
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 ... ›
Oni’s guitar duo cover 16 strings between them with a pair of Neural Quad Cortexes and some choice patches.
Jared Dines had been writing for Canadian metalcore outfit Oni—fronted by Jake Oni—for a few years before Jake invited Dines to join him onstage. Dines had just two days to learn the entire set before rehearsals began. But Eric Palmer can one-up him. He was teching for the band when Jake conscripted him—with just one day to pick up the set before a performance. Palmer rose to the occasion, and he and Dines have formed Oni’s two-guitar tornado for the past year.
Ahead of their gig at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl in December, Dines and Palmer walked PG’s Chris Kies through their spartan, one-guitar rigs—no backups, no mercy.
Brought to you by D’Addario.8 is Great
Eric Palmer is used to playing 7-string axes, so this limited-run 8-string Jackson Concept Series MDK8 HT8 MS Modern Dinky didn’t take long to get used to. The Korea-made flamethrower has a basswood body, a 3-piece maple/wenge/mapleneck, and a compound radius ebony fretboard (12" to 16"). It also boasts a dual scale length—25.5" to 27.5"—and is loaded with Fishman Fluence Modern pickups, which feature two voicings selected by a push-pull switch. Palmer had this one upgraded to a 5-way switch to access split-coil sounds, and he got rid of the tone knob. “All gas, no brakes,” as PG’s Perry Bean would say.
Petrucci Power
Jared Dines also needed an 8-string for Oni, so Ernie Ball sent him this Music Man Majesty 8, a John Petrucci signature model. It’s got Fishman’s Powerbridge piezo system, which sees action on the song “Control.” Dines attached his own string clamp behind the nut to halt noise.
Double Quads
Dines and Palmer both rely on Neural DSP Quad Cortexes on this Oni tour. Their units are mounted on Temple Audio pedalboards, and both guitarists use the Architecture: Gojira X patch for their heavy sounds, and a Roland Jazz Chorus sound for cleans. Both Dines and Palmer employ a MIDI switching system that they pulled from Aaron Marshall’s Rig Rundown, and run their signals from direct to front of house.
In our second installment with Santa Cruz Guitar Company founder Richard Hoover, the master luthier takes PG's John Bohlinger through the detailed (and scientific) process of analyzing, shifting and "tuning" the guitar's top before repeating the process when the back and sides are joined, and once again when introducing the neck to the instrument build while focusing on keeping everything harmoniously synergized and "tuned."
Axis, Cutlass, Sting Rays, oh my! There were all those and more new stylings at the Sterling by Music Man & Ernie Ball both this year as we got a tour of all their affordable options that are out or will be coming out in 2025. We saw new stylings on signature sweets for James Valentine, Steve Lukather, Ryan "Fluff" Bruce, Pete Wentz, Tosin Abasi, Jason Richardson and more!
Sterling By Music Man StingRay Plus Electric Guitar - Black
The StingRay Plus takes the classic StingRay guitar to new heights with a roasted maple neck, versatile P90 pickups, and a built-in volume boost. A matching headstock and sleek block inlays complete the polished, old-school look. Experience the next level of tone and performance with the StingRay Plus.
The PRS Standard is one of the two models that started PRS Guitars back in 1985. It has been out of the line up for more than ten years and coming back for the 40th Anniversary.
PRS Standard 24 Satin Electric Guitar - Satin Red Apple Metallic
The PRS Standard 24 features many classic PRS specifications, including a 25” scale length, Pattern Thin neck with a 24-fret, 10” radius rosewood fretboard, PRS Patented Tremolo, and PRS Phase III tuners with unplated brass shafts. Under the hood, the PRS Standard 24 is outfitted with the all-new PRS DMO treble and bass pickups with volume and tone controls and a 5-way blade switch. PRS DMO (Dynamic, Musical, Open) pickups have a “wide open” sound with vocal character, meaning they deliver clear, pleasant-sounding tones across a wide range of frequencies (bass to treble) in each pickup. DMO pickups were personally designed by Paul Reed Smith and the PRS New Products Engineering team. From our own hands-on research into coveted vintage pickup models to advancements in signal analyzation and “tuning” technology, these pickups incorporate every detail of pickup knowledge PRS has gained in recent years of R&D.