After looking around at almost every video on how to replace a 5position switch, this was the ONLY comprehensible one...thank you, my English friends, for a concise and perfectly delivered demonstration that didn't leave me wanting to hurl my tablet across the room! From Brad Smith, an old blues guy in New Orleans.
So grateful to you for this, and glad that it is no background music. I watch these kind of videos practicing guitar trying to learn a bit about soldering and usually they have background music. This is fantastic in every way
for others doing this - you will get a MUCH BETTER result by heating the wire or terminal (both actually at the same time) and letting the solder flow ONTO that - ideally you don't want the solder actually ON the iron tip ... though unavoidable most of the time
That is the correct way to solder. The solder should flow towards the heat. But I think Kevin is using tinned wires and a slightly over tinned iron to anchor the wire before completing the solder job which makes it a bit easier. A one or two second touch with the iron and the job is done. This is a neat and professional job. There are some other "instructional" vids which are only good for a laugh. Especially the ones where a "puddle" of solder is used for earthing the pickup wires. God, what a mess!!
Why do you solder the jack socket at this stage? The wires need feeding through the body first. You also don't appear to sell the vintage CTS pots and the CRL switch as seperate items. Great demo, though.
Many thanks for the tutorial. Worked perfect for me even with yer big noggin in the way at times! Thanks for the taking the time to show how it's done.
Hello im completely new to fitting all parts to a pickguard i.e pick ups pots and selector switch My question is .can it be easy.if i took a photo of the back of my pickguard took note of where each wire goes then just copy that across on to the new pots and pick ups and switch?
One of the best videos on this topic( if not the best) but..... it needs to be re-done:- 1. so that we don't get close ups of the expert's hair when we want to see what he is doing with the soldering of the wires. 2. Don't go at expert's pace....go at amateur's pace....slow down. 3. Can we have a better explanation of which wires go to which lugs on the switch and pots and why they go to one lug and not the other. I have yet to hear anyone explain this.
Yes, in most cases. But this works better than adding spade connectors to the jack socket as these don't tend to fit very well. Plus you'll need a soldering iron to attach your pickup wires anyway. We are hoping to introduce a "solderless" range of kits soon, which would eliminate any soldering at all.
Thanks for the time and effort you put into this video! I have a MIM Strat with MN serial number which makes it a 1995. It has a very load HUM! I could not find a loaded pick guard to fit so reloading old one. I have 3 used working Fender American Standard pickups. I have done wiring and soldering in the past. I installed new 250 CTS pots, switch, push back wire, jack, .047UF Orange Capacitor and new (good)solder connections. Used copper tape to ground the inside of the body cavity and the underside of the pick guard. All put together and I have the same loud hum I had before? Got any ideas? Please help me. Curious as to why Ron Cox video shows different capacitor connection?
Hi I have a question. I am about to change pick-ups on my Strat but the wires are not the same at all so I am a bit confused can I send you a Pic of the pick-ups?
The other one, the 70th classic has no tone control on the bridge pick up ( single coil) is it OK to make a wire jumper from neck to bridge or center to the neck at the toggle switch?
Thank you for the help @Northwest Guitars UK. I have seen some people run a ground across all three pots and a lot of videos do not do that , do you/anyone know if that is an important step or does it effect anything? grounding all three pots together ?
It affects the grounding of the pots in question. As the pickguard in this video is shielded the pots already make ground contact, so no need for additional ground wires.
Hello and greetings from Canada! I'm in the process of building a Strat for myself and I have purchased pickups from Iron Gear in UK to give me the Mark Knopfler tone. I'm wondering if his guitar was just the standard wiring from the Fender factory or if it was modified in some way to give him that iconic tone?
Hey there, believe Mark had standard Fender wiring on his Strats with a treble bleed circuit. A lot of his tone comes from the fact he plays finger style!
@@northwestguitarsUK Thank you, I appreciate that. I also appreciate your video and I hope to do the soldering this weekend. I may have to buy a stronger soldering iron.
Hi Bob, 500K pots would probably be a bit bright on a single coil Strat. If your guitar has single coils then you'll want to go for 250k pots and a 0.022uf cap. If your guitar has humbuckers then you'd typically go for 500k pots (which are much brighter) and a 0.047uf cap You'll want to choose only audio taper pots for both volume and tone. These give a much more gradual progression from 0-10, whereas linear pots are pretty much all or nothing. For more info on pots have a look at this video: czcams.com/video/RdfIZEB2rdM/video.html Caps - The higher the value the more of the highs and mid you'l lose as you roll down the tone control. A 0.022 or 0.033 is more than adequate for a single coil setup. for a humbucker setup you'll want to go for a 0.047uf cap I hope that helps but let me know if you need any further info. Kind regards Sam
I have checked in your website and got quite interessed in This for a squier standard . Do you think these pick ups and electronics are better than the ones that come stock?
Hi Rafael. Yes, definitely. Tonerider pickups are far better than their price would lead you to believe. They'll be a massive improvement over your stock Squier pickups.
I have 70th classic strat ( new) and it makes a hum or noise when jacked in and amp is on. touching the strings or the trem it goes away, is that shielding or earthing? I have nothing like it on all other guitars I have? Has anyone an idea, what a fix could be or is that part of old shool sounds?
Typically, that is because you do not have proper grounding. There needs to be ground to the bridge and the body cavity should be shielded and grounded as well, if there is not, the guitar will hum until you touch the strings, then you are the ground. Grounding the body cavity can be done with copper tape or with shielding paint. Most newer strats have shielding paint in the body cavity but it may not be visible because of the guitar body's paint. Shielding paint is usually black, and can look sort of rough because it has metal in it.
I need help please. I have problem with static on my scratch plate, and when I change from one pickup to another, there is a noise that comes thru as though one was touching the end of the jack plug that is plugged into an amplifier. It is very loud. I have to turn the volume switch before moving from on pickup to the next. Can you help? Any advice. Have checked all the earth connections and the live side of things.
@@danieltrickey9285 Hi, I thank you for the reply. I did find that it was as easy as hooking up the bridge pickup to a tab on the switch. Now all pups have tone control. I guess it was the original diagram and hookup for a strat that I was using.
The bridge pickup usually has a different colored output wire; did you intentionally swap the middle and neck pickups? Very tidy job regardless a true technician!! Cheers!
Hum is a natural side of single coils. With a good shielding you can minimize hum (the part that comes from EMI) but a litlt hum always say there. The only solution is to use pickus like Lace Sensors, Fender Noiseless or actives. Hope that helps. Cheers!
Why is yours different from this guy's: czcams.com/video/RhxffnUaohI/video.html who also claims his to be "standard" wiring for a strat? Is one of these wrong?
Hi. Technically, there is nothing different in the wiring that these 2 videos are demonstrating. In our video we are using higher quality cloth covered wire as opposed to the plastic covered wire used in the other video. We are also using Alnico V pickups and a larger capacitor. I hope that helps, but if there is anything else I can do for you please let me know.
The reason you have to have your iron so high is because you are doing it incorrectly. You are supposed to hold the tip to the spot you want to solder then bring the solder to the iron after heating the spot and let it melt on.
you are lacking details, what size pots, what size capacitor, we cant see where you are putting the wires, you should explain , left side , right side, middle etc.
Pot sizes and caps can vary. Depends on what sound you're looking for. Typically you'd go for 250k pots and 0.022uf cap if you have a Strap with single coils.
Currently working on my first guitar project and I’ve bought a loaded pick guard similar to this, however the selector switch has the little soldering points in different places (as if it’s on its side, to give a general idea) I’m having a hard time knowing where each wire should go as I haven’t seen any videos at all using this kind of selector switch. Is there any way to universally determine which point should be connected where?
After looking around at almost every video on how to replace a 5position switch, this was the ONLY comprehensible one...thank you, my English friends, for a concise and perfectly delivered demonstration that didn't leave me wanting to hurl my tablet across the room! From Brad Smith, an old blues guy in New Orleans.
I have been rewiring all my old broken guitars and used this video every time!!! it explains it all easily
So grateful to you for this, and glad that it is no background music. I watch these kind of videos practicing guitar trying to learn a bit about soldering and usually they have background music. This is fantastic in every way
for others doing this - you will get a MUCH BETTER result by heating the wire or terminal (both actually at the same time) and letting the solder flow ONTO that - ideally you don't want the solder actually ON the iron tip ... though unavoidable most of the time
That is the correct way to solder. The solder should flow towards the heat. But I think Kevin is using tinned wires and a slightly over tinned iron to anchor the wire before completing the solder job which makes it a bit easier.
A one or two second touch with the iron and the job is done.
This is a neat and professional job. There are some other "instructional" vids which are only good for a laugh. Especially the ones where a "puddle" of solder is used for earthing the pickup wires. God, what a mess!!
You made that so simple to follow and easy to understand. Thank you
Why do you solder the jack socket at this stage?
The wires need feeding through the body first.
You also don't appear to sell the vintage CTS pots and the CRL switch as seperate items.
Great demo, though.
Great, I've definitely learnt something from this video. Now I need to find out how to repair bodywork damage to my Lipstick Red USA Strat.
I heard that it makes a big difference soldering 1 capacitor pr tone pot. so in total 2 capacitors.
Great tutorial. Followed this step by step. Straight forward and simple. Thanks.
Great job. Subbed
Great video thanks very much followed step by step, no problems and my guitar sounds great
Many thanks for the tutorial. Worked perfect for me even with yer big noggin in the way at times! Thanks for the taking the time to show how it's done.
This helped me out greatly. Thank you very much
Hmm, I need to brush up on my soldering skills cos you done that so quick!
Thank you Stephen. Yes, we've built a lot of these over the years!
The push back wire certainly helps also!
Good job, very complimentary work!!
Great stuff.Thank you
Hi. Great Video. What about twisting wires from pickups to the control switch to cancel Hum?
Hello im completely new to fitting all parts to a pickguard i.e pick ups pots and selector switch
My question is .can it be easy.if i took a photo of the back of my pickguard took note of where each wire goes then just copy that across on to the new pots and pick ups and switch?
Thank you for the help!
Nice & tidy. Awesome video
Thanks so much
One of the best videos on this topic( if not the best) but.....
it needs to be re-done:-
1. so that we don't get close ups of the expert's hair when we want to see what he is doing with the soldering of the wires.
2. Don't go at expert's pace....go at amateur's pace....slow down.
3. Can we have a better explanation of which wires go to which lugs on the switch and pots and why they go to one lug and not the other. I have yet to hear anyone explain this.
Jayx3 I second everything Jayx3 said.
THANK YOU! Yeesh!!! Why does literally NO ONE explain this? It defeats the entire purpose of watching such a video.
Might try and check out Roy Cox. I feel he's good at explaining stuff like this:
czcams.com/video/2EzJI7Bj8qU/video.html
Great video!
Thank you for great video - what type of soldering iron?
Very good video thanks! As long as you are connecting to the proper lug, can you connect to either side of the 5 way switch?
Won't you have to unsolder the input jack to get the wires through the body?
Yes, in most cases. But this works better than adding spade connectors to the jack socket as these don't tend to fit very well. Plus you'll need a soldering iron to attach your pickup wires anyway. We are hoping to introduce a "solderless" range of kits soon, which would eliminate any soldering at all.
@@northwestguitarsUK Solderless, huh? Now _that_ would be interesting.
Thanks for the time and effort you put into this video! I have a MIM Strat with MN serial number which makes it a 1995. It has a very load HUM! I could not find a loaded pick guard to fit so reloading old one. I have 3 used working Fender American Standard pickups. I have done wiring and soldering in the past. I installed new 250 CTS pots, switch, push back wire, jack, .047UF Orange Capacitor and new (good)solder connections. Used copper tape to ground the inside of the body cavity and the underside of the pick guard. All put together and I have the same loud hum I had before? Got any ideas? Please help me.
Curious as to why Ron Cox video shows different capacitor connection?
Hi I have a question. I am about to change pick-ups on my Strat but the wires are not the same at all so I am a bit confused can I send you a Pic of the pick-ups?
The other one, the 70th classic has no tone control on the bridge pick up ( single coil) is it OK to make a wire jumper from neck to bridge or center to the neck at the toggle switch?
Thank you for the help @Northwest Guitars UK. I have seen some people run a ground across all three pots and a lot of videos do not do that , do you/anyone know if that is an important step or does it effect anything? grounding all three pots together ?
It affects the grounding of the pots in question. As the pickguard in this video is shielded the pots already make ground contact, so no need for additional ground wires.
Does it matter which tone pot the cap goes on?
No, since usually (or in the most known wirirings) both pots are connected each other.
Say 'ahhhhh'
Hello and greetings from Canada! I'm in the process of building a Strat for myself and I have purchased pickups from Iron Gear in UK to give me the Mark Knopfler tone. I'm wondering if his guitar was just the standard wiring from the Fender factory or if it was modified in some way to give him that iconic tone?
Hey there, believe Mark had standard Fender wiring on his Strats with a treble bleed circuit. A lot of his tone comes from the fact he plays finger style!
@@northwestguitarsUK Thank you, I appreciate that. I also appreciate your video and I hope to do the soldering this weekend. I may have to buy a stronger soldering iron.
Can I ask what difference 500k pots would make in a strat type guitar, if any? Thanks for a great video
Hi Bob,
500K pots would probably be a bit bright on a single coil Strat.
If your guitar has single coils then you'll want to go for 250k pots and a 0.022uf cap.
If your guitar has humbuckers then you'd typically go for 500k pots (which are much brighter) and a 0.047uf cap
You'll want to choose only audio taper pots for both volume and tone. These give a much more gradual progression from 0-10, whereas linear pots are pretty much all or nothing.
For more info on pots have a look at this video: czcams.com/video/RdfIZEB2rdM/video.html
Caps - The higher the value the more of the highs and mid you'l lose as you roll down the tone control. A 0.022 or 0.033 is more than adequate for a single coil setup. for a humbucker setup you'll want to go for a 0.047uf cap
I hope that helps but let me know if you need any further info.
Kind regards
Sam
what caps. do you use .047 or .022 or even .015 lol it's crazy
I have checked in your website and got quite interessed in This for a squier standard . Do you think these pick ups and electronics are better than the ones that come stock?
Hi Rafael. Yes, definitely. Tonerider pickups are far better than their price would lead you to believe. They'll be a massive improvement over your stock Squier pickups.
Im no expert, but i don't see the grounds for the pots? : )
This isn't entirely necessary as the scratch plate is fully shielded.
I have 70th classic strat ( new) and it makes a hum or noise when jacked in and amp is on. touching the strings or the trem it goes away, is that shielding or earthing? I have nothing like it on all other guitars I have? Has anyone an idea, what a fix could be or is that part of old shool sounds?
Typically, that is because you do not have proper grounding. There needs to be ground to the bridge and the body cavity should be shielded and grounded as well, if there is not, the guitar will hum until you touch the strings, then you are the ground. Grounding the body cavity can be done with copper tape or with shielding paint. Most newer strats have shielding paint in the body cavity but it may not be visible because of the guitar body's paint. Shielding paint is usually black, and can look sort of rough because it has metal in it.
I need help please. I have problem with static on my scratch plate, and when I change from one pickup to another, there is a noise that comes thru as though one was touching the end of the jack plug that is plugged into an amplifier. It is very loud. I have to turn the volume switch before moving from on pickup to the next. Can you help? Any advice. Have checked all the earth connections and the live side of things.
Hi James. Sounds like it could possibly be a switch issue if you notice the crackling when switching between pickups?
hi, I want onekligen volyme tog eath pick upp on mycket stratocaster, NO toneknob control.... crazy?
Finally.
Is it common for there to be no tone control for the bridge pickup?
Yes. But there are vids on how to include it.
@@danieltrickey9285 Hi, I thank you for the reply. I did find that it was as easy as hooking up the bridge pickup to a tab on the switch. Now all pups have tone control. I guess it was the original diagram and hookup for a strat that I was using.
The bridge pickup usually has a different colored output wire; did you intentionally swap the middle and neck pickups? Very tidy job regardless a true technician!! Cheers!
1cleandude the middle is counter wired. The center always has the yellow or odd color wire.
How to remove hum
Hum is a natural side of single coils. With a good shielding you can minimize hum (the part that comes from EMI) but a litlt hum always say there. The only solution is to use pickus like Lace Sensors, Fender Noiseless or actives. Hope that helps. Cheers!
Why is yours different from this guy's: czcams.com/video/RhxffnUaohI/video.html who also claims his to be "standard" wiring for a strat? Is one of these wrong?
Hi. Technically, there is nothing different in the wiring that these 2 videos are demonstrating. In our video we are using higher quality cloth covered wire as opposed to the plastic covered wire used in the other video. We are also using Alnico V pickups and a larger capacitor. I hope that helps, but if there is anything else I can do for you please let me know.
aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm
Your head is in the way.
The reason you have to have your iron so high is because you are doing it incorrectly. You are supposed to hold the tip to the spot you want to solder then bring the solder to the iron after heating the spot and let it melt on.
I was taught the same. Looks like his soldering iron is so hot that the heat is instant. Look how fast the ground wires were soldered to the pots.
you are lacking details, what size pots, what size capacitor, we cant see where you are putting the wires, you should explain , left side , right side, middle etc.
Pot sizes and caps can vary. Depends on what sound you're looking for. Typically you'd go for 250k pots and 0.022uf cap if you have a Strap with single coils.
Currently working on my first guitar project and I’ve bought a loaded pick guard similar to this, however the selector switch has the little soldering points in different places (as if it’s on its side, to give a general idea) I’m having a hard time knowing where each wire should go as I haven’t seen any videos at all using this kind of selector switch. Is there any way to universally determine which point should be connected where?