Stereo wiring?

[patmurris]

A few decades ago i moded a cheap strat copy - my very first guitar, with a stereo jack and three mini switch that would let you send each pup to the left or right - or nowhere in the middle position.

When using a stereo cable on a home 'hifi' amp, playing with headphones, the sound was much deeper and richer with the spatial blend from the different pup positions. It was like putting my head inside the guitar right between the pick ups. Would have been nice for recording?

I'm thinking of redoing a similar wiring on a tele but haven't figured the details yet. I would need double pots for tone and volume then... What if i want to keep the original three 'mono' modes and add a forth stereo position on the selector switch?

Any thoughts, reference or diagrams welcome ;)
Thanks.

[cc9cii]

If you use dual-gang (stereo) pots for volume and tone then this will be very straight-forward. e.g.

1. bridge (both L & R)
2. bridge (L) + neck (R)
3. neck (both L & R)

Alternatively:

1. bridge (L)
2. bridge (L) + neck (R)
3. neck (R)

With either case join the two with a toggle sw to go back to 'mono'.

EDIT: for clarity - if you just want either of the above then you don't need a switch. The switch is only needed if you want mono in all three positions.

[Papa Joe]

My stero guitar,very basic..each pickup has it's own curcuit for true stereo with no option for both in mono.I'll play through two seperate amps..

[patmurris]

Thanks for the input and comments... i'm still pondering the idea.

Is a stereo guitar so uncommon? I would think it would do wonder in a studio...

[Deaf Eddie]

If the guitar was the only instrument on the recording, I could see where it might be effective. But it sure seems to me like it would fill up the space, leaving little room for other instruments.

On stage, unless the entire audience is standing in the "sweet spot" they're just gonna hear one pup dominating the other... not exactly a headphone mix.

AND... When you run the pups in stereo (separate outputs), you lose all the "quacks" and "clucks" of the parallel combos. I couldn't live without those tones, so, although I have had a couple of stereo guitars, I'd never play the guitar in stereo.

[KevinB]

Many Rickenbacker guitars have both mono and stereo outputs. They typically have two volume and two tone controls, and a single blend pot. Here is their schematic.

For many years they sold a Rick-O-Sound kit that was basically just a stereo splitter (Y-cable) that let you send the neck pickup to one amp and the bridge pickup to another, but they discontinued it a few years back. Such cables are cheap and easy to find though.