Its because traditionally strats don't have tone controls to the bridge pickup. This is not only true for MIM strats, but American Vintage reissues and strats from 1954-1980. My Custom shop 65 Strat doesn't have tone to the bridge pickup, it also only has a 3 way switch. It cost way more than an American Standard, so its not a quality/cost thing its more an adherence to vintage strat motifs. It is a simple mod, that's easy to do if you want it

Yeah, its holding onto nostalgia, but its dumb. It is easy to wire the middle and neck to the one pot. This is THE MOST requested wiring mod on strats, I understand why they do it on reissues, because that's how they were way back when. Why they do it now; I have no idea. You do get more output from a pickup that doesnt run through a tone pot, but you can easily use a no load pot, which Fender does do with the Delta Tone. SO when the tone knob is at 10, it removes it so to speak from the signal path. I believe this was just a mistake from the beginning to not connect the bridge pickup to the tone pot, its the one pickup that benefits from a tone control the most.

It is a very simple fix. I usually put the Neck and Bridge on the same Tone Control. Put a jumper from the empty lug (lug 1) on your 5 way switch to Lug 3.

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Clueless again.

"Back in the day" when the Stratocaster made its initial debut the tweed Fender amps were not capable of or intended to reproduce the higher frequencies as the amps of today do. Their alnico Jensen speakers leveled out at around 3kHz and were pretty much done above 3.75kHz. Thus, the bridge pickup on a Strat sounded quite pleasant "without need for further tone modification". If you were half the genius that Leo was, we'd all be playing "windwalker" guitars and amps.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

+1

Play a vintage strat through an amp of the day and you'll quickly realize why the strat had a wide open bridge pickup. Amps were really dark back in the day and the wide open bridge helped the strat cut through in a band situation. Of course with the modern voicing of amps it really isn't a problem and the bridge is more trebly. So if you look at it in historical context it made perfect good sense. Its not like all strats are wired that way today, there are plenty that come from the factory stock with the tone wired to the bridge.

Correct.

And I've frequently performed that mod for many clients and have used it myself for selected applications. But the historical context of the original logic itself is well-documented.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Wow, tough crowd. Why flame the guy?

Antique v modern amps not withstanding (though I take the point there), I think he's right. The average strat bridge pickup IS the one that benefits most from some top end reduction. To these ears anyway..

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Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

Not flaming him at all, just informing him that there is a reason that it was that way to begin with why it has since changed on some models. Of the two standards, the MIM is more towards the traditional strat formula, i.e 21 Frets, no tone for bridge, 6 screw bridge, traditional truss rod. The American Standard is more modern with its 22 frets, 2 point bridge, delta tone pots, tone for bridge, staggered tuners, bi flex truss rod, micro tilt.

There are other MIMs that come from the factory with tone for the bridge, its just a matter of models.

John Browning was a genius in the realm of gun design, but many of his designs have been improved upon in the 80-90 years since his death. What works for 1911 might not work so well for 2011. Yet there is still a market for those who wish to have a gun like grandpa carried "back in the day." The same holds true for a guitar designed in 1953. This takes nothing away from the genius of either John Browning or Leo Fender.

Excellent simile!

Arjay (with several "tweaked" 1911's......)

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Yes, excellent candycoke09!

The same is true for both the 1911 and the 1954, you can improve/modernize the functions, but the designs are timeless classics that are just as relevant today as back then. Nothing feels like a 1911 style pistol, or a 1954 style Strat, in your hands, and both are equally equipped to handle their respective jobs as well as, or better than, anything else.

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

[quote="adey"]Wow, tough crowd. Why flame the guy?

Antique v modern amps not withstanding (though I take the point there), I think he's right. The average strat bridge pickup IS the one that benefits most from some top end reduction.

Because its what forum trolls do. Sit online so they can "inform" people they're wrong on some irreivent topic. 7500 posts in 16 months. Must have corrected a lot of people.

+1
Did this myself. Works fine.

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

If that whole amp not being about to react to that frequency, and thats why they didnt put the tone control for the bridge pickup; why did every other electric out at the time have one? Les Pauls had tone knobs for their bridge pickup, and thats one people rarely feel the need to turn down.

Jesus 7500 posts in 16 months??? Get out much?