
To benefit from the series option, you need to use your Strat’s dual-pickup settings—bridge + middle or neck + middle.
This month, we again dive into parallel/series pickup switching for your Stratocaster. As you may recall from last month's column [“Stratocaster Parallel/Series Switching," December 2011], an individual single-coil Strat pickup cannot be wired in parallel or series by itself—you need a minimum of two pickups for this. To benefit from the series option, you need to use your Strat's dual-pickup settings—bridge + middle or neck + middle.
Fig. 1
Fig. 1 shows how to wire two pickups in parallel with the option of running them in series. Here, both pickups are wired to a normal DPDT (aka 2PDT) switch. In the down position, both pickups are connected in parallel—the standard Stratocaster configuration. This setting yields maximum chime and twang. With the toggle in the up position, pickup No. 2's ground is lifted and no longer connected to ground. Instead, it's now connected to the hot output of pickup No. 1, with the red jumper wire on the toggle switch making the connection.
Note: With normal Strat pickups, this works right from the start, but be careful when using humbuckers with only two wires (shield + hot), or one conductor pickups, in which the pickup ground and the shield wire are not separated. If you're working with humbuckers, be sure to use a unit with a 4-conductor wire that has the pickup ground separate from the shield wire, or let someone who knows what he's doing convert your standard humbucker. Desoldering the metal case and working with the super-thin internal pickup wires requires the right tools and some experience to avoid ruining the pickup. Ungrounding the shield will work, but you'll hear a buzz when you touch the pickup's metal casing, because the metal case will be included in the pickup circuit. The same holds true for single-coils with a metal casing that is connected to the pickup ground—and this includes all standard Telecaster neck pickups! We'll discuss this topic in detail in future columns.
So how can we add series switching to a Strat? There are many ways to do this, and if you do a Google search you'll find several approaches to series switching. Unfortunately, some of them are simply wrong. Most use two additional switches or complicated rotary switching, or wild combinations of these elements—sometimes even in conjunction with a 5-way super-switch.
Yes, we have to move more wires for this mod than we've done before, but after more than three years of Strat mods, you're no longer a novice, right? Series wiring is one of the supreme challenges in Strat modding, but you can do it!
My favorite Strat series-switching scheme only uses one normal DPDT switch and only affects the dual-pickup positions.
Fig. 2 shows the schematic in all its glory.
As always, you can use an additional mini toggle DPDT switch for this mod. Or, if you Adding Series Switching to Your Strat BY DIRK Wacker don't want to alter the stock appearance of your Strat, you can use a push/pull or push/ push pot of your choice. Most push/pull and push/push pots include a DPDT switch, so this shouldn't be a problem.
Operating this circuit is very easy: With the switch in the down position, both pickups are wired in parallel—the standard setting—when you select position 2 or 4 (bridge + middle or neck + middle).
But flip the switch up in position 2 or 4, and the respective two pickups are then wired in series to beat the devil out of your tube amp. In the other single-pickup positions (1, 3, and 5), the DPDT switch has no effect. That's easy enough, isn't it?
Another benefit of this particular approach to series switching is that it moves only the minimum wires required to do the job. Simple and clean. (The only downside of this mod occurs if you also use the “seven-sound mod" on your Strat. In that case, it will not connect the bridge and neck pickup together in series as well. If you need both mods, there's no way around having to install a second additional switch or a rotary switch with enough poles to accommodate all the positions.)
The schematic also incorporates individual tone caps for the middle and neck pickups, something I highly recommend for series wiring. You should lower the standard values a little bit, to prevent your tone from getting muddy in the series settings. Try 0.015 μF for the middle and 0.01 μF for the neck pickup.
As you can see, I chose to connect the middle pickup to the DPDT toggle switch. Because the middle pickup is involved in both dual-pickup positions, you only need one switch to give you two new tones. (This also explains why this wiring won't work for the seven-sound mod's combination of bridge + neck pickup. The middle pickup isn't active in this setting.)
On this note, we'll close out our Stratocaster mod series and shift over to Telecaster and Esquire mods next month. We'll start with a brief inspection of your guitars and look at some cool mods to enhance their primary tone. Until then, keep on modding!
[Updated 1/12/21]
- Strat Series Wiring for a New Decade - Premier Guitar ›
- Three Must-Try Guitar Wiring Mods - Premier Guitar ›
- Mod Garage: Four Ways to Configure a 4-Conductor Humbucker ... ›
Some of these are deep cuts—get ready for some instrumental bonus tracks and Van Halen III mentions—and some are among the biggest radio hits of their time. Just because their hits, though, doesn’t mean we don’t have more to add to the conversation.
Naturally, every recording Eddie Van Halen ever played on has been pored over by legions of guitar players of all styles. It might seem funny, then, to consider EVH solos that might require more attention. But your 100 Guitarists hosts have their picks of solos that they feel merit a little discussion. Some of these are deep cuts—get ready for some instrumental bonus tracks and Van Halen III mentions—and some are among the biggest radio hits of their time. Just because their hits, though, doesn’t mean we don’t have more to add to the conversation.
We can’t cover everything EVH—Jason has already tried while producing the Runnin’ With the Dweezil podcast. But we cover as much as we can in our longest episode yet. And in the second installment of our current listening segment, we’re talking about new-ish music from Oz Noy and Bill Orcutt.
A dual-channel tube preamp and overdrive pedal inspired by the Top Boost channel of vintage VOX amps.
ROY is designed to deliver sweet, ringing cleans and the "shattered" upper-mid breakup tones without sounding harsh or brittle. It is built around a 12AX7 tube that operates internally at 260VDC, providing natural tube compression and a slightly "spongy" amp-like response.
ROY features two identical channels, each with separate gain and volume controls. This design allows you to switch from clean to overdrive with the press of a footswitch while maintaining control over the volume level. It's like having two separate preamps dialed in for clean and overdrive tones.
Much like the old amplifier, ROY includes a classic dual-band tone stack. This unique EQ features interactive Treble and Bass controls that inversely affect the Mids. Both channels share the EQ section.
Another notable feature of this circuit is the Tone Cut control: a master treble roll-off after the EQ. You can shape your tone using the EQ and then adjust the Tone Cut to reduce harshness in the top end while keeping your core sound.
ROY works well with other pedals and can serve as a clean tube platform at the end of your signal chain. It’s a simple and effective way to add a vintage British voice to any amp or direct rig setup.
ROY offers external channel switching and the option to turn the pedal on/off via a 3.5mm jack. The preamp comes with a wall-mount power supply and a country-specific plug.
Street price is 299 USD. It is available at select retailers and can also be purchased directly from the Tubesteader online store at www.tubesteader.com.
The compact offspring of the Roland SDE-3000 rack unit is simple, flexible, and capable of a few cool new tricks of its own.
Tonalities bridge analog and digital characteristics. Cool polyrhythmic textures and easy-to-access, more-common echo subdivisions. Useful panning and stereo-routing options.
Interactivity among controls can yield some chaos and difficult-to-duplicate sounds.
$219
Boss SDE-3 Dual Digital Delay
boss.info
Though my affection for analog echo dwarfs my sentiments for digital delay, I don’t get doctrinaire about it. If the sound works, I’ll use it. Boss digital delays have been instructive in this way to me before: I used a Boss DD-5 in a A/B amp rig with an Echoplex for a long time, blending the slur and stretch of the reverse echo with the hazy, wobbly tape delay. It was delicious, deep, and complex. And the DD-5 still lives here just in case I get the urge to revisit that place.
Tinkering with theSDE-3 Dual Digital Delay suggested a similar, possibly enduring appeal. As an evolution of the Roland SDE-3000rack unit from the 1980s, it’s a texture machine, bubbling with subtle-to-odd triangle LFO modulations and enhanced dual-delay patterns that make tone mazes from dopey-simple melodies. And with the capacity to use it with two amps in stereo or in panning capacity, it can be much more dimensional. But while the SDE-3 will become indispensable to some for its most complex echo textures, its basic voice possesses warmth that lends personality in pedestrian applications too.
Tapping Into the Source
Some interest in the original SDE-3000 is in its association with Eddie Van Halen, who ran two of them in a wet-dry-wet configuration, using different delay rates and modulation to thicken and lend dimension to solos. But while EVH’s de facto endorsement prompted reissues of the effect as far back as the ’90s, part of the appeal was down to the 3000’s intrinsic elegance and simplicity.
In fact, the original rack unit’s features don’t differ much from what you would find on modern, inexpensive stompbox echoes. But the SDE-3000’s simplicity and reliable predictability made it conducive to fast workflow in the studio. Critically, it also avoided the lo-fi and sterility shortcomings that plagued some lesser rivals—an attribute designer Yoshi Ikegami chalks up to analog components elsewhere in the circuit and a fortuitous clock imprecision that lends organic essence to the repeats.
Evolved Echo Animal
Though the SDE-3 traces a line back to the SDE-3000 in sound and function, it is a very evolved riff on a theme. I don’t have an original SDE-3000 on hand for comparison, but it’s easy to hear how the SDE-3 bridges a gap between analog haze and more clinical, surgical digital sounds in the way that made the original famous. Thanks to the hi-cut control, the SDE-3’s voice can be shaped to enhance the angular aspect of the echoes, or blunt sharp edges. There’s also a lot of leeway to toy with varied EQ settings without sacrificing the ample definition in the repeats. That also means you can take advantage of the polyrhythmic effects that are arguably its greatest asset.
“There’s a lot of leeway to toy with varied EQ settings without sacrificing the ample definition in the repeats.”
The SDE-3’s offset control, which generates these polyrhythmic echoes, is its heart. The most practical and familiar echos, like quarter, eighth, and dotted-eighth patterns, are easy to access in the second half of the offset knobs range. In the first half of the knob’s throw, however, the offset delays often clang about at less-regular intervals, producing complex polyrhythms that are also cool multipliers of the modulation and EQ effects. For example, when emphasizing top end in repeats, using aggressive effects mixes and pitch-wobble modulation generates eerie ghost notes that swim through and around patterns, adding rhythmic interest and texture without derailing the drive behind a groove. Even at modest settings, these are great alternatives to more staid, regular subdivision patterns. Many of the coolest sounds tend toward the foggy reverb spectrum. Removing high end, piling on feedback, and adding the woozy, drunken drift from modulation creates fascinating backdrops for slow, sparse chord melodies. Faster modulations throb and swirl like old BBC Radiophonic Workshop sci-fi sound designs.
By themselves, the modulations have their own broad appeal. Chorus tones are rarely the archetypal Roland Jazz Chorus or CE type—tending to be a bit darker and mistier. But they do a nice job suggesting that texture without lapsing into caricature. There are also really cool rotary-speaker-like textures and vibrato sounds that offer alternatives to go-to industry standards.
The Verdict
The SDE-3’s many available sounds and textures would be appealing at $219—even without the stereo and panning connectivity options, a useful hold function, and expression pedal control that opens up additional options. The panning capabilities, in particular, sparked all kinds of thoughts about studio applications. Mastering the SDE-3 takes just a little study—certain polyrhythms can be dramatically reshaped by the interactivity of other controls and you need to take care to achieve identical results twice. But this is a pedal that, by virtue of its relative simplicity and richness and breadth of sounds, exceeds the utility of some similarly priced rivals, all while opening up possibilities well outside the simple echo realm
Reader: T. Moody
Hometown: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Guitar: The Green Snake
Reader T. Moody turned this Yamaha Pacifica body into a reptilian rocker.
With a few clicks on Reverb, a reptile-inspired shred machine was born.
With this guitar, I wanted to create a shadowbox-type vibe by adding something you could see inside. I have always loved the Yamaha Pacifica guitars because of the open pickup cavity and the light weight, so I purchased this body off Reverb (I think I am addicted to that website). I also wanted a color that was vivid and bold. The seller had already painted it neon yellow, so when I read in the description, “You can see this body from space,” I immediately clicked the Buy It Now button. I also purchased the neck and pickups off of Reverb.
I have always loved the reverse headstock, simply because nothing says 1987 (the best year in the history of the world) like a reverse headstock. The pickups are both Seymour Duncan—an SH-1N in the neck position and TB-4 in the bridge, both in a very cool lime green color. Right when these pickups got listed, the Buy It Now button once again lit up like the Fourth of July. I am a loyal disciple of Sperzel locking tuners and think Bob Sperzel was a pure genius, so I knew those were going on this project even before I started on it. I also knew that I wanted a Vega-Trem; those units are absolutely amazing.
When the body arrived, I thought it would be cool to do some kind of burst around the yellow so I went with a neon green. It turned out better than I imagined. Next up was the shaping and cutting of the pickguard. I had this crocodile-type, faux-leather material that I glued on the pickguard and then shaped to my liking. I wanted just a single volume control and no tone knob, because, like King Edward (Van Halen) once said, “Your volume is your tone.”
T. Moody
I then shaped and glued the faux-leather material in the cavity. The tuning knobs, volume knob, pickguard, screws, and selector switch were also painted in the lemon-lime paint scheme. I put everything together, installed the pickups, strung it up, set it up, plugged it in, and I was blown away. I think this is the best-playing and -sounding guitar I have ever tried.
The only thing missing was the center piece and strap. The latter was easy because DiMarzio makes their ClipLock in neon green. The center piece was more difficult because originally, I was thinking that some kind of gator-style decoration would be cool. In the end, I went with a green snake, because crocodiles ain’t too flexible—and they’re way too big to fit in a pickup cavity!
The Green Snake’s back is just as striking as the front.