned down, it will affect the volume of the other pup regardless if you have a treble bleed or not. Even with the stock circuit, turning one volume control all the way down will result in no sound from the other pup. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. In any case, If I am using both pups together, I always have both volume controls set equal. I get my tone by selecting one or both pups and adjusting the tone control, not by adjusting the volume control. When I do lower the volume, either one or both, my tone remains unchanged.

JohnZ6 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 03, 2010 9:43 pm

Everyones taste is always different. These are cheap, easy, and easily reversible mods. Try them, and if you dont like it, just undo it!

shimmilou · **Posted:** Fri Dec 03, 2010 9:55 pm

This guy made a neat test board so he could try the different mods and be able to access the parts for easy changes. Once you find what you like, install permanently. He also explains what I was talking about with the treble bleed and multiple volume pots. :idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vPgo0NLfsc

way cool jr · **Joined:** Tue May 18, 2010 7:34 pm **Posts:** 6911

ok motor city blues man, go get this book before you do anything else,
advanced hot rod techniques for guitar by Tim Swike.
this book covers everything bro. if your a very beginner you will have advanced knowledge by the time your done reading it.
its got pics after pics of everything. best book ive ever seen on the wiring subject for fender strats. thank God for Tim Swike lol i would still be so lost w/o him.

bluesky636 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 04, 2010 1:23 am

shimmilou wrote:

This guy made a neat test board so he could try the different mods and be able to access the parts for easy changes. Once you find what you like, install permanently. He also explains what I was talking about with the treble bleed and multiple volume pots. :idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vPgo0NLfsc

Apple and oranges comparison between his configuration and mine.

Differences between his setup and mine:

1. He has three pups, I have two.
2. He stated that because of his guitar switch configuration, two pickups are always connected through the switch and to have one pickup operate alone, he has to turn the other pup all the way down. I do not have that problem. I can select neck alone, bridge alone, or both together. When I select both together, both volume controls are set the same way.
3. He is using only a cap as his treble bleed. I use a cap and resistor in parallel, so there is always some resistance in the circuit.

I explained how my circuit works in my previous post. For my pup/switch configuration and the way I use my guitar, a treble bleed on both volume controls works perfectly for me.

Andybighair · **Joined:** Tue Dec 01, 2009 9:22 am **Posts:** 2175

Howdy!

I had a Parts-caster with Lace (Red, Silver, Blue) with a Mid-boost and tried all the treble bleed mods listed below. None of them did me any favors. One mod pretty much turned the Volume pot into and on/off switch! :lol:

I agree with Nick, try out Martians Tone Pot and Cap wiring first.

The following is copied from http://diy-fever.com/misc/guitar-wiring-101/

DIY Fever wrote:

Treble bleed
Volume pots don’t attenuate all frequencies consistently. Treble gets attenuated faster which results in treble loss when volume is rolled down. Treble bleed circuits (or bright caps) are there to compensate for treble loss and make guitar sound at lower volume as close as possible to sound with volume maxed. There are several different treble bleed circuits used or recommended by guitar/pickup manufacturers. What’s common between them is that they are installed across guitar volume pot (input and output lug).

Single cap, ranging from 100pF to 500pF, sometimes even bigger. Ibanez uses 330pF on many RG models, some PRS have 180pF or so. This configuration works well with higher volume pot settings, but with very low settings (30% or lower) it gets really bright.

Cap paralleled with a resistor. DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan recommend this configuration. Typical values are 560pF and 300K. It’s supposed to provide more consistent treble bleed but having a resistor paralleled with the pot will mess up pot taper.
Cap in series with a resistor (shouldn’t matter which comes first). Kinman recommends this for single coils but it works rather well for humbuckers too. I installed 1nF cap in series with a 130K resistor and it works awesome. Resistor is there to limit the effect of the cap and having it in series with the cap means it shouldn’t affect pot taper as much. Larger cap means wider frequency range, so treble jump isn’t as sudden. So far, this is my favorite treble bleed circuit.
Note: some folks actually prefer volume pot treble roll-off, so you should try few different setups and find the one you like.

Hope this helps

Andy

DetroitBlues · **Joined:** Thu Oct 08, 2009 7:58 am **Posts:** 2187

Are there audio examples of any of these?

adey · **Posted:** Sat Dec 04, 2010 7:42 am

nikininja wrote:

Volume pot treble bleeds are pretty much a waste of time. Lower the volume to 8 and get a complete absence of bass and nothing but a load of treble..

Absolutely spot on. dead right.

I modded 3 guitars like this and had to undo them all. I finally came to realise that the incremental reduction in high frequency content is an important part of reducing overall guitar volume.

I was seduced by internet voodoo..

bluesky636 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 04, 2010 7:57 am

Andybighair wrote:

Howdy!

I had a Parts-caster with Lace (Red, Silver, Blue) with a Mid-boost and tried all the treble bleed mods listed below. None of them did me any favors. One mod pretty much turned the Volume pot into and on/off switch! :lol:

I agree with Nick, try out Martians Tone Pot and Cap wiring first.

The following is copied from http://diy-fever.com/misc/guitar-wiring-101/

DIY Fever wrote:

Treble bleed
Volume pots don’t attenuate all frequencies consistently. Treble gets attenuated faster which results in treble loss when volume is rolled down. Treble bleed circuits (or bright caps) are there to compensate for treble loss and make guitar sound at lower volume as close as possible to sound with volume maxed. There are several different treble bleed circuits used or recommended by guitar/pickup manufacturers. What’s common between them is that they are installed across guitar volume pot (input and output lug).

Single cap, ranging from 100pF to 500pF, sometimes even bigger. Ibanez uses 330pF on many RG models, some PRS have 180pF or so. This configuration works well with higher volume pot settings, but with very low settings (30% or lower) it gets really bright.

Cap paralleled with a resistor. DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan recommend this configuration. Typical values are 560pF and 300K. It’s supposed to provide more consistent treble bleed but having a resistor paralleled with the pot will mess up pot taper.
Cap in series with a resistor (shouldn’t matter which comes first). Kinman recommends this for single coils but it works rather well for humbuckers too. I installed 1nF cap in series with a 130K resistor and it works awesome. Resistor is there to limit the effect of the cap and having it in series with the cap means it shouldn’t affect pot taper as much. Larger cap means wider frequency range, so treble jump isn’t as sudden. So far, this is my favorite treble bleed circuit.
Note: some folks actually prefer volume pot treble roll-off, so you should try few different setups and find the one you like.

Hope this helps

Andy

A link to Martian's mod would be nice, rather than having to search for it. :wink:

I have a cap in parallel with a resistor on the volume controls of both my guitars. In actual fact, I bought mine from Acme Guitar Works when I was buying a bunch of stuff from them. Yeah, I took the lazy man's way out. :lol:

I have this one on my Strat with SCN pups:

http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/Volume-K ... 87C13.aspx

I have this one on my parts guitar (Sort of a cheap Les Paul copy) with GFS FAT PAT humbuckers:

http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/Volume-K ... 01C13.aspx

Both work great for me. No complaints at all.

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