Tone wiring tricks


Gargy
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Joined: 04/17/07
Posts: 142
Gargy
Registered User
Joined: 04/17/07
Posts: 142
04/17/2007 10:56 pm
Hey guys, I just joined because I have one burning question:

I have a cheap stratocaster copy that I am absolutely in love with (A Hamer Slammer). I wired in a Duncan Performer pickup in the bridge to give it a little extra oomph and it sounded a lot hotter but I still had the exact same tone (like that of a stratocaster but worse).

I rewired it recently and made a little 'mistake' where I wired the bridge pickup to where the neck pickup should go and vice versa, thus giving me a tone control from the bridge. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise since now the tone control that normally controls the neck pickup now controls the bridge pickup... but it still sounds too much like a strat in the bridge pickup.

My question is does anybody know a good little trick to cut out that overbearing strat sound and give the guitar a more well rounded tone? I know some things about car audio equipment and my thought was to wire an inductor in the circuitry somewhere (Since those effectively serve as low-pass filters), and I know capacitors are common but those are usually used to cut out the lows. The amp controls don't really cut it out like I would like, nor do I really like to use effects to do it (I just get the overbearing jangle with effects on it, so its coming from the guitar)
# 1
aschleman
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Joined: 04/26/05
Posts: 2,051
aschleman
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Joined: 04/26/05
Posts: 2,051
04/21/2007 9:07 pm
A strat is a strat is a strat.... and it's hard to change the OVERALL tonal qualities of a guitar just by electronics... But if you're looking for more of a warm tone try changing out the pots to 500k pots. Most likely the pots in there are 250k pots, which give you a clear treble like tone that the strats are known for... If the 500k doesn't cut it... you can try 1 meg pots to further warm the tone.

Just a little trick for changing the tone of a Strat... nothign spectacular.
# 2
Gargy
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Joined: 04/17/07
Posts: 142
Gargy
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Joined: 04/17/07
Posts: 142
04/23/2007 4:19 pm
That would work perfect; the goal is not to turn it into my Explorer or X2N-equipped Ibanez V but just to make the guitar a little less overbearing.
# 3
Lordathestrings
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Joined: 01/18/01
Posts: 6,242
Lordathestrings
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Joined: 01/18/01
Posts: 6,242
04/24/2007 2:33 am
Higher-value pots will increase the treble in the sound, which may make it harsh. Try wiring the output from the pup selector to one Volume and one Tone control. When I had a Strat, I was always bashing my knuckles on that damned pot next to the bridge, so I wired it for master Tone/Volume, and filled in the empty hole.
Lordathestrings
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# 4
Gargy
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Joined: 04/17/07
Posts: 142
Gargy
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Joined: 04/17/07
Posts: 142
04/25/2007 1:51 am
Originally Posted by: LordathestringsHigher-value pots will increase the treble in the sound, which may make it harsh. Try wiring the output from the pup selector to one Volume and one Tone control. When I had a Strat, I was always bashing my knuckles on that damned pot next to the bridge, so I wired it for master Tone/Volume, and filled in the empty hole.


I just pulled the knob off, it was a good fix fix (but I lost the knob, but thats no biggie on a guitar worth $100)

Though I may try that for I fear the PU selector is screwed anyway and I could wire in a new selector (the sound cuts out when I touch it, and I don't think I can get a pencil eraser in there to clean it off, nor is it a short circuit)
# 5

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