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Post subject: A Strat Mod Idea
Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:03 am
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Hey Guys,

I had an idea about modding my American Deluxe Strat, that I thought I'd share with you guys. I posted it on another forum and some people thought it'd be a great idea, others not so much.

Anyway one problem I've always had with electric guitars is changing from a "rhythm" volume to a "lead" volume (and back) effectively. It's not so much going UP in volume for the lead boost, but more going back DOWN when the solo's over to the exact same volume I was at before the solo.

People usually offer the same suggestions, like just to switch to a different pickup, use a volume booster or EQ pedal etc. But I don't necessarily want to switch pickups, or to have to lug pedals around.

So my idea is to re-wire the Strat to have a master Tone control, and TWO volume knobs wired to all the pickups with a mini-toggle switch added to switch between the volume knobs. So the idea is during sound-check for a practice or gig, get myself set up with a decent rhythm volume for strumming on Volume 1, and set Volume 2 higher. When it comes time to solo, or jam or whatever, switch to Volume 2 and go. I can then go up or down as needed to fit the solo, on the secondary volume knob, knowing that when the verse comes back around I can just flick the toggle switch and go back to EXACTLY where I was before.

Thoughts?


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:42 am
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Makes alot of sense to me. Or perhaps a mini toggle that is attached to an attenuation circuit so that the mod would have a lesser impact on the asthetics of the guitar?


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:45 am
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the only thing i could think of for you is to make your pickups active and hit a boost switch...... BUT thats not going to turn up true gain to much... maybe invest in an amp that has 2 distortion channels with footswitch... my buddy mark had an AMAZING line6 halfstack with 4 seperate channels...he used (it was all tube-- i havent ever seen the amp anywhere else) and the tone was just killer on in it... it came with a 4 channel footswitch... he had his tone perfectly dialed in... c1- crystal clean at full volume. c2- overdriven clean (like an all tube amp cranked to ten... the sweet tone we all love) c3 wass dirty clean (he didnt use heavy distortion but it was just right like a marshall with the gain on 5 or 6 and the volume on ten) and c4 was for solos with some heavy sustain and a bit of a volume boost...


if you have a seperate volume like a master switch, it will be like turning your vol. knob down and up which at lower volumes will cut out a lot of your nuances..... but im sure you know that anyway...


so im probably not much help.... sorry.


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Post subject: Switching...
Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 10:47 am
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I have a MIM Strat and also a Hofner Galaxie (176), which I am using since 1968. A marvellous guitar, with a whale lot of switches. On this guitar is a small switch (a slide switch), which has 'RHYTHM' on the top position and 'LEAD' when flicked down. The convenience of this switch is what exactly you want. The volume is cut off to whatever level you want to set it to, 'cause right next to this switch is a potentiometer, which can be adjusted by the user to the levels of Rhythm and Lead, as one may want to. Can you believe that this is on a guitar that about 40 years old !!!!

Fender could use this technology and incorporate just such a switch, in all their guitars. What a boon it would be for us players !!


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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:56 am
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I should add, that pedals and amps with multiple lead channels isn't really what I'm after. I'm currently playing in 2 bands about 30 miles apart from one another, AND I jam with my brother and a buddy of mine in the town I live in too. I wanna have the feature built into the guitar itself so I can do it no matter where I'm playing, and with any amp and effects rig you know what I mean?


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:28 pm
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I just posted this the other day at the Epiphone Forum. In 1976 I had an Alembic Strat-o-blaster installed on the underside of the harness plate. It's in the on position at all times but is activated by an additional toggle switch by the pickup selector. The pickups have been wired to one volume and one tone pot and the blaster volume is wired to a CTS pot where the 2nd tone control was abandoned. Works great for me. It's a bit complicated but can be done by a knowledgeable technician. As you can see from the picture the only thing added is the toggle on/off to activate the blaster and I was able to keep the stock chrome cord plug in jack plate.........J

Image

Image


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:45 pm
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Something I always wanted to do that would give a similar effect was to wire a resistor up with a switch that when flipped on would reduce the volume as if you turned your volume down to around 6. So therefore you could adjust you sound with the switch on for rhythm and flip it off to tear into a lead. The Volume control idea you have is actually the same but I can never keep a volume knob adjusted in a live gig.


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:57 pm
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tonefight wrote:
Something I always wanted to do that would give a similar effect was to wire a resistor up with a switch that when flipped on would reduce the volume as if you turned your volume down to around 6. So therefore you could adjust you sound with the switch on for rhythm and flip it off to tear into a lead. The Volume control idea you have is actually the same but I can never keep a volume knob adjusted in a live gig.


That's a better description of what I had in mind.


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 6:53 pm
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I believe it could be done very easily with a single pole mini toggle and a resistor, the value would depend on how much cut you want. You'd have to experiment, I'd guess since we know 250k is a standard pot maybe a 100k would be a good start. Maybe I'll go ohm out a pot that is set around 5 or 6.

Any wiring guru's have any input ?


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:09 pm
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looks like 150k may be closer to the 5 or 6 position on a pot ( measured where output connects to ground terminal ) Kinda hard to tell where its set out of a guitar.


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