Practical Tips for Wiring a Strat Super Switch

So, further to my last post, I managed to wire up the super switch into my Strat and have made a demo video on YouTube. Have a watch of that and see if you like the sounds!

Some of you may be wondering how on earth you go from the wiring diagram/schematic I posted last time to real life. Good question! Here are some tips:

1. Get hold of a small clamp or 'soldering station iron stand' (e.g. the one at RS components here) to hold the super switch while you solder most of the connections
2. Tin all ends of wires before soldering them
3. Use a decent soldering iron
4. Don't have the iron on too hot. About half way up is right for most guitar wiring
5. Work out which way round the switch is. It's probably upside down as you wire it, so my system is to switch it to the bridge pickup position (bottom), then work out which connection is being made. For me that was the one closest to me, not the one furthest away, but it depends which way round your pick guard (scratch plate) is lying
6. Put a tea towel or cloth under your scratch plate so it doesn't scratch the guitar body. Or you can disconnect the outputs at the jack, then reconnect them at the end
7. Start by wiring all the links on the switch before connecting it to any pickups. Leave one connection free of solder for your pickup connector
8. You might have to rewire your pickups if there are phase issues. For my pickups, the Seymour Duncan black cables were 'hot', and the Fender white cable was 'hot'. Red and white on the SD pickups went to switch two (on the volume pot). Green was connected to earth
9. Check everything before putting the guitar back together. I tend to put one old string, e.g. the D string, back on the guitar to check it sounds right. Check all the pickups work when they should. Check the tone pots in case you've wired them back-to-front!
10. If you've made any mistakes, try to correct them at the pots rather than at the switches, if you can. If you keep desoldering and resoldering wires onto the super switch you'll end up destroying it and buying a new one (at £30 a wack). Pots are much cheaper and much more robust
11. Watch a YouTube video of someone wiring up their guitar to see how they do it. You can learn some useful tips (and perhaps some things to avoid at the same time)
12. If in doubt, take the wiring diagram to a professional and pay them to do it for you!

That's about it. It took me one afternoon to wire it all up, and I only made one mistake, which was pretty good. It probably took me 30 minutes to correct the mistake. Now it's all hunky dory!