Stratocasters are great guitars. Legendary. But they have one fatal flaw - they have no tone control on the bright, trebly bridge pickup. This was done on purpose by Leo Fender to reflect the musical styles of the time, but since then, music has changed and most players want to be able to roll off tone on the bridge pickup. The easiest way to accomplish this is to move the tone control from the middle pickup, where it's not needed as much, to the bridge pickup. I've done this recently to my Mexican Standard Stratocaster and it's worked wonders. This modification will work with any S/S/S (three single-coil) Stratocaster style guitar with two tone controls, including Squier brand Stratocasters. However, this won't work with American Stratocasters equipped with S-Switches, and the new American Special series guitars are already wired this way. Also, I don't guarantee this will work with Strat copies, as they might have different wiring, but you can try it and see.
Moving the control is easy, just follow these steps:
Tools required: Philips-head screwdriver, soldering iron, solder, solder wick and/or solder sucker (optional), wire cutters with wire stripper or separate wire cutters and wire stripper, needle nose pliers (optional), new strings (optional).
1. Remove the strings. If you really don't want to, loosen them up as much as you can without the ends coming out of the tuners. This is what I did, and although it adds some complication and frustration to the process, it can be done. The best thing to do is to plan this modification for when you normally change strings, so you can tackle both at the same time.
2. Remove the pickguard assembly. You'll need to remove the outside screws to accomplish this. Most Strats have 11-screw pickguards, but special editions (especially re-issues) and copies may be different. Make sure you don't unscrew the screws that hold down the pickups - these stay on. If you removed the strings, the assembly should lift right out. If not, you'll have to carefully work it out from under the strings. If you don't have enough room to lift it out, sorry, you'll have to remove the strings anyway.
3. Turn the pickguard assembly over and locate the switch. This link explains the anatomy of a Strat switch in detail if you want to learn more, but basically, there are four connectors on each side on a Fender switch (copies may vary). On one side, the output wires from the pickups are connected. On the other, the wires going to the volume and tone controls are connected. Study this switch for a few moments and take note of where the wires go. On the pickup side, you'll notice that all three pickups have their own connector. On the control side, you'll notice that the volume control is on its own connector. This is the master connector, meaning that this connector controls all positions on the pickup side. This is why the volume control affects all three pickups. The other two wires from the tone controls are soldered to two of the remaining three connectors. These three connectors control the corresponding connectors on the pickup side. In the case of a standard Strat wiring pattern, the tone controls are soldered to the connectors that control the middle and neck pickups. If you don't have a Fender switch or if yours looks different from what I explained, you can either click the link above to learn more, or just follow all the wires and figure out how it's wired. It's not that tough. Some switches have connectors all in a row, in two sets of four. The set that's wired to the pickups is the pickup side, and the set that's wired to the controls is the control side.
4. Locate the wire that leads from the bottom tone control to the switch. This is the tone control for the middle pickup. Take note of where it connects on the switch, because this is the one you're going to remove, and take note of the empty connector, as this is where you'll connect the wire.
5. Remove that wire from the switch. You can do this two ways. If you have a good enough iron, you can use a solder wick and/or a solder sucker to remove the solder and pull out the wire. The wire gets hot, so you can use needle nose pliers to pull it out if you can't take the pain. Otherwise, take your wire cutters and cut the wire as close to the connector as you can, but make sure you have enough wire left over to reach the other connector (this is what I had to do). If you don't have enough wire, you'll have to either try harder to remove it, or you can put on a new wire, which is beyond the scope of this how-to.
6. Connect the wire to the connector that was empty when you started the project. This is the connector that controls the bridge pickup. If you removed the wire without cutting it, you should have plenty of exposed wire. If not, strip off the rubber insulation about a half inch down and twist the exposed wire to eliminate fraying. Bend the exposed wire into a small hook and attach it to the empty connector, then crimp it together so there's a strong physical connection. You can crimp it with your fingers or needle nose pliers.
7. Solder the wire to the connector. There are plenty of soldering tutorials on YouTube if you want to do more research, but basically, you touch the iron to the connector until it gets hot enough, then you touch the solder to the connector where the wire is attached (while still holding the iron to the connector) and the solder should melt (flow) onto the connector. Remove the solder and the iron and hold the wire until the solder hardens.
8. Replace the pickguard assembly. Make sure the wires from the pickups go into the wire channel so they don't get pinched under the pickups. If you elected to leave the strings on like I did, this is going to be a tedious pain in the butt, but it can be done. When it's in and laying flat, replace the screws.
9. Restring and/or tune up the guitar.
10. Plug it in and cross your fingers. Put the selector on the bridge pickup and manipulate the bottom tone control. If the tone changes (becomes bassier), congratulations! You've rewired your Strat to have tone control on the bridge pickup. If not, you'll have to remove the assembly again and see what went wrong. Most likely you didn't put enough solder on the connector and the wire came off.
This simple modification makes a world of difference. Strat players primarily use the in-between positions on the switch (2 and 4) that activate both the middle pickup and either the bridge or neck pickup. With the new wiring setup, you'll still have tone control on those positions. The only position that will sound different is the middle-only position, as that pickup now has no tone control and will sound brighter. However, few players ever use that position, and from my experience, even when I did, I usually had the tone full-on anyway. What you lose with the inability to modulate the middle-only position, you gain back tenfold with the ability to roll off tone on the bridge pickup, as it gives you a multitude of tones you never had before. It's especially good for soloing with mid- to high-gain distortion, especially with a metal setting. Try it, you won't regret it.
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