The ShadowMusic Web Community

Slightly off the beaten (Shadows) track, the second release by Jet and Tony as a duo. Again all instruments played by myself, lead was on a Strat using both neck and bridge pickups together. Normally a Strat won't do this; it needs an additional switch. This is my favourite Strat mod, as it means you can also select all three - a nice Rickenbackery jangle.

Uncle Fiesta wrote:Slightly off the beaten (Shadows) track, the second release by Jet and Tony as a duo. Again all instruments played by myself, lead was on a Strat using both neck and bridge pickups together. Normally a Strat won't do this; it needs an additional switch. This is my favourite Strat mod, as it means you can also select all three - a nice Rickenbackery jangle.

There's another cheaper simpler quicker way to get the neck plus bridge pickup combination on a Strat type guitar with a 5 position switch...simply physically swap the neck and middle or the middle and bridge pickups around...I've modified all my guitars like this for years, as I often use the neck+ bridge combination (like a normal 2 pickup guitar)...

Normal Strat switch gives:

Neck
Neck + middle
Middle
Middle + bridge
Bridge

Swapping pickup positions gives either:

Neck
Neck plus bridge
Bridge
Bridge plus Middle
Middle

OR

Middle
Middle plus neck
Neck
Neck + bridge
Bridge

Only needs a screwdriver...takes about 20 minutes..no soldering or extra parts etc required..

Yes I've often considered that, but it does mean you lose one of the original settings. My preferred method is to replace the bottom tone control with a pull/push pot, which means you're making no holes in the scratchplate, and it's easy to restore the guitar to its former state (as long as you kept the original tone pot!).

(Although in one or two cases I've simply removed the scratchplate, kept it safe, fitted a new one, and drilled it to fit a toggle switch.)