Burns Marvin Anniversary Bridge P/U Tone Mod

[Somerset]

Having just learned that my Burns Marvin Anniversary model is not quite as faithful to the original specification as I was led to believe by the documentation that came with it, I am now considering modding the tone circuit.

Has anyone put the bridge pickup in the tone circuit with the middle pickup? And if so, is it as easy as doing the same on a Strat and does it make a significant difference to the tone of the bridge pickup with the tone control wide open?

(I have also posted this same question in my post "That Other Sound" on the Gear page)

[Garystrat]

Personally I wouldn't touch it, these seem to be advertised at premium prices!

[RogerCook]

Stock wiring is the same as a Strat so that mod should work fine. I changed the pickups on mine for a Burns noiseless set and used the single coil wiring diagram from here: https://entwistlepickups.com/resources/

I can't recall what value pots I used but I think they were 250k and I prefer a linear pot for volume. I also fitted a push pull pot for "tone 2" to achieve all the other switching combinations.

[Garystrat]

I have a 2017 American Fender Elite with the S1 switch, the following information was included with the head setting positions:

“The tricky thing about explaining S-1 switching is that it does different things on different instruments. That's sensible enough, since different instruments have different pickups, different pickup configurations and different wiring schemes. S-1 switching on a Telecaster, for example, must be different from S-1 switching on a Stratocaster.

Not only that, but S-1 switching can vary from model to model within the same instrument type. S-1 switching on an American Elite Telecaster, for example, differs sharply from S-1 switching on a Classic Player Baja Telecaster. More on all this shortly.

And not only does S-1 switching do different things on different instruments, but it has done different things at different times. That is, it doesn't necessarily do the same things today that it did several years ago. S-1 switching has been around quite a while, after al- it first appeared in summer 2003 and was offered on several Fender instruments throughout that decade; even on some Precision Bass and Jazz Bass models.”

[Somerset]

Thank you for your comments. I will think long and hard before making any changes to the Burns simply because it was a limited edition. At the moment I am inclined towards leaving it as it is but I will keep my options open!

I am quite happy making changes to my Strats and have added the bridge pickup to the middle pickup tone control when it needed it. On another Strat I have replaced the middle pickup tone control with a zero load pot and added the bridge pickup to the circuit. This provides the best of both worlds because it gives you not only tone control of the bridge pickup but also the ability to bypass it. An added bonus is that you can bypass the tone circuit for the middle pickup as well.