A few years ago I made my wife a quilted maple P-Bass. I was very happy with how it turned out and decided I wanted to build a matching strat for myself.... The only issue is that I'm not much of a Strat guy. I bought a body, a neck, some hardware, but never settled in on pickups. Finally I decided to use TV Jones Supertrons in it. Today I broke out the router and altered the pickup routes from Strat style to Standare Filtertron "no-ears" routs.

Now I have to decide on the layout of the controls. I'm leaning towards the standard 5 way blade switch, Master volume, Neck tone, Middle tone, with the output jack on the side of the body. Opinions??

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Thanks,
Greg

Cool project! Are you doing 3 'Trons in there? Was thinking of a similar idea a while back (Tele based) and thought it might be cool to go a bit outside the box and psuedo Gretchify things in the control dept. Never liked the look of blade switches (in spite of my adoration of Teles/Strats) so thought it would be nifty to do 3 volume knobs, all push/pull or better yet "S1" style to do individual pickup selections. Toss in a mud switch and series/parallel or maybe phase. Complex and probably cumbersome, but unique.

Cheers,
CV

Yes, 3 Supertrons. I ordered two neck pickups and one bridge, but TV wound one of the neck pickups a little weaker to make a 3 pickup calibrated set.

I want the switching to be simple to operate, which is why I was thinking blade switch. Rotary is another option, but it's not as simple to use in my opinion.

Greg

Are the pickups splittable?

I think they come standard with 2 conductor wire which would not be splittable.
I personally don't care fore split humbuckers, so I won't go that route.

HEAVY CONCEPT, Les! I likes it.

I'd imagine the 5-way blade would be the most intuitive way to go for your setup. If you were going to split all three p'ups, you might as well have routed for 6 single-coils, but then you'd need a custom switch arrangement for all of 'em and that would just look ridiculous. G'won an' finish her up like yer already thinking.

Cheers
-OpenMike

I think the way way you described your first idea would be pretty neat. I'm not a fan of the blade switches myself, but that is how strats are. You really don't have too many options for 5-way switching after all. But you could fill in the trem hole and put a bigsby B5 and a Compton on there...

Do the bathtub route so you can swap to different pups later.

Cool idea! GFS has some different Strat PGs with different control options. Like no blade, but miniswitches instead for on/off/out-of-phase. Or you could always do the blade and add a pull tone knob to add the neck pup to any config.

I think the way way you described your first idea would be pretty neat. I'm not a fan of the blade switches myself, but that is how strats are. You really don't have too many options for 5-way switching after all. But you could fill in the trem hole and put a bigsby B5 and a Compton on there...

That could be cool! If I do that I'll start with one that doesn't already have the trem hole routed in it.

Do the bathtub route so you can swap to different pups later.

Cool idea! GFS has some different Strat PGs with different control options. Like no blade, but miniswitches instead for on/off/out-of-phase. Or you could always do the blade and add a pull tone knob to add the neck pup to any config.

I like the push pull to get the "all on" configuration.

I could do something like a standard Gretsch style 3 way toggle for the neck and bridge pickup and then use a 2 way toggle to add the middle when desired.

Big Burly- I believe, from the way he routed and the pretty quilted maple top, that he is going to use the gretsch pickup surrounds instead of a pickguard. The control cavity is also routed from the back.

Hey Les, is this thing going to be orange? I plan to do a strat with a bigsby at some point, just haven't gotten the time yet.

Big Burly- I believe, from the way he routed and the pretty quilted maple top, that he is going to use the gretsch pickup surrounds instead of a pickguard. The control cavity is also routed from the back.

Hey Les, is this thing going to be orange? I plan to do a strat with a bigsby at some point, just haven't gotten the time yet.


The plan right now is for it to be an antique natural top with a slightly darker back. The hardware and pickups are all gold. I've got a neck w/ rosewood finger board and a big fat profile.

Yes I'm planning to use Gretsch surrounds and no pick guard.

That could be cool! If I do that I'll start with one that doesn't already have the trem hole routed in it.


You'll probably want a body without the forearm contour, too. I don't think a B5 will fit properly otherwise.

Love those Super'Trons, btw. Good choice.

You'll probably want a body without the forearm contour, too. I don't think a B5 will fit properly otherwise.

Love those Super'Trons, btw. Good choice.

That's a good point Mugsy, thanks!!

I thought the supertrons would be cool for a couple of reasons. They are supposed to have a slightly fatter sound that I thought would work well with a strat, and not having pole pieces will make allignment easier (I hope) :)

You'll probably want a body without the forearm contour, too. I don't think a B5 will fit properly otherwise.

Love those Super'Trons, btw. Good choice.

Yeah, I tried one on a strat body with the contour. It would work but it's not ideal. The bigsby rested right on the edge of the contour.

That's a sweet looking project. I've a Strat I haven't yet decided what I want to do with. I also have an el cheapo project guitar (SX SJM-62) that I am currently modding and it's getting Super'trons. I'm actually really really hoping the pickups will be here today!

Gretsch surrounds, with no PG, would look killer.

You could even rig up a half-Strat PG for the lower bout, if you so desired.

I can't wait to see the finished product!

I'm with you Big Burly! Cant wait for end product. Looking great so far.

That's gonna be cool!

I wanted to build a matching strat for myself.... The only issue is that I'm not much of a Strat guy. I bought a body, a neck, some hardware, but never settled in on pickups. Finally I decided to use TV Jones Supertrons in it. Today I broke out the router and altered the pickup routes from Strat style to Standare Filtertron "no-ears" routs.

Now I have to decide on the layout of the controls. I'm leaning towards the standard 5 way blade switch, Master volume, Neck tone, Middle tone, with the output jack on the side of the body. Opinions??


Thanks,
Greg

G,
Since you said simple layout, I'll share what I like in this situation.

3 way switch (Switchcraft of course) for neck -middle -bridge
1 Master Volume (cts 500K w/ .001 orange drop cap & 150K resistor in para.)
1 Master Tone (cts 500K w/ push-pull on bridge for tele sounds and w/ Jupiter tone cap .02)
1 Blend knob w/ center detent (this is for the middle pickup to be mixed in
w/ the neck or the bridge giving you varying degrees of the standard middle position on a gretsch guitar)

This set up is very straight forward playing live, you know what pickup is on all the time, and if you want that jangle gretsch middle position you know that blend knob is either off or on and the center detent give you a tactile
anchor point without looking.

Should you want to garner that groovy tele clang, the push pull lets you
turn on the bridge pickup when you are in the neck position. Again very intuitive playing live because that knob is stickin up a 1/4 inch off the pkguard.

You always know exactly whats happening! :)

ps.
I'm finishing a La Cabronita Tele with a supertron that has the split coil and
the 3 way switch to go from front of coil, to both, to back of coil.
I have no need of a tone knob so for knobs I have a Vol pot and a blend pot.
The blend pot brings in the hidden neck pkup routed from the back of the body. a Tvjones P90! :)

G,
Since you said simple layout, I'll share what I like in this situation.

3 way switch (Switchcraft of course) for neck -middle -bridge
1 Master Volume (cts 500K w/ .001 orange drop cap & 150K resistor in para.)
1 Master Tone (cts 500K w/ push-pull on bridge for tele sounds and w/ Jupiter tone cap .02)
1 Blend knob w/ center detent (this is for the middle pickup to be mixed in
w/ the neck or the bridge giving you varying degrees of the standard middle position on a gretsch guitar)

This set up is very straight forward playing live, you know what pickup is on all the time, and if you want that jangle gretsch middle position you know that blend knob is either off or on and the center detent give you a tactile
anchor point without looking.

Should you want to garner that groovy tele clang, the push pull lets you
turn on the bridge pickup when you are in the neck position. Again very intuitive playing live because that knob is stickin up a 1/4 inch off the pkguard.

You always know exactly whats happening! :)

ps.
I'm finishing a La Cabronita Tele with a supertron that has the split coil and
the 3 way switch to go from front of coil, to both, to back of coil.
I have no need of a tone knob so for knobs I have a Vol pot and a blend pot.
The blend pot brings in the hidden neck pkup routed from the back of the body. a Tvjones P90! :)

I think I followed most of your post.

Is the 3 way switch you are referring to a "tele" style 3 way blade, or a Les Paul Style 3 way toggle that controls two pickups.

Greg

Yes, 3 Supertrons. I ordered two neck pickups and one bridge, but TV wound one of the neck pickups a little weaker to make a 3 pickup calibrated set.

I want the switching to be simple to operate, which is why I was thinking blade switch. Rotary is another option, but it's not as simple to use in my opinion.

Greg

I thought the same thing when i saw the stump-o-matic Vette.
Totally feel the switch blade is the way to go with 3 pups.

I think I followed most of your post.

Is the 3 way switch you are referring to a "tele" style 3 way blade, or a Les Paul Style 3 way toggle that controls two pickups.

Greg

In your build I think you'd want the Tele 3 way, it could be done with
a switch craft 3 way selector switch kind of how the mud switch is set
up on the gretsch to select 2 different caps or nothing (middle pos)

Looks like it's going to be an awesome Strat build. FWIW, I second the idea of a master tone knob. I had a partscaster "Surfin'stein" Strat built by my luthier and since I had chosen two Seymour Duncan Jazzmaster pickups and a Hot Jaguar pickup, there wasn't room for a second tone knob due to the Jazzmaster bridge pickup. Of course, if you have room for a second tone knob, go for it! Looking forward to watching this thread for updates on your Strat build!

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