Conference napalm::guitar

	Why? aren't the pickup's to far away from each other to cancel
any hum? A single pole double throw switch with one side to the pickup and
the other to the volume pot will give you the capabilities of selecting the
combinations of your other two pickups mixed with the second or middle pick-
up. If hum is a problem maybe an extra dummy coil could be added if anyone
can come up with the inductance of a single coil strat pickup.

						Hope this helps

							Rick
 

	I've got a book that goes has a lot on wiring strats.  I'll 
	take a look tonight to see if it covers this.  I seem to
	remember something about wiring them in humbucking mode.

	I put Bill Lawrence pickups on my strat (Ibanez).  They are
	actually humbucking pickups.  They have the same footprint
	as the single coil pickup because the two coils are stacked
	one atop the other.  I've found this to give it a very clean
	sound but still produces the single coil sound.

	-gary


	

    You can do this by wiring in a switch to put these 2 pickups in
    series. You may also want to be able to reverse the phase on one
    of them for another sound. I did this once and it was cute but it
    doesn't sound like a normal humbucking.

                                    -Dennis

    I have a '73 Strat that exhibited horrible buzz whenever we played
    at one particular club in Southbridge, Mass.  I put a single Bill
    Lawrence stacked humbucker...looks like a single coil...in the neck
    position one Friday before we played and the improvement was so
    amazing I replaced the other two pickups Saturday morning.  Absolutely
    no hum!
    
    To be perfectly honest, the guitar lost a little of that characteristic
    Fender 'bite' with the humbuckers, but the slight change in tone
    was worth the playability.  Incidentally, I have a 5-position switch
    installed, so I can get those out-of-phase sounds using positions
    2 and 4.
    
    Try it...you'll like it!
    
    Regards,
    Johnny Jupiter
    
    

    You can try what .3 recommended; it will give you a thicker sound
    similar to a humbucker, but there's *NO* way to wire the treble and
    the midrange pickup on a strat to *act* like a true humbucker....
    you'd have to have them both in the same flux field and one coil
    would have to be negative to cancel the hum. A stacked pickup is
    your best bet if hum is a prob.    
    
    Personally, I like the DiMarzio HS-3 for a cleaner stacked pickup
    and the Seymour Duncan Dual Blade for a really hot `humbucker-that's-
    single-coil-sized'.
    
    -WJB

    I'm not really concerned about hum per se. I just would like to
    have that fat humbucking sound if I want it (mind you, I don't
    always want it!).

	I have a technical and experiance question concerning two different
guitars. For those of you who have played or owned both a Gibson Les Paul and
a Fender Strat is it possible to get the fat gibson sound out of a strat? Is
it equally possible to get a strat sound out of a les paul? I realize that
usually Gibson players don't play fender and visaversa,but I would like to
hear opinions of how someone has made there instrument versatile for both 
sounds. I have also heard that part of the sound of a Les Paul is created
from the interaction or resonances of the maple top of a Les Paul and it's
mahogony body. If you put Les Paul electronics in a Fender Strat could you 
get the "fat" sound,with alot of sustain or would it have a sound similiar 
to a telecaster with humbuckers? 


						Lets hear it!

    The construction of the guitar and the wood play a very important
    part in the sound of the instrument.
    
    You can, however, put a humbucking pu in a strat and get a very
    gibson sound. Usually a bit more of the highs will show through
    than on a Paul. One can also put a strat style pu on a gibson and
    get very close to the fender sound. You will have to do some cutting
    to the wood on the strat to get a humbucking pu in there but it
    wont hurt anything and you can always go back later. Buy a pickguard
    that is set for a humbucker and put it on the strat. Don't tear
    up your original pickup assy. Very easy to put a strat pu on a gibson.
    Same hole widths but different screw size. 6-32 for the strat and
    2-56 for the paul.
    
    Dennis

    Also, `severe' (?) EQing with a graphic or a parametric will make
    a strat sound like a les paul and vice versa.
    
    wjb

    re: .7
    
    To make a strat (or any other guitar for that matter) sound like a 
    Les Paul, run it through a Scholz Rockman.
    
    	db

    RE: .10
    
    Not to be touchy but that won't work at all. A strat still sounds
    like a strat no matter what you put it through.
    
    Dennis

    re: .11
    
>    Not to be touchy but that won't work at all. A strat still sounds
>    like a strat no matter what you put it through.

    Even if I run it through a Pitch-rider MIDI interface?  Of course
    not.

    I don't mean to sound like a know-it-all but I get the impression that 
    you may not have used a Rockman.  They are extraordinarily good
    at their intended purpose: making anything sound like a Les
    Paul/Marshall combination.
    
    	db

    re: -1
    Sorry but I disagree...I own one and rock modules, they do not make
    my strat sound like a les paul, or my lead one, or my whashburn
    or my tele.....each guitar sounds like itself running through something
    that boston would use
    
    dave

	I've been meaning to try a Rockman,but I wish there was a simpler way 
of getting this effect without a lot of signal processing gear which just adds
noise.	And my neighbor's wouldn't be to happy with a stack of Marshalls. 
Maybe it's worth getting a imitation strat and retrofit it with Dimarzio and/or
Lawerence pickups. Has anyone done this and been satified with the results? 

    RE: .12
    
    I have owned a Rockman for a long time. I got one of the original
    nine of them from Wurlitzers and also have an X-100. I think I know
    what a Rockman sounds like. It is not a convert_everything_to_les_paul
    box.
    
    RE: .13
    
    Exactly.
    
    RE: .14
    
    I put a DiMarzio PAF in a strat and used it for a long time. I also
    used a DiMarzio Super Distortion for quite awhile. I was very pleased
    with these set-ups, though I did eventually go back to a more strat
    style pickup assembly (EMG). If a humbucking PU is what you want
    go ahead and put one in. You can always take it out later.
    
    Dennis

    I think this underlines the need for more than one guitar......no
    one guitar will do everything. I love my strat for it's biting sounds,
    it plays blues like nobodies business, but it doesn't rock out all
    that well.....for that I own my lead 1......(it's a fender, looks
    and feels like a strat but came with one humbucking pickup, I added
    a semour duncan hot stack by the neck, if any guitar I own comes
    close to "one guitar for all sounds" this is it, the humbucker split
    coils ie: allows you to get a single coil sound although it's very
    hot. These are discontinued...don't know how many were made or how
    difficult they will be to find but its a good inexpensive guitar) 
    For metal sounds I use my washburn, for blues and softer stuff I
    have my tele custom......and of course then I also have some acoustics
    for the real layed back stuff.....
    
    dave who_wants_only_ten_to_fifty_more_guitars_:-) 

    Are you telling me that you could pass a blindfold test where I
    run a strat and several different guitars through a Rockman set on 
    the "Heavy Boston" mode (the highest level of distortion) and always 
    pick out the strat?
    
    If so, I'd be impressed.  I know I couldn't.
    
    	db

    Yes I believe I could, it's no problem as the strat has so much
    more high end and is so much thinner sounding...just like a strat. 
    
    I was talking to SR&D the other day complaining that my replacement
    rockmodule has signmificantly less gain in the pre compressor stage
    than the original and they said, oh they weren't designed to run with
    strats, just like the rockman they were designed for humbucking
    pickups......but send it in anyway and we'll check it out......
    
    dave 
    
    

    Re: .17 and .18
    
    The keyboard player in my band plugged his DX-9 into my Rockman
    on the heaviest distortion mode and I couldn't tell the difference
    between the keys playing one chord and my Les Paul playing one chord.
    Everything that goes through the Rockman in that mode is remarkably
    similar.
    
    However, there is a *slight* difference when I use my Ibanez Roadstar
    (a strat-style guitar) - a little thinner sounding.
    

    I guess I should add that my comments are based mainly on the heavy
    distortion mode.  In the cleaner modes the differences between guitars
    (and keyboards) do come through as they would on any amp.
    
    In heavy distortion mode though, everything sounds the same to my
    ears.  The point is that is NOT generally true for amps.
    Even with both preamps cranked up high on my Boogie, although I may not be
    able to correctly IDENTIFY what kind of guitar it is, I can definitely
    hear the differences between guitars (although the amp itself only has
    a few distinctive lead sounds with any one input).
    
    	db

    Yes there is a real neat way to rewire the strat pickups in humbucking
    mode. The way its done is to remove one of the tone controls which
    you never use anyway and replace it with a two position rotary switch
    which will enable you to switch from parallel to series (humbucking)
    anytime you are using more than one pickup. 
    
    I hve the schematic for this modification which I got from Dan
    Armstrong; who designed the "Orange Squeezer", "Purple Peeker" etc.
    
    My name is Tom McNall and my DTN is 252-7001, call now for your
    free copy!!!
      
    

    RE: .21 
    
    Question: 
     	Is this the same as a phase switch?  I have an Ibanez RS135
    with a phase switch which seems to (on certain switches) beef up
    the sound, thickness wise.  It sounds as if it takes the bass poles
    on the pickup(s) and uses them instead of the treble poles.  For
    example, if I have the main switch on the 3rd position I get a thin,
    Jaguar sound, but when I flip the phase toggle, I get a warmer,
    *very* Knopfler-y tone. I would imagine this isn't the same thing,
    but for the sake of my sanity, could someone explain what the bloody
    hell a phase does?  Thank you very much.
    
    			regards
    

    
    
    I am not sure if this is the right topic to help with this problem
    but it is Strat related so here goes.
    
    I just took delivery (thanks to Santa) of a circa 77 Strat. It is
    sunburst with a black scratch plate and black pickups all maple
    neck (If thats what the blonde single colour necks are made of?)
    and the truss rod sticks out of the headstock about an inch in a
    bullet shape. It also has what I assume is the original termolo
    (whammy?) arm fitted.
    
    1 Has any body come across this age of Strat before and what are
    your views?
    
    2 Are the Black pickups the originals?
    
    3 I never had a guitar with a Whammy before, and on this one severe
    use causes it to lose tune slightly. Is this because of the design
    of the Bar or the way it is set up. I don't use it a great deal
    so I would not be prepared to change it for one of the other ones
    I would probably disconnect it. I seem to remember something about
    Graphite marking (with a pencil) the runners to stop the strings 
    sticking. Has anybody tried this and how do I do it on this model?
                                       
    4 How do the tone control work on a STRAT. On mine they only seem
    to affect the neck and middle pickup is this Normal?
    
    Sorry if this is a lot of questions but it's better asking you guys
    who are impartial then the guy who sold it me.
    
    Thanks    in advance.
    
    				Paul.

    Re: Da Whammi.
    Of course it's gonna go out of tune; you're stretching the strings.
    Once the the strings are stretched sufficiently, it shouldn't go
    out, so when you put new strings on, you beat the hell out of them,
    so they don't stretch anymore. 
    
    Hope this will help.
    			regards
    

    Re .23:
    First, the whammy. Yes, to a certain degree, the guitar will not
    hold tune until the strings are fully stretched, but there are other
    characteristics of the old Fender vibrato's worth mentioning. Often
    the strings will catch in the nut slot when returning to pitch...
    graphite lubrication applied to the nut slots helps alleviate the
    problem to a certain degree. There are also a few tricks that can
    be done with the springs to help retain pitch (I forget details
    but a guitar tech might be able to help).                 
    
    RE tone controls. You're right, there are only two tone controls
    on a strat, for the neck and middle pickups respectively. There
    is no tone control for the treble (bridge) pikup, however, there
    are several ways to rewire a strat if that's the route you want
    to take.                                                       
    
    -wjb

    Re: .21
    	I had a local guitar technician install a two-posn rotary switch
    in place of the middle pickup tone control. The volume control is
    now a master volume, the first tone control is a master tone, and
    the second tone control is now a rotary switch (with the original
    tone knob on it).
    	If the rotary switch is in "posn 1", the five-way toggle switch
    will select the usual combination of pickups. If the rotary switch
    is in "posn 2" the five-way toggle switch selects the pickups as
    follows:
    	posn 1) lead (bridge) pickup only
    	     2) neck and middle pickups in series
    	     3) neck and lead pickups in series
    	     4) all three pickups in series
    	     5) lead and middle pickups in series
    
    With the pickups in series they are wired like a humbucker (but
    the coils are farther apart) and they do produce a "fatter" sound.
    The guy who installed the rotary switch said it is used in the Fender
    Lead series guitars, but ask around.
    	I also installed EMG's new hi-Z signature pickups in all three
    positions (no preamp or battery needed)
    	I really like my setup because:
    	     1) the EMG pickups are virtually noise free and still have
                that cutting strat sound      
    	     2) it does not change the looks of the guitar - I could
                restore it to stock if I wanted to, and most impt,
    	     3) the extra pickup combinations give me more fat sounds
                for lead work, and I still have the original strat sounds 
    
    -bs
    

    
    re: .26
    	
    	I meant to say EMG's SELECT pickups, not EMG's signature pickups.
    
    -bs

    
    Yeah, I remember that wiring design...Fender offered such in its
    the Strat model guitar.
    
    hows it sound clean n dirty?

    I thought the EMG selects were LOW impedance.  Anyone want to take
    a stab at why you would want one and not the other?
    
    /rick

    
    Re .29
    
    EMG SELECTS are definately hi-z. See notes 31.28 - 31.30 for more
    info.
    
    As far as I know, this is how the hi-z/lo-z thing works. Lo-z pickups
    deliver a very clean (no hum) low amplitude signal. Lo-z signals
    can travel over a very long lo-z cable with little signal loss because
    the "hot" and ground wires are balanced electrically and both are
    shielded (like a lo-z mike cable). If you had a guitar equipped
    with lo-z pickups, lo-z output jack, a lo-z cable (mike cable),
    and your guitar amp had lo-z inputs, you would be laughing. Les
    Paul experimented with this and I think this configuration used
    to be used on the "Les Paul Recording Model" guitar. Very quiet
    I would think.
    
    However, most guitars are equipped with hi-z output jacks, most
    guitar amps are designed to accept hi-z signals and have hi-z inputs,
    and your standard guitar cable is hi-z (unbalanced).
    
    Hi-z pickups generate a larger amplitude signal (usually more noise
    if single coil) but as the hi-z cable gets longer, more signal is
    lost. Lo-z pickups with preamp (and battery) also ultimately generate
    a large amplitude signal (with less noise if a single coil) but
    again some of the signal is lost because most guitar/amp setups
    use hi-z cables.
    
    I was mainly concerned with hum when the pickups were full throttle,
    and I did not want to install lo-z pickups with preamp etc. Seymour
    Duncans were too expensive. the EMG SELECTS were the cheapest and
    quietest hi-z pickups I could find.
    
    -bs
    
    
    

    last months git-R player had an update on that rotary switch
    thing.I don't own a guitar at present but have toyed with the 
    idea of wiring a bass like that;just to be obnoxious.I did see a
    sammy strat that some yo-yo in the local store dropped and split
    the body at the control cavity,and they want 79 clams for it,
    the crack's not all the way thru and I'm just crazy enough to go
    for it,so I hope y'all wish me luck!
    
    Bill K---bass player,psychotic-still wanting a git!
    

     I'm having some prob's with a strat that i'm putting together.It is
    correctly wired (by Fender specs) and still continues to have an
    obnoxious hum.I'm sure it's ground related but cannot figure it
    out.When plugged in it buzz's, when i touch any metal part of it, it
    snaps and quites down a little.Any help greatly appreciated.
    
    -kev

    Sounds like the bridge ground wire is not completing the path to the
    ground on the outside case of one of the potentiometers. There's a hole
    drilled at an angle from the control cavity to the bridge cavity. Look
    in here, and GENTLY tug on the wire that runs through the hole to the
    bridge (if there is one present). If either there is no wire, or the
    wire pulls out from one end or the other, you've discovered your
    problem. Solder either (or both, if the wire was missing) end to the
    location it once was soldered, and you're done.
    
    Also, there's a chance that some other part of the ground path is
    incomplete; trace all wires and shields leading to or from the
    potentiometer cases, and maybe you'll see a poor solder joint or some
    other problem.
    
    Regards,
    Bill Message

    Thanks Bill.I wish you were right on this one,but as i said, it is
    defenitly wired to specs.I've checked all the wireing throughout,and it
    seems fine.I'm just about to re-wire the whole thing.It's driving me
    nuts!!
    Is it posible for a pot to have a bad ground internally?? And speaking
    of pots,my vol. pot says 500k on it. Some one told me that all Fender
    pots are 250.Any takers??
    
    -kev

    I know nothing about Fender pots, and very little about most E-guitar 
    electronics. 
    
    My Yamaha SE700HE has 2 humbucking pickups with a coil tap.
    In single coil mode there is a reasonable amount of hum. Especially
    if I'm near a TV or flourescent/neon light. Humbucking mode is very
    clean. If I touch the strings or bridge, the hum subsides somewhat. 
    My body must provide some extra grounding. It has been like this since 
    day one, so I doubt that anything is wrong.
    
    Depending on the severity of the hum, I'd say it's the nature of the
    (single coil) beast. I haven't played many real Strats, but the ones
    I did play all hummmmmed.
    
    Larry

    Thanks for the input Larry. I t always did hum a little (very
    little),but now it's Buzz's like a freakin' chain-saw.I just don't
    know.
    
    -kev (who is tearing his hair out over this)

    Awwww,Whadda ya Worryin About,-kev.
    That Buzz will sound good on those 3_Chord OffSpring songs yer Doing.
    
    
    
       Crazy_Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz_Al

    Thhanks for reminding me Al.But on a brighter note,my singer quit the
    band last nite and i won't have to play those anoying 3 chord Offsping
    tunes no more....now to find another singer,with no 'tude!
    
    -kev

    
    Kev,
    
    Sounds to me like you have a ground loop. Ground loops are badly
    named... what it really means is that you have two (or more) grounds,
    and there is some DC offset voltage between them.
    
    The solution to the problem is to resolder all the grounds,
    preferably to one point. If you're relying on the sheilding
    as a ground (in other words, to connect two ground contacts)
    don't...
    
    -b

    Thanks -b, i'll take another look and see what i can do with it.Ground
    loop 'eh? Hmmmmm...i'll defenitly check for it.
    
    -kev

    If you haven't fixed your hum prob, call Fender.  They have a 1-800
    number and will put an engineer on the phone to talk to you.  I got
    great help wiring Lace sensors into my Telle and they sent me the 
    schematics for all the variations of wiring.(U.S.,Mexican, and Japan)
    and three and five pos sellect switches.  I got the number out of this
    notes file somewhere.
    
    Mark 

    WOW! Thanks Mark. I think i copied that number down somewhere a while
    back. That's a good idea. I'm going to see a buddy of mine with a
    multi-meter (and a brain) toniteto see if we can find the problem. If
    not...."Hello? is this FENDER?"
    
    -kev