Each time I lift the scratchplate on a strat, my heart sinks at the sloppy wiring. I wonder why Fender haven't incorporated some kind of PCB on the underside of the plate, so that all contacts are made when the components are screwed in place. OK, I get the "vintage" thing, and the flexibility which some players enjoy when making their own mods. But these are arguments for wiring, not sloppy wiring. Am I asking too much from a £1500 guitar?
Best not to look under there, mate. I like for things under the covers and the scratchplate to be a complete mystery to me. "How's it work?" "I dunno. PFM, I reckon." "PFM??" "Pure F#%king Magic." "Fair enough then."
I have either one of the old toneshapers pcb boards or an obsidian board in every guitar aside from my semi hollows right now. It's just better. Plus as a tinkerer, a huge time saver. I think I prefer the obsidian wire, it's just a better product, but I do enjoy all the options that are at your finger tips with the tone shaper
It's even worse for us lefties... not only are you treated to shoddy workmanship under the hood, but they don't even bother to use reverse audio taper pots, so your 'usable range' is all right at the other end of the knob's play...
Just think what you would see if you could look under your own hood and find out what THAT LOOKS LIKE. Best not to....
Nope not at all....for that kind of dough especially for a solid body electric...it better be perfect.
Fender seems a bit too tied to traditions to go the route of a 21st century all electronic control panel like a ToneShaper.
Personally I'm not expecting futuristic control panels, I just want neat, well-soldered connections and properly functioning pots! Unless poor soldering is part of the time-honoured tradition?
I agree, I mean it's not rocket science, maybe all push on connectors would be nice? I just spent an hour changing pickups coz I couldn't get the wires to sit in the right place preventing the pick guard from sitting flat, but I guess I am learning... slowly..
Sure, the nitro v. poly, ash v. alder, maple v. rosewood debates are getting old, let's add another point of contention where people think they can hear a difference. Seriously, it's a good idea, but be prepared for people to go batsh*t about it, even though there's no tonal difference - like the Gibson community did. Would be a boon for aftermarket makers of pots, caps & wiring, though...
Yep, that's pretty much the reason in that PCB construction on Fenders and Gibsons. Fender tried it with those "American Deluxe Strat Plus" models from 2014-2015, but those also included those "Personality Card" that altered the wiring (changing from standard tone pots to a master tone and blender control and a few other options). But the point-to-point wiring should be nice and clean, not like what you found. It seems like less tradition-bound manufacturers like Ernie Ball Music Man can move to PCB construction without complaints - of course most of the EBMMs with circuit cards also have boost circuits, buffered outputs (that raise all switch positions to the same output) and "Silent Circuit" noise reduction for single coils. But their "legacy" models are still point-to-point wired - those being the Silhouette, Silhouette Special, Silhouette Baritone, Albert Lee, Steve Morse, Morse Y2D, Axis and Axis SuperSport. While the Silhouette Special and Albert Lee have an older "self contained" version of the Silent Circuit that is a battery powered dummy coil wired into the switch. The original John Petrucci/JP Maple Top are a hybrid - the magnetic pickups and switching are point-to-point wired but of course the piezo controls are a circuit card.
Not sure that anyone's looking for some mystical tonal improvement, although there's always someone who will, but most seem more concerned with the quality of existing craftsmanship and/or improvements which make modding cleaner, faster and easier. As someone said, quick connects seem like the least, and most cost effective, that could be done. Would seem to jibe with the theory behind the bolt on neck, but I have to say, I'm colllecting parts, information and skills for a build and I would give serious thought to the tonerider setup. While I think I know what pickup setup I'm going to use, having the ability to quickly swap out different ones would be invaluable in assessing whether I'm getting what I want, or think I'm getting, once it's all together.
