STEAMBUCKER™
A Fender Stratocaster Supercharger Circuit from Gombrelli Guitars USA
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Overview
After trying out many designs with many pickguards GG USA locked in a few designs that seemed to almost ALWAYS be winner with all most all pickups.
The Steambucker is simple to use and understand when and how to use.
It is based on the idea of Stratbucker and Tribucker
- STRATBUCKER – Connects the Neck and Middle pickup to form a dual coil pickup for the NECK
- TRIBUCKER – Connects the Bridge, Neck and Middle pickups to form a 3 coil monster pickup at the BRIDGE
These circuits aren’t a new idea; trust me, in the world of guitar wiring there really isn’t a new idea, there’s been tons of years for dedicated guitar dudes to figure out another one. In my experience it’s the application and implementation of them that really make things work out great.
Design Requirements
Some of the requirements I look for is:
- Always allow a Stratocaster to be able to run with Stock Switching
- Make it EASY to switch use while playing live
- Make it EASY to understand what sound it will make before you switch it
- Let there be NO dead spots in the switching
- Maintain the ability to have 2 tone controls
I found myself going back to this design when wanting to create a nice warm bridge humbucker and warm up the neck.
Implementation options:
- One Micro Switches
- One Push Pull
- One Push Push Switch
Tone:
Any values of caps can be used for the tone controls so that’s in individual preference. I usually pick those based on what pickups and pots are in installed.
Pots
Any pot value will work but usually larger (500k) pots are used for higher winding pickups to do more treble compensation with 250K being the standard otherwise. If using high wound single coils I would use a 500K pot.