mods for a 3 single coil pick-up equipped guitar (e.g. Strat/Concord) ?

I've not had a Strat type guitar before.  I have recently acquired the Concord II (1982 version 1).

I'm considering mods for a 3 single coil pick-up equipped guitar. (assume a 5-way blade switch)

What are the typical mods or ones would people suggest, please?

The following ones occur to me so far:

1.  neck and bridge together selection option (toggle switch or push/pull)

2.  a tone pot reassigned to the bridge pick-up

3.  series wiring for faux humbucker sounds  (toggle switch or push/pull)

4.  one of the control knobs becomes a volume 'blender' control so that the bridge/neck pickup can be added in when the bridge/neck is not currently selected by the 5-way switch

5.  a dedicated volume pot for the middle pick-up  ('Memphis wiring' ?)


Anything else to suggest?

thanks

You've covered quite a bit of ground there.... :-) so all I can suggest would be perhaps a superswitch to replace the 5 way? Playing around with pot and cap values?

I long to have my Strat sound like Ritchies, but without knowing EXACTLY what he had going on in there, it ain't gonna happen, eh; I know he had those big, old Marshall Majors - flat out!! - and an old Revox tape deck but what pickups and circuitry he had is a mystery!

corsair wrote:

I long to have my Strat sound like Ritchies

Blackmore???

this website has lots of wiring diagrams and there are lots of mods for a 3-single-coil guitar. and they have the parts, if you need 'em.

i've also tried adding onboard effects- one guitar has a 5 stage overdrive module, one guitar has a chorus module, both very useful.

I have one strat where the volume pot has push pull to engage the bridge single coil in positions 3 to 5 and the bridge tone pot is a centre indent PEQ style so there are a few varieties of tone available that can be blended throughout. In the neck and you need that extra bite for a break, just pull in the bridge...works well  . Ultimately in a live situation, the simpler or quicker dialling in a different tone the better.

Adey wrote:

corsair wrote:

I long to have my Strat sound like Ritchies

Blackmore???

Yep!!

http://intl.fender.com/en-GB/guitars/stratocaster/ritchie-blackmore-stratocaster-scalloped-rosewood-fingerboard-olympic-white/

Yeah, I know you could buy a sig model, but where's the fun in that!?
Hey, what are those SD quarter pounders like? I have a feeling I read somewhere that RB had a trick tone circuit in there as well, and I'm pretty sure his pickups would have been wound for him.... 
Another bloke with great tone from a strat from the 90s was Ian Moss from Cold Chisel...

corsair wrote:Yeah, I know you could buy a sig model, but where's the fun in that!?

Build one.

Nah... can't get excited by building a strat, though, and I really don't need any more guitars. 

However.

I'm thinking about how much a Dean VNMT Dave Mustaine twin neck would positively impact my life.... 

There you go then.

Nothing ventured nothing gained.

My point - badly made - was that there are a myriad of things one can do with a strat type set up, and the RB example was one of (possibly) modified, or at least non-standard, pickups and a tone circuit with various modifications done. And that's just the electrics... then you could talk about fretboard mods - RB scalloped his - and bridge upgrades; I don't think Ritchie ever went beyond a standard Fender bridge, but there's all sorts put there now!!

corsair wrote:...there are a myriad of things one can do with a strat type set up...

Hence the question I often posed at the now defunct shop: when is a Strat/Tele no longer a Strat/Tele?

Leo obviously had a vision of what his creations should sound like, and packaged them in a way to appeal to the working player, but there are so many ways to tinker with the basic designs I'm not sure if that would have been his original intent.

Seems to me he built a work horse Space Shuttle, and folks insist on trying to turn it into a sleek Space Ship to Mars. Both useful conveyances but hardly interchangeable IMHO.