Volume & Tone controls

[horsehead]

I don't know exactly where to put this but....as some of you know I'm building a bitsa strat & I'm making a H/S/S. I've just read the RS Guitarworks review in the Tech section (damn you GAS!) & I was wondering what's the best configuration for this type of guitar? I'm planning on going for the Emerald set with MM, but I was wondering if it might be best to have 1 overall tone control & 1 volume for the humbucker & 1 for the single coils, or would this be detrimental to the sound?

[Twinfan]

I would go for the old 60s Strat setup:

Master volume
Tone for middle MM
Tone for neck MM

I rarely use a tone control on a bridge humbucker.

[badgermark]

When i had my hss strat (holydiver and slowhand) I wired it up with two volumes, a 500k for the humbucker and a 250k for the neck single (middle was wired without a tone or volume). Best of both worlds really, the tone of both really shone through. You can easily do it with 3 volumes, just send the hot output of the pickup to the pot, then lug 2 of the pot to where the pickup usually goes on the switch. Seemed simple for me to work out, not sure how a tone control would fit into this wiring scheme though.

[AndyR]

Not that I have much HSS experience, I think I'd lean towards Twinfan's suggestion of no tone on the humbucker. The only difference would be that I'm used to rewiring SSS strats to "master vol, master tone, dummy" - so I'd try to achieve the following:

Master volume
Tone for middle and neck
Dummy

Might be a little more complicated to wire up tho? If I couldn't figure it out I'd go for Twinfan's - at least you're guaranteed to find a wiring diagram for it somewhere!

I do like the idea of the "right" sort of volume pot for the singles or humbucker like badgermark's suggesting though. Trouble with this is, I am so used to a single master volume on a strat-type instrument - you might be too? For example, I still can't get used to my Explorer's controls (vol, vol, master tone, in a line). I have no problem with the standard 4 knobs on a Les Paul or SG, but for some reason my brain goes into "I'm playing a strat" when I play the Explorer, and I get very confused with the knobs... (and it doesn't help where the switch is either!!)

[Zaned]

Check this out: http://www.kinman.com/html/toneWorkshop/perfectGuitar.htm#SSH

Mainly the part about the dual-ganged volume pot. 250k part for the single coil, 500k for the humbucker. Seems like the ideal solution to me, if you want to have a master volume.

Zaned

[badgermark]

Didn't think about that Andy- but then again i rarely use the controls on my guitar, only really to quieten things down during a lull in a rehearsal. Means i tend not to get too confused, my hands seem to find the controls easily, going from a single volume esquire like to a les paul requires no thought. Maybe because they are so different in my eyes. Ah well.

I'm doing the standard 60s wiring with my strat project, maybe even doing a Gilmour bridge on switch.