What is your favorite wiring option for tone pots on a strat?

Since the 2nd tone pot is already connected to the middle pickup, just solder a small jumper wire from that lug to the lug next to it for the bridge pickup on the switch, and then that tone pot will work on the middle and bridge pickup. Don't worry. It won't negatively affect the sound quality in any way.

 

master tone. No fuss, easy. If not master tone, I'd do bottom knob for bridge tone, top knob for neck and mid.

On Teles, I like no tone control at all.. on a Strat, it's a must for me.

 

For S-S-S: Volume, tone, blend knob. I use the blend on a strat 10x more than I use the volume and 1000000000x more than I do the tone. If it didn’t look weird to have the blank spot, I would just have the blend knob and maybe the volume knob.

 

I always thought the two tone controls on a Strat were redundant. In a position that uses both, it never seemed to make a difference which I turned down, so why have both?

I have my Strat wired with standard 5-way switching, an S-1 switch for series options, a master bass cut control and a master treble cut using a no-load pot.

 

I've posted this alot
it allows you to have a 3 way switch 1) N, 2) N/B, 3) B
a separate volume for the mid pickup this allows you to use all pickups at once by dialing the mid pick us much or as little as you require
I used a TBX tone circuit for the whole guitar

of my 6 pickguards 4 are wired this way

 

One tone for the bridge, one tone for the mid and neck.

 

Tone pot on the bridge. No tone middle on the middle. I’m that weird guy that likes the middle pickup.

 

If we're voting, my vote is for a blender. With a master tone knob in the middle.

 

I've got one with tone 1 on neck, tone 2 on bridge, and middle wide open; it works for that guitar, but the neck needs a higher value cap. Another one I messed up and the pots are interactive for the neck and middle position, but on middle and bridge, only tone 2 works. Third one is master volume, master tone (third hole is filled with a furniture tack), and I like that too.

 

1) Neck & Mid
2) Bridge

 

3 way switch (n,n+b,b),master vol,blend vol only for mid pickup,master tone.
Perfection.

 

Master Volume, Master Tone, Neck/bridge Blend
It doesn't have to be "all or nothing"... I use it more like a tone control, a little bit is all you need sometimes.

Here is another one I ran for years...

Master Volume, Master tone, Master Tone 2 w/.001uF cap (.001 - .002 works well)
When you turn down that 2nd tone it just takes the air/sizzle off the strat pickups and lowers the resonant frequency a little. Result: TELE-LIKE tones.

I hard wired this onto a mini-toggle on my strat to make room for the blend... otherwise I would still have it wired this way.

 

I guess I'm in the minority, but I'm good with the vintage (3 way) wiring.

 

The way I do it: Master volume, master tone with no-load, mini toggle to turn on the bridge pickup in any position.

 

1.) Neck, 2.) Middle and Bridge

I basically live in positions 4 and 5 anyway, but i had an inch of cloth wire laying around so i figured why not do the middle/bridge mod.

 

I use "Fezz Parka" wiring (aka 50s gibson wiring), with neck and bridge connected to tone controls.

 

I switched the positions of my neck and middle pickups on my FCS ‘69 Stratocaster. Positions 1, 2, and 3 are just like a Telecaster with all three positions running through tone 2. Position 4 is neck and middle. Position 5 is middle alone through tone 1. Position 4 requires the use of both tone controls but I set both to 10 for that position. This probably sounds confusing but it took me about 10 minutes to get comfortable with it.

I have a more normal Strat with a toggle for seven sounds where tone 1 sets neck tone and tone 2 sets bridge and middle tone. I use either with equal facility but the option on my FCS is the one I prefer.

 

I wire my strats up with a pair of no load tone pots and a toggle switch that assigns the two pots to N/M, M/B, and N/B