Hi peeps. I want to put some active pickups in my Strat and I need a battery compartment for it, but I don't know where I can physically put this compartment. There's like no space in a Strat for it. Anyone got any ideas/can point me in right direction? Thanksies

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I believe Mr. Eric Clapton can help with your dilemma!



Just ignore those arrows and stuff. I used this pic to reply to another post on the forum haha.

Hmmm interesting. I haven't got an open cavity like that to fit the battery, so what should I do? The cover just fits over the hole that the springs etc sit in, so to make a hole for the battery would be real obvious

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Take another look at that pic. The cover will completely hide the battery.

If you don't want to make a new cavity for the battery, you can fit it under the pickguard, depending on the routing of your Strat.

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That's what I was thinking, putting it under the pickguard, but I have a h-s-h config. I have a 5way switch in the circuit too. Is it possible to have a h-h config with a 5 way switch? If so, that solves my problem, as I can place it under the pickguard like you said

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Usually the body should have an extra rout to install the printed circuit board.



Another solution is to install the PCB and the battery in the control cavity under the pickguard, however this task is quite tedious to perform and only a professional luthier can do this job unless you've the adequate skills to DIY.



If your batteries die during a gig and you're out of luck, an active/passive toggle switch might be useful.



If you have an SPST mini toggle switch installed between black battery wire and stereo output jack lug, you can instantly go to passive mode and have the best of both worlds in your fingertips. Simply cut the wire and install the SPST switch in the middle.

I've been doing a long of research about these toggle switches and my options. I take it adding this little contraption works only if I have the battery wired in? Well, these are my issues. I'll just lay them out clearly, cos I've spent weeks finding the right course of action and I am still at square one...

1: I have a 5 way switch and I want to install double humbuckers. If I can remove the single coil in the middle, problem solved and I can place my battery there. My question is: Can I still use a 5 way switch with just a double humbucker configuration??

2: In case I can't use a 5 way switch (I want to avoid changing to a 3 way as I don't know enough about rewiring all that stuff), can I get away with installing a toggle switch, avoid adding the 9V battery altogether, providing that I kept the switch set to PASSIVE constantly so it just ran power from the jack plug?

The main issue is not having anywhere to put this battery. I could have it where the single coil sits, that would be cool but depends on the 5 way switch question above ^
I hope that my situation makes sense as I don't like to keep bothering peeps with my inability to find an answer. Cheers guys!

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HAVE AN ACE DAY EVERYONE, and have a few more after that

It all depends on what humbuckers you use my friend.
if they are splittable(4-wire) you can use a 5-way with
a single coil pos 1
humbucker pos 2
both pups pos 3
humbucker pos 4
single coil pos 5
which would be a pretty versatile set up

if you don't go that route you can wire the
neck to the neck terminal and tone pot
and the bridge to the middle position and tone pot
then you just wouldnt use the bottom two slots
and you could get all three sounds pos 1-3

(off topic isn't it amazing just a year ago I would not have
the foggiest Idea how to do that but thanks to Martian and Nikninja
Ceri and Retroverbial countless others on the forum I have learned so much
this forum is a wealth of knowledge thanks to all contributors)

Lee

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1956 Gibson CS Lemon Les Paul
1957 Fender CS Aged Cherry Strat
1958 Gibson CS Pg 85 Les Paul
1960 Fender CS 3tsb Strat
1961 Gibson SG Wildwood Pelham blue
1966 Fender CS Firemist Metallic Silver Strat

That seems like a sound plan. I can then take my current single coil out and have the battery there. Yeah my humbuckers have four wires (green, white, red and bare). These are the same colours as the current Fender ones, however I guess they'd go in a different order (if it's any help, the red and white wires on the Fender pups are wired together and left taped up, while the bare and black are grounded on the pot, and the green is connected on a peg on the switch) <- that applies for both humbuckers. I am guessing, with the Ibanez wires, it's going to be setup differently?

Where can I find a wiring diagram to see exactly where these Ibanez pup wires connect onto the switch and pots?

Cheers again
Stef

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Oh I mean I have 5 colours: black, bare, white, red and green ^
What I said about where they're wired into is still correct though

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Those Ibanez pups are part of an active system?

What kind of circuitry do you have? And forget about the battery for a minute, where are you planning on putting that circuitry?

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

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HAVE AN ACE DAY EVERYONE, and have a few more after that