Ron Ellis PUs in 60's Road Worn Strat...WOW!

[Mad John]

Happy Thanksgiving weekend guys!

I would like to share with you my new guitar situation and I have some UPGRADE ELECTRONICS and WIRING questions.

I just got a nice white 60's RW Stratocaster off the bay a few weeks ago for $600.00. I had also just had gotten the Ellis PUs recently, but had placed them in a USAG rosewood 22 fret neck w/ash body and Deaf Eddie switch. I did not like thw way that it sounded. I called Ron and he felt that the perfect combination for his 50/60's PUs were on an alder body with a rosewood neck. I had just bought the 60's Strat with exactly that matching, so I decided to put the Ellis pickups in the Road Worn 60's.

I took me a little tweeking, but I think I am hearing the greatest Strat pickups on the planet! Holy mother of sound, these are extrodinary sounding PUs! The clarity is unreal! WOW!

Here is my concern: I want to switch out all the pots, capacitor, jack and Mex wire, plus get the tone on ALL 3 PICKUPS!

Is CTS the best way to go?

I like the idea of a pot that can click out of the signal path like:
Original Fender No Load Guitar Tone Pot-Split Shaft


Would this pot work well for my needs?

What capacitor is the best choice at what rateing?

Tone and volume pots at 250K?

[Gold Strat]

It is always nice when things work out well!
For electronics in a Strat I prefer tone control for Bridge and leave the middle wide open (so no no-load pot needed here) this makes the in-between sound very nice IMHO and tone for bridge makes sence! For capacitors there is this range for single coils and 250 K pots: 0.022uf to 0.100uf and 0.5uf 0r 0.47uf for being standard now. I prefer the NOS Paper in Oil type sold for 10 to 15 Dollar on the Bay and these make realy a great difference in sound and tone, I have realy great results now with an 0.100uf cap!!
Go for cloth wire and I realy don't like the modern CTS stuff, it is just not the quality like it used to be and feels very sloppy, there are better manufacturers and used stuff from the eighties or late 70ies is for sale on the Bay and much better.

Good Luck and happy Building !!

[Mad John]

Thank you Gold Strat!

That is some very helpful information!

Replacement parts are not as cut and dry as some people would have you belive!

I knew there must be more to this with important considerations to the overall best guitar tone!

[Gold Strat]

Your Welcome!

When I did my Stratocaster build I was having troubles for finding the right saddles and then I saw a guy that puts on Raw Vintage saddles and Springs on the Road Worns and a real bone Nut as well. He said and let us hear on You Tube that it made a huge difference, all I can tell is that I don't know about the springs but the saddles were realy a mayor improvement for sustain, tone and overall sound quality. For the nut it is just trial and error till You get it right and there are prefferences for all kinds of material, I have the artificial bone and like it as it is, so no need for real bone nuts in my case.
If You like the Guitars sound and playability now it is perhaps better to keep it as is and play it and not mod it too much, I would start (if realy neccesary) with a good tone capacitor from a good supplier and if possible from the 50ies if You can find one, I think You would be very pleased with the sound, and for the tone to Bridge mod it is just one wire on the selector switch to put to the empy spot next too it and Your done.