Tone pot not working only in bridge position

[*Levi*]

Hello all! I have a cheap Squier Strat that I picked up for my kid. Here's what's going on: guitar is working fine except that the bottom tone knob is not working when the switch is in the bridge position. Both tone knobs work where there are supposed, except for the bridge. Any ideas? Do I need to replace the switch? I don't imagine it would be the pot since it is working in the middle and middle/bridge positions. Any help would be great! Thanks!

[David Schwab]

Strats don't have the tone knob wired up to the bridge pickup. That's the way they are designed.

You have a neck tone, and a middle tone, and no bridge tone control.

[jrfrond]

Like David said, BUT..... all you need is a little jumper to make the middle tone control work for the bridge pickup as well, a common mod. It DOES take some of the "zing" out of the bridge pickup though, that famous raw edge-of-madness tone that the Strat bridge pickup is famous for.

[Robert M. Martinelli]

What David and John said.

As a footnote to John's post, instead of a jumper, I would advise you to use a switch, so that the mod John suggested is reversible and you can use the tone knob when you need it and go back to the "stock" wiring ( and sound ) when you don't.

Hope this helps

Best regards

Bob

[jrfrond]

Originally Posted by Robert M. Martinelli

What David and John said.

As a footnote to John's post, instead of a jumper, I would advise you to use a switch, so that the mod John suggested is reversible and you can use the tone knob when you need it and go back to the "stock" wiring ( and sound ) when you don't.

Hope this helps

Best regards

Bob

And yet ANOTHER cool mod I've done is to wire the bridge pickup to a switch that bypasses the controls altogether and just goes straight to the jack. Wanna hear highs? Holy sh*t!

[Jag]

That'll make your fillings fall out!

[Chuck H]

Well hell, if we're gonna modify... I have a mod wiring that changes to a single master tone. The other tone knob hole is used for a switch. The new wiring allows for all the stock strat tones + all three pickups in series with the middle out of phase. It's a badass tone that implies "humbucker" only better. You need to change to a Tele type three pos switch, and the setting are:

1) bridge, middle, neck, series w/middle out of phase
2) middle, neck parallel in phase
3) neck

New switch 2)

1) bridge
2) bridge, middle parallel in phase
3) middle

It's a great rig. Like having a strat with a special hard rock option.

Chuck

[jrfrond]

One thing about a Strat: there are nearly infinite ways to wire it. We have Super Switch, Mega Switch, push-pull pots, push-push pots (I get them from Yamaha; it's like a push-pull but works like a ballpoint pen), toggle switches, rotary switches..... you can do nearly ANYTHING you want with the right switches and three pickups, and like many of us, keep doing it all over again...and again...and again.....