Electric Guitar Mod Questions

Electric Guitar Mod questions from Darwin, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada:

I'm in the process of building a custom Strat. This is my first custom project even though I'm 49 years old; (I do have a Sustainer in my Steinberger but a shop did that for me) I've purchased an S-1 switch with the 5 way super switch and a Tone styler from Stellar Tone.After reading your review on the Fender American deluxe Strat, I'm curious how YOU would wire the s-1 switch. I have 3 Texas special pickups and other than having ONE great Sultan's of Swing sound I'm completely flexible on the other possibilities. (a wiring diagram would be great!)

Secondly (and I hope I can ask two questions : ) I was originally planning to go with two tone stylers; "people" I've talked to suggest that that's overkill. Do you have any suggestions for the third pot?

I'm hopeful to try my luck at the soldering to save a little money (or a lot possibly with the number of solders with this S-1); your website gives me the impression that I should be able to handle it.

Thanks for that.

Darwin,

Thanks for the questions. By all means please ask more, it gives me ideas for my site. For example, I couldn't find a working diagram for the S-1 switch, so I created a new page that explains how the S-1 switch works, you may check that out if you'd like. For a wiring diagram take a look at a Fender American Deluxe Diagram , this gives you the wiring on an American deluxe strat. The problem you are going to run into is that your pickups are two wire design.

The guitars that have the S-1 are 3 wire noiseless. Now you can switch them the same way, but with some selections you'll have a floating ground which may induce some noise. I'd shield the pickup cavity anyway as my first electric guitar mod, while the pick guard is off.

I don't have any experience with the tone stylers. I did check out the web site and they have a wiring diagram that's good. As far as I can tell these look like variable capacitors, which is fine for a mod. I would only use one tone styler along with one tone pot to vary the amount of signal for each capacitance setting.

As far as overkill that's up to each individual. I can't keep track of more than five settings, but that's me. With the S-1+5 way/four pole, you could have 10 pickup settings, with 16 capacitance values, or 160 possible set tones, plus a pot to regulate signal strength through the capacitor.

The possibilities are endless, which is why it's so much fun. I'd try one modification at a time, so you see what works and what doesn't. Just my two cents.

Thanks JB

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