Rewiring a strat

[Spacedementia87]

Hi, i want to put an effects board in my squite strat.

And as i don't use the tone controls on my strat i can use those post for the effect.

however i am not sure how to wire them so as to keep the tone on full without the pot.  This is my guess:



This is just an experiment i am doing to my old guitar as a time waster and practice.

[Spacedementia87]

i have asked this in loades of places and noone seems to have an answer.

Surely it is pretty simple.  Someone must have an answer

[choklitlove]

have you asked it in the electric guitar forum at harmony central?  they will tell you right away.  then come here when you're ready to make the effects.  good luck!

plus, your subject title doesn't describe this at all.

[aron]

By disconnecting the tone pots from the volume pot, it's like having the tone control turned up all the way (actually higher). Your guitar should be brighter. If you want the "exact" sound, then put a fixed resistor (instead of your pot - although same value) and the capacitor in there instead of your tone potentiometer.

[Mark Hammer]

There are guitars I would put an active circuit into and guitars I simply wouldn't dream of doing it to.  A Strat is in the second category.  Between the pickguard and the bridge/tremolo assembly, it is a royal pain in the arse to change batteries.  The saving grace would be if you could split the pickguard so that it was sort of like the pickguard on a Jaguar, Jazzmaster, Mustang, or Fender bass, with one piece for the usual surface protection purpose, and a second piece for controls.  That way, you can get in there and change things, whether components or batteries, without having to destring and restring.

Even if you do that, think twice about WHAT you stick in there because those screw holes can only take so many screwings and unscrewings before you lose the thread and the screws don't grip.  Make sure its low current drain.

[trevize]

I have disconnected the tone control from four strat and WOW these guitar sound brighter and better that way.
I don't have photos of it but i installed an active circuitry on a strat of a friend of mine. I machined the part
under the tremolo springs (he only uses three springs so it's easy to change the battery, i for instance use five spring so it would be more
difficult to change the battery on mine)

[trevize]

you'll find good info about guitar wiring on http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/index.php

here is the wiring without tone control

[Mark Hammer]

I have disconnected the tone control from four strat and WOW these guitar sound brighter and better that way.

Well here's the thing.  Tone controls are always "on".  The 250k, 300k, 500k or whatever of resistance in the tone pot simply means that not quite so much treble is being bled off to ground....but there is some always bleeding off.

On one of my guitars, I simply have a 3-way toggle with two different treble-cut caps to ground and no cap.  There is no pot involved; simply a selected cap value from the volume pot input to ground.  Works like a charm, provides easily repeatable settings, takes up very little room.  And yes, with no cap whatsoever, that puppy is bright.

[Yun]

you'll find good info about guitar wiring on http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/index.php

here is the wiring without tone control

You could put a booster of the sort in there:



here's an LPB-2 varient that i made: 



For a trebble boost, the input cap (the .01uf cap in the schematic) try .001 or .004, for bass booster:  2.2uf- 1.0uf  mids booster: .02uf . 

[Yun]

PS:  i forgot a major something in the schematic of your strat:  Ground the out put jack (on your strat) to the rest of the grounds