Unlock 2 New Strat Sounds and a Kill Switch with this cost-free Mod

The Big Bang No Buck Strat Mod

This wiring modification costs nothing and adds a lot. All you need to know is how to solder and ten minutes later your strat features:

• 7 sounds
• Kill Switch
• Fade-In for Middle Pickup
• Master Tone control

This is what you’ll do in short:

Neck and Bridge Tele style

1. Remove the Middle pickup from the wiring (for now)
2. Change the tone control to use one master tone for any switch configuration
3. Tele like three way switch for Neck and Bridge (by moving the Neck wire)

Let’s pause here, before we re-animate the Middle to do more magic. The above changes mean that you now have three different pickup combinations:

• Position 1: Bridge only
• Position 2: Neck and Bridge in parallel (this was not possible before)
• Position 3 and 4: Neck only

(The “Neck only on Position 3 and 4” looks a bit awkward, I admit, but bear with me.)

Kill Switch on positon 5

Position five now acts like a kill switch. As long as you Hendrix away on the Neck pickup, you can flick the blade switch between position four and five to create the stutter effect of a kill switch, disrupting the signal from all to nothing and back.

Fade-In of Middle for hum cancelling

The Middle pickup is not the most beloved of the three. I personally like positions 2 and 4 of the standard wiring a lot: where the Middle pickup is in parallel with the Neck or Bridge.

But more importantly: the Middle pickup has reverse polarity and reverse winding, meaning that when you add the Middle to Neck or Bridge, you will have the hum cancelling effect of a humbucker. With the Fade-In option, you can adjust how much of the Middle sound you want to add. An option worth exploring.

The final step in the re-wiring is the following

4. Use the free tone pot as a volume fade pot for the Middle PU
5. Connect the Fade-In in parallel, so that you can dial the middle into the mix

Now you can add the Middle PU in all three positions described above. So dial the fader to 10 and you will have:

• Position 1: Bridge and Middle in parallel
• Position 2: Neck, Middle and Bridge in parallel (this was not possible before)
• Position 3 and 4: Neck and Middle in parallel
• Position 5: Middle only

So there is your 7th sound option: all three pickups in parallel. And another option is back: Middle PU only.

So the 7 sounds of this new wiring are listed here, the new sounds in bold:

1. Bridge only (Pos. 1 | Fader: 0)
2. Bridge and Middle in parallel (Pos. 1 | Fader > 0)
3. Neck and Bridge in parallel (Pos. 2 | Fader: 0)
4. Neck, Middle and Bridge in parallel (Pos. 2 | Fader > 0)
5. Neck only (Pos. 3 & 4 | Fader: 0)
6. Neck and Middle in parallel (Pos. 3 & 4 | Fader > 0)
7. Middle only (Pos. 5 | Fader > 0)

AND THE KILL SWITCH: Pos. 5 | Fader: 0

Don’t get confused about the logic of there the Middle is dialed and the order of the pickups. Think about the sound you get. It’s not logical in the wiring, I admit. But it’s more intuitive when you start playing it.