Well, this “old” video is still giving the gift of knowledge 😊. Just finished soldering my very first pickup upgrade, and this was by far the best tutorial that I’ve seen (and I watched a lot)! Thanks!!
Just finished fixing my old 1969 Ibanez Silver Series Stratocaster copy (Ibanez were sued for copying the Fender) and I used this video to rewire the entire process. It was so clear and helpful as I had know Idea how to setup the pickups and 5 way switch and tone controls. It works perfectly and I am thankful for your detailed training.
That's a man who knows what he's doing. I've wired Strats before, but this weekend I spent two days trying to wire all the stuff on a pickguard and it just didn't happen, ran into all sorts of problems, but I guess that's just life, will try again with a fresh head. Very good video, thanks. I need to work on my patience, and also my rational thinking.
I have been on UA-cam for 30 minutes looking for a cure for my dilemma: Where to ground from the bridge... And 4 seconds in, you showed me the answer - thanks! I swear, though, that I'll watch the entire video.
Thank you ! clear...precise....good camera views....no annoying music. .. snapping an alligator clip on the lead between where you were soldering and the capacitor will absorb a lot of the excess heat in the lead and would probably keep the wax cap from melting...
Finally someone who appreciates good soldering and neat orderly wiring. I practice on my Strat while I watch your video. Then I take it apart and start all over again. Well sort of.
@@SixStringSupplies I haven't watched the other, but I feel that this one is just fine. Especially for people who have watched a bit of your stuff before.
Having found this site and into my fourth guitar build during lock down I have just purchased a strat wiring kit from you guys based on if you guys have helped me then I will support you guys when I can cheers and stay safe
I realize this an old video but always good for a refresher. Nowadays zip ties are popular and I use them to fasten wires together. I also use an alligator clip between the solder points and the cap to keep from damaging the cap. I just rewired a Strat to use the rear tone pot with the bridge input. It requires a second cap, so each tone pot has its own cap and neither is connected to the other. Requires a jumper on the switch. But it’s a simple mod, with a good wiring diagram. And it works!
impeccable! I have watched a lot of these and your result hit home with me best somehow. Going to try this for the first time this weekend! upgrading my high school strat for the first time. Thank You!
Hiyas, thanks so much for this video tutorial. Have searched a few vids but none are so clear and descriptive. Loved every moment watching. Demystified the entire process for me. Take care.
Thank you, this is my first time soldering and just completed many upgrades on my Squier Bullet. With a cheap soldiering kit and your video, it was a success. This Squier has upgrades beyond a MIM FENDER. Thanks again.
This is fantastic, a friend gave me an old beaten up strat of unknown make but its MIJ so probably decent, and I've ordered all new scratchplate and electronics, and as soon as they arrive I'll be following this to a tee! Very much thank you dude.
Thank you! I've successfully changed faulty pots and replaced the entire wiring on my strat and I know nothing about electronics or wiring. Great tutorial!
Thank you for a very intelligently done wiring tutorial. I have watched many and yours is one of the best. Please continue to provide these kinds of information and helpful videos.
I will also add another thank you for you mate. Thank You! ill be installing fender hardware and tech on a cheap Burswood guitar. Just a project of mine.
Loved it! Got an MIJ strat I'm working on, and had acquired a loaded pickguard with some crazy stuff on it. This vid will get me plugged in and jammin soon, thanks!
Awesome ... Thank you so much!!! I'm planning on building a Strat from scratch (body, neck and all) but have no idea on electrical! Now I understand it so much better! Thanks!!!
Thank U SO much for taking the time to explain clearly and also the visual diagrams u put up helped tremendously!! Rock on my friend!! ✌✌🤘🤘🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶
Super informative video, and the color scheme on that strat is awesome, makes me want to sand down my strat and throw on a nice soft shade like that, maybe the mint green. Thanks again bruv
Great soldering! Those ground wires for the pickups need to be longer though. Some strats are routed with precision where the wiring runs through. Can cause issues when putting the guard back down in other strats.
Thanks for a great video. I had cheap Squire that sounded like crap, had dead spots in the volume and tone knobs. I just rewired it with a bunch of help from your video. I had a question I hope someone could answer, more for curiosity sake. When I did the "screw driver test" from the video if the pickup selector was in a position activating 2 pickups one was significantly quieter than the other. I don't think I would ever notice playing the guitar. Thanks again for the video and to anyone who could shed a little light on this anomaly.
Very good but there are many more possibilities the standard wiring gives only a small part of the available tones on the Strat. I love the blender wiring so you can get neck and bridge together, or all 3 on at once.
For the lefties out there, if you use regular pots you wire them the same way as shown here but once installed the pots will turn the opposite way as a right handed guitar. I am used to it that way. If you want them to turn like a right handed guitar, use a reverse logarithmic pot (sometimes referred to as left handed but basically its reverse log) and swap the outer lug wires on each pot.
I see you've grounded all three pots together, but where are they grounded to? Wouldn't I then need to connect that double bus to either the trem ground or the input jack ring?
I followed this and all the pickups work but the neck and bridge pick ups seem to be duller or quieter than the middle pickup. Any suggestions as to why this could be?
Anyone ~ a noob question, but just so I know. The wire that is covered by the cream cloth and the wire that is covered in the black cloth are exactly the same -- correct? The wire is just color coded so you can keep track of what color you're using for what. Referring to the black as "ground wire" does not mean that there is a special/different wire used for grounding ~ is that right? Thank you. MAGNIFICENT video James. Thank YOU!
I hope you are still there... ☺ If it happens that I have just 1 tone pot, could I connect the lug 5 and/or 6 to middle tone pot and keep the capacitor on the last tone pot lug still grounded?
Matches Malone thanks!! It depends on what solder I'm using. If it's tin/lead, then around the 328-335 degrees. If silver solder/lead free then approx 355
Hi there followed youre vid on copper shilding I even got a shield plate for over pick gaurd thanks for tips. I bought a pre loaded second hand srv pick gaurd normal Texas specials not custom shop and it doesn't match the diagram on volume pot it has one live (white)going to jack out put and one ground with clip to screw to body which is correct but there should be another ground on volume pot to go to jack but instead there is two grounds (black)on the bridge tone pot can I just use one of these to my jack and one to the tremlo claw first time doing this so sorry if it seems like a stupid question when I test for conductivity on pickups to tone/volume pots it all linked I don't have a solder sucker this is why I wanted to use original ground wires thanks for helping us noobs along with tech vids.
So you don’t use a tone control on the bridge? I didn’t see you attach anything to the 7th pole on the 5 way switch. Just researching and trying to learn as I got parts coming this week for a project
If you don't test it with the trem claw ground will the screwdriver test still work? I wired my stuff and it isn't working. My solder joint on the back of the volume pot is a horrible mess; could that cause it not to ground properly? Thanks in advance and great video!
someone may have already added this to the comments. If you use an alligator clip between the space of the pot lug and the wax capacitor the alligator clip absorbs the heat from the soldering iron saving you the trouble of the capacitor from melting or damaging in the process.
Hi yes the alligator clip is known as a heat sink which takes the heat before it reaches the cap. It’s a fairly common trick to stop burning the caps and evidently should’ve been used in this case with a wax capacitor!!
Hi , thank you so much for the video , is the best around youtube! But you have not showed how you wired the 3 pots volume - tone - tone pots and you did foget the treble bleeding? thanks again and cheers from Italy
Great Job My Friend and a Very Neat job, I must say. But I have a question, if you would be so kind to give me an answer. I see you have a ground connecting all 3 pots. I have seen wiring directions where this factor doesn't apply. Why did you put the ground connecting all three pots?
Well, this “old” video is still giving the gift of knowledge 😊. Just finished soldering my very first pickup upgrade, and this was by far the best tutorial that I’ve seen (and I watched a lot)! Thanks!!
Just finished fixing my old 1969 Ibanez Silver Series Stratocaster copy (Ibanez were sued for copying the Fender) and I used this video to rewire the entire process. It was so clear and helpful as I had know Idea how to setup the pickups and 5 way switch and tone controls. It works perfectly and I am thankful for your detailed training.
Thanks for the great feedback and glad you used it to fix up your guitar. Cheers
That's a man who knows what he's doing. I've wired Strats before, but this weekend I spent two days trying to wire all the stuff on a pickguard and it just didn't happen, ran into all sorts of problems, but I guess that's just life, will try again with a fresh head. Very good video, thanks. I need to work on my patience, and also my rational thinking.
I have been on UA-cam for 30 minutes looking for a cure for my dilemma: Where to ground from the bridge... And 4 seconds in, you showed me the answer - thanks! I swear, though, that I'll watch the entire video.
This was amazing.... one of the best videos ive seen on youtube so far
thank you sir!
Thank you ! clear...precise....good camera views....no annoying music. .. snapping an alligator clip on the lead between where you were soldering and the capacitor will absorb a lot of the excess heat in the lead and would probably keep the wax cap from melting...
Finally someone who appreciates good soldering and neat orderly wiring. I practice on my Strat while I watch your video. Then I take it apart and start all over again. Well sort of.
Leonard Vaivada thanks sir! This was the first video I did so the more recent one might be better suited....
@@SixStringSupplies
I haven't watched the other, but I feel that this one is just fine. Especially for people who have watched a bit of your stuff before.
Even if the soldering were to be on the sloppy side, it’s still good.
Having found this site and into my fourth guitar build during lock down I have just purchased a strat wiring kit from you guys based on if you guys have helped me then I will support you guys when I can cheers and stay safe
Truly appreciated Mal. Glad the videos/website have been of help to you during lockdown. You too, stay safe!
I realize this an old video but always good for a refresher. Nowadays zip ties are popular and I use them to fasten wires together. I also use an alligator clip between the solder points and the cap to keep from damaging the cap. I just rewired a Strat to use the rear tone pot with the bridge input. It requires a second cap, so each tone pot has its own cap and neither is connected to the other. Requires a jumper on the switch. But it’s a simple mod, with a good wiring diagram. And it works!
you're a regular surgeon. very helpful. thanks from Florida
Excellent video! Should be required reading for all Strat owners! Thanks.
impeccable! I have watched a lot of these and your result hit home with me best somehow. Going to try this for the first time this weekend! upgrading my high school strat for the first time. Thank You!
Hiyas, thanks so much for this video tutorial. Have searched a few vids but none are so clear and descriptive. Loved every moment watching. Demystified the entire process for me. Take care.
Thanks. Yeah it would work. Easy to do or take out if you decide you don’t like it. Cheers
Thank you, this is my first time soldering and just completed many upgrades on my Squier Bullet. With a cheap soldiering kit and your video, it was a success. This Squier has upgrades beyond a MIM FENDER. Thanks again.
This is fantastic, a friend gave me an old beaten up strat of unknown make but its MIJ so probably decent, and I've ordered all new scratchplate and electronics, and as soon as they arrive I'll be following this to a tee! Very much thank you dude.
Helped me change everything in a Squier SE and i never soldered before. Thanks!
I was going to pay someone to do this, but you tutorial is so detailed that it has enhanced me to do it my self!
Thank you! I've successfully changed faulty pots and replaced the entire wiring on my strat and I know nothing about electronics or wiring. Great tutorial!
Thank you for a very intelligently done wiring tutorial. I have watched many and yours is one of the best. Please continue to provide these kinds of information and helpful videos.
Daniel T Peace of course! Recording more over the coming days/weeks. Thank you
An exreamly clear and easy to follow video. Better than soooo many others! thanks
Fantastic video!! I completely rewired a strat today from EMG to stock and this was perfect.Thank you so much!!
Great step by step tutorial with nice diagrams and good cu camera work! 📷
Thanks for your efforts 👌
Im going to be re installing parts like this on my strat next week and this video is going to really help me .thanks
Bloody well done lad. Absolutely perfect training video. Already soldering up me first one. My own mind you. Thank you.
thank you sir!
the cleanest wiring i have seen !! props to you Excellent
thanks sir
Just wondering why there were 55 people disliking this awesome video.
I will also add another thank you for you mate. Thank You! ill be installing fender hardware and tech on a cheap Burswood guitar. Just a project of mine.
Loved it! Got an MIJ strat I'm working on, and had acquired a loaded pickguard with some crazy stuff on it. This vid will get me plugged in and jammin soon, thanks!
This video helped me wire my first guitar! Thank you!
Glad you found it helpful sir!
thanks, I'm starting this project tomorrow, this was extremely helpful. Appreciate your diagrams for clarity.👍❤😁
Brilliant tutorial, couldn't have done it without this!
thanks man glad it helped you out
Great video thanks for sharing this! Shed a bit of light on a few doubts I had. I appreciate the effort. Thanks!
Master class in soldering well done great informative video thank you 👍👍
Thanx ..Wish I had seen your vid first, because other vids omitted the shrink wrap, and that's critical ..
Thank you for putting these awesome videos out and explaining everything so well.
Very helpful video. Appreciate the walk through on ground to tremolo for us DIY newbs.
This will be my next project! Very clear and very informative!! Thanks!!
No worries sir glad you enjoyed it
Awesome ... Thank you so much!!! I'm planning on building a Strat from scratch (body, neck and all) but have no idea on electrical! Now I understand it so much better! Thanks!!!
Thank you, excellent tutorial. You have given me the confidence to do this myself.
Very Helpful In depth tutorial Thank you ! All the Best from ITALY
Alan Wingate many thanks. Love Italy.
Thanks for doing this. I just used your video to rewire and fit new pickups to my Squier Strat. Cheers bro..
Excellent video so helpful for guitar wiring
Thanks to you for this video. Very helpful. I'm just wondering to what happened to the red capacitor.
Great video , learned a couple tricks. Thank you
Very good It helpful , Thank you very much. I loved the diagram. Thank you sir.
Thank U SO much for taking the time to explain clearly and also the visual diagrams u put up helped tremendously!! Rock on my friend!! ✌✌🤘🤘🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶
thanks easier than reading 1000s of photos on google
Super informative video, and the color scheme on that strat is awesome, makes me want to sand down my strat and throw on a nice soft shade like that, maybe the mint green. Thanks again bruv
Thank you young man. I'll be mimicking shortly.
Hi, Six, good job!
Thanks so much...!
What a superb video. I’d love you to do one but with a push pull neck pickup blender!!
You can use the iron to shrink the tubing as well.
Thanks a lot, you help us in big. Very organized method and great learning experience. Fonsito
from Panama 🇵🇦👊🏻
Great soldering!
Those ground wires for the pickups need to be longer though. Some strats are routed with precision where the wiring runs through. Can cause issues when putting the guard back down in other strats.
yeah should have extended them in hindsight!
Really great stuff - informative and inspiring. Thank you for taking your time doing videos lika this!
HEAY I found your channel and it is SO HELPFUL!!!!
This was so helpful, thank you for this
Thanks for a great video. I had cheap Squire that sounded like crap, had dead spots in the volume and tone knobs. I just rewired it with a bunch of help from your video. I had a question I hope someone could answer, more for curiosity sake. When I did the "screw driver test" from the video if the pickup selector was in a position activating 2 pickups one was significantly quieter than the other. I don't think I would ever notice playing the guitar. Thanks again for the video and to anyone who could shed a little light on this anomaly.
Thank for great tuto . what are your trebble bleed capacitor and Resistance values please. Thks
hi, 0.001k cap with 130-150k resistor. cheers.
Perfect tutorial, exactly what I needed!
Nice work. Had to laugh at 26:49, ouch, i smell burnt chicken. I do that at least 3 time when soldering. Great clean work!
thanks man. Yeah I'm burning myself less and less but it still happens occasionally...
Very helpful, thank you. I'll be needing this
Great job! Thanks!
This is the best video!
Great stuff,do you know you can shrink heat shrink with the ‘barrel’ of the soldering iron.
Very good but there are many more possibilities the standard wiring gives only a small part of the available tones on the Strat. I love the blender wiring so you can get neck and bridge together, or all 3 on at once.
Gary Owens thanks - yes indeed - we do a Strat blender harness and it's probably our most popular setup. Will do a video on it shortly!
I will look out for it thanks I have these SD pickups too.
For the lefties out there, if you use regular pots you wire them the same way as shown here but once installed the pots will turn the opposite way as a right handed guitar. I am used to it that way. If you want them to turn like a right handed guitar, use a reverse logarithmic pot (sometimes referred to as left handed but basically its reverse log) and swap the outer lug wires on each pot.
I see you've grounded all three pots together, but where are they grounded to? Wouldn't I then need to connect that double bus to either the trem ground or the input jack ring?
Bloody perfect mate. Thanks.
Good video but where does the treble bleed go?
Go go you go🎸
I followed this and all the pickups work but the neck and bridge pick ups seem to be duller or quieter than the middle pickup. Any suggestions as to why this could be?
Obrigado, Brasil !🙋♂️
Thank you, England :)
Excellent Vid, just what the doctor ordered.
Cheers Mate
Lovely video this. Thanks for posting.
amazing video! Thanks man, I appreciate it!
Thank you so much man. It means a lot to us. Btw did you not do treble bleed ?
Anyone ~ a noob question, but just so I know. The wire that is covered by the cream cloth and the wire that is covered in the black cloth are exactly the same -- correct? The wire is just color coded so you can keep track of what color you're using for what. Referring to the black as "ground wire" does not mean that there is a special/different wire used for grounding ~ is that right? Thank you. MAGNIFICENT video James. Thank YOU!
Thank you so much! Very Helpful 😊
I hope you are still there... ☺
If it happens that I have just 1 tone pot, could I connect the lug 5 and/or 6 to middle tone pot and keep the capacitor on the last tone pot lug still grounded?
very good video my friend
Nice work.
Best soldering tutorials on YT, keep going mate! What soldering iron temperature are you using? Cheers
Matches Malone thanks!! It depends on what solder I'm using. If it's tin/lead, then around the 328-335 degrees. If silver solder/lead free then approx 355
Well done!
Hi there followed youre vid on copper shilding I even got a shield plate for over pick gaurd thanks for tips. I bought a pre loaded second hand srv pick gaurd normal Texas specials not custom shop and it doesn't match the diagram on volume pot it has one live (white)going to jack out put and one ground with clip to screw to body which is correct but there should be another ground on volume pot to go to jack but instead there is two grounds (black)on the bridge tone pot can I just use one of these to my jack and one to the tremlo claw first time doing this so sorry if it seems like a stupid question when I test for conductivity on pickups to tone/volume pots it all linked I don't have a solder sucker this is why I wanted to use original ground wires thanks for helping us noobs along with tech vids.
thanks man. big help.
Thank you
Thx a ton! Good work!!
Excellent video .. thanks for that
So you don’t use a tone control on the bridge? I didn’t see you attach anything to the 7th pole on the 5 way switch.
Just researching and trying to learn as I got parts coming this week for a project
If you don't test it with the trem claw ground will the screwdriver test still work? I wired my stuff and it isn't working. My solder joint on the back of the volume pot is a horrible mess; could that cause it not to ground properly?
Thanks in advance and great video!
Formidable !!
Hey, great vid!, what kind of cable u r using for welding the pots to the input jack? rgds,
Tinned copper wire 👍
This its the same with a humbuker on the bridge?
someone may have already added this to the comments. If you use an alligator clip between the space of the pot lug and the wax capacitor the alligator clip absorbs the heat from the soldering iron saving you the trouble of the capacitor from melting or damaging in the process.
Hi yes the alligator clip is known as a heat sink which takes the heat before it reaches the cap. It’s a fairly common trick to stop burning the caps and evidently should’ve been used in this case with a wax capacitor!!
Hi , thank you so much for the video , is the best around youtube! But you have not showed how you wired the 3 pots volume - tone - tone pots and you did foget the treble bleeding?
thanks again and cheers from Italy
Great Job My Friend and a Very Neat job, I must say. But I have a question, if you would be so kind to give me an answer. I see you have a ground connecting all 3 pots. I have seen wiring directions where this factor doesn't apply. Why did you put the ground connecting all three pots?
Just to reinforce the ground, as some aluminium foil stuck on pick guards is r reliable and can tear away. Cheers
33:25 A Collector of Fine Kettles I See!
So I'm curious since capacitors have polarity does it matter which way a capacitor goes in?