Strat Guitar pickguard QC Chart -Hieroglyphs?

FuzzMitch said:

Hi Gang, could someone tell me what some of these symbols refer to on a 5 way selector switch on a Fender Stratocaster pickguard QC chart? which has 1 x volume control, and 2 x tone controls.
Particularly Tone1 and Tone 2 Control sectn: 'S.W. 1P & 2P' / 'S.W. 3P & 4P'.
I assume S.W. might refer to 'switch' altho its a dial/potentiometer, and 1P etc refers to 1st position altho being a dial - maybe 1st position = '0', 2nd position = '10'; but Tone 2 3P and 4P??? dunno
Thanks for the decipher.

Click to expand...

Hi F,
My interpretation is, SW = Switch position of the 2x knobs = connect 1 and 2 pickups together and the other connect 3 and 4 pickups together. The other knob being the volume.
Does you guitar have 4x pickups on it?
C

Not 4, standard strat 3 x sngle coils.

FuzzMitch said:

Hi Gang, could someone tell me what some of these symbols refer to on a 5 way selector switch on a Fender Stratocaster pickguard QC chart? which has 1 x volume control, and 2 x tone controls.
Particularly Tone1 and Tone 2 Control sectn: 'S.W. 1P & 2P' / 'S.W. 3P & 4P'.
I assume S.W. might refer to 'switch' altho its a dial/potentiometer, and 1P etc refers to 1st position altho being a dial - maybe 1st position = '0', 2nd position = '10'; but Tone 2 3P and 4P??? dunno
Thanks for the decipher.

Click to expand...

You can test this functionality yourself too.
If you plug the guitar into an amplifier so you can hear the sounds from the pickups, you can then bring a small magnet close to each pickup in turn. You will either hear a low sound or a loud sound. A loud sound means that pickup is active.
You start by placing the switch in the first position, then testing each pickup with the magnet and noting which pickups were active. You then place the switch in the next position and test each pickup again, then the switch in the next position, etc., until you've exhausted all the possible positions of the switch. By then you will have a log of which pickups are active for each switch position.

I am assuming this guitar has a passive circuit inside like most guitars, although some may have additional electronics inside.

Thats a good idea, ill let them know. Yes standard passive circuit. Thanks again.

It looks like pretty conventional wiring for a three pickup Strat.

SW is the pickup selector switch; "front" is the neck pickup, rear is the bridge pickup.

The five positions allow each of the three pickups to be selected individually - 1 neck, 2 centre, 3 bridge - plus the 2nd & 4th positions combining two pickups, by linking them in parallel.

The two tone pots are electrically linked to two of the pickups, so either control that pickup alone (in switch positions 1 & 3) or the combination of that & whichever it's paralleled with, when the switch is in position 2 or 4.

ps. The switch is a rotary "wafer" style, though fitted edge-on rather than with a spindle through the middle, like in many other uses.