Two new strat wiring kits join the Signature Series range!
I wanted to share the news that I have introduced two new harnesses to my Strat wiring kit range. One is inspired by the Eric Johnson Strat wiring specs, and the other is unique as far as I am aware and don't know of anyone else offering this variation, but it was an idea I had to find a way to create a no compromise combination of my personal favourite modern and vintage style Strat wiring specs. Both new kits are listed up here on the website and available to order.
So let's kick things off with the modern/vintage combo kit!
This Strat wiring idea came about from looking at my really popular 'Modern' Strat wiring kit, alongside my Vintage-Modified spec and wondering how I could combine the two for a 'best of both worlds' kit. I think there are benefits of both the Modern and Vintage style wiring schematics; with the Modern style you have easy to use tone controls for all three pickups and a great tonal response from the .022uF cap value. I love the 'open' sounding bass response from a .022uF cap in Strats. With vintage style wiring I really like it's warmer yet sweet sounding .1uF cap value, and soaring bridge pickup tone due to it not being in the tone circuit at all.
So to achieve the best of both worlds idea, I have utilised 2 CTS 250k push/pull pots in the tone positions. With the pots in the normal 'down' position, this works exactly the same as my Modern Strat kit. Neck and middle pickups use the tone control 1, with bridge pickup using tone control 2 all with the .022uF tone cap. But pull tone pot 1's push/pull upwards and you change the cap value to the vintage spec 0.1uF value. So expect a slightly sweeter treble response and rounded off bass response, particularly noticeable as you roll the tone controls down the sweep.
Then, the push/pull pot in the tone 2 position removes the bridge pickup from the tone circuit by pulling the push/pull upwards. In the original strats, the bridge pickup wasn't wired to a tone pot, giving it a 'lead' tone popular for the time. Many players still love the brighter bridge pickup tone like this, but having the option to connect it back to a tone pot and choice of cap values just makes it all so much more versatile.
It's a simple idea, but have been really happy with the results when testing it in a Strat here. I'm going to get a bit more of a feel for it over the next few days but I suspect this spec will be hitting the website very soon. A really nice combination of vintage meets modern strat tones in an easy to use manner.
Next up is the Eric Johnson inspired kit. I was recently honoured to work on and have a close look at a Dale Wilson Master Built Stratocaster, and had my first 'hands on' experience of this wiring style which delivered interesting results.
A quick look at the originals and back when the strat was introduced, it was popular for electric guitars to have a ‘lead’ position, something that would cut through in big bands and soar for solos. Or perhaps to help bring some clarity from some of the darker sounding amps available to most players at the time. Let’s also not forget that at the time, much bigger gauges of strings were more commonly used and in a lot of examples too, flatwounds. So a lot of reasons as to why manufacturers made sure their models had a bright 'lead' tone. I certainly think it’s pretty safe to say this may have been one of the reasons why when Leo released the Strat, It originally only featured 2 tone controls (one for neck pickup, one for the middle pickup and usually a 0.1uF cap) whereas the bridge pickup’s signal didn’t pass through a tone pot or cap, only the volume pot’s resistance was effecting it’s signal. Resulting in a bright, cutting, and bold ‘lead’ position.
Now, this 'EJ' inspired circuit is similar to the details noted above, but instead of the bridge pickup having no tone control, it is actually the middle pickup instead. So to summarise, neck pickup has a tone control (1st) then the bridge pickup has a tone control (2nd pot) but the middle does not have a tone control which aside from giving the middle position a more pronounced tone, it alters how the 'in-between' 2nd and 4th positions sound too. Perhaps a reason in particular why EJ opts for this spec over others in his signature model Strat.
I am always open to changing cap values across my harness range on request, but as this schematic is a bit more user specific I have decided to offer cap value choice as a drop down option. If you are looking for true 'EJ' specs then you'll need a 0.1uF value tone cap.
So let's kick things off with the modern/vintage combo kit!
This Strat wiring idea came about from looking at my really popular 'Modern' Strat wiring kit, alongside my Vintage-Modified spec and wondering how I could combine the two for a 'best of both worlds' kit. I think there are benefits of both the Modern and Vintage style wiring schematics; with the Modern style you have easy to use tone controls for all three pickups and a great tonal response from the .022uF cap value. I love the 'open' sounding bass response from a .022uF cap in Strats. With vintage style wiring I really like it's warmer yet sweet sounding .1uF cap value, and soaring bridge pickup tone due to it not being in the tone circuit at all.
So to achieve the best of both worlds idea, I have utilised 2 CTS 250k push/pull pots in the tone positions. With the pots in the normal 'down' position, this works exactly the same as my Modern Strat kit. Neck and middle pickups use the tone control 1, with bridge pickup using tone control 2 all with the .022uF tone cap. But pull tone pot 1's push/pull upwards and you change the cap value to the vintage spec 0.1uF value. So expect a slightly sweeter treble response and rounded off bass response, particularly noticeable as you roll the tone controls down the sweep.
Then, the push/pull pot in the tone 2 position removes the bridge pickup from the tone circuit by pulling the push/pull upwards. In the original strats, the bridge pickup wasn't wired to a tone pot, giving it a 'lead' tone popular for the time. Many players still love the brighter bridge pickup tone like this, but having the option to connect it back to a tone pot and choice of cap values just makes it all so much more versatile.
It's a simple idea, but have been really happy with the results when testing it in a Strat here. I'm going to get a bit more of a feel for it over the next few days but I suspect this spec will be hitting the website very soon. A really nice combination of vintage meets modern strat tones in an easy to use manner.
Next up is the Eric Johnson inspired kit. I was recently honoured to work on and have a close look at a Dale Wilson Master Built Stratocaster, and had my first 'hands on' experience of this wiring style which delivered interesting results.
A quick look at the originals and back when the strat was introduced, it was popular for electric guitars to have a ‘lead’ position, something that would cut through in big bands and soar for solos. Or perhaps to help bring some clarity from some of the darker sounding amps available to most players at the time. Let’s also not forget that at the time, much bigger gauges of strings were more commonly used and in a lot of examples too, flatwounds. So a lot of reasons as to why manufacturers made sure their models had a bright 'lead' tone. I certainly think it’s pretty safe to say this may have been one of the reasons why when Leo released the Strat, It originally only featured 2 tone controls (one for neck pickup, one for the middle pickup and usually a 0.1uF cap) whereas the bridge pickup’s signal didn’t pass through a tone pot or cap, only the volume pot’s resistance was effecting it’s signal. Resulting in a bright, cutting, and bold ‘lead’ position.
Now, this 'EJ' inspired circuit is similar to the details noted above, but instead of the bridge pickup having no tone control, it is actually the middle pickup instead. So to summarise, neck pickup has a tone control (1st) then the bridge pickup has a tone control (2nd pot) but the middle does not have a tone control which aside from giving the middle position a more pronounced tone, it alters how the 'in-between' 2nd and 4th positions sound too. Perhaps a reason in particular why EJ opts for this spec over others in his signature model Strat.
I am always open to changing cap values across my harness range on request, but as this schematic is a bit more user specific I have decided to offer cap value choice as a drop down option. If you are looking for true 'EJ' specs then you'll need a 0.1uF value tone cap.
