ToneShaper Guitar Wiring Kit, for Fender Stratocaster, SSS1 (Blender Wiring)

**This is a best case scenario, please keep that in mind!**So I have a 30 y/o American Strat that I bought new and have changed the pickups and altered the wiring over the years. And I'll be quite honest, I am definitely not the king of soldering. I had recently changed the pickups (which I wasn't blown away with) and cleaned my pots but they were still crackly and there just seemed to be some weird electronic things when it came to the guitar (which is my favorite one). So I thought I'd start from scratch and redo the whole wiring harness and after looking around the internet for the best price vs quality (CTS pots etc) I found this kit from ToneShaper. I thought it was too good to be true with the price (Stewmac wanted $60 for something similar which didn't include the blender or treble bleed circuit) I checked what came in the kit and bought it. Putting it in wasn't too hard, (make sure you do some research on good soldering techniques to ensure the best results, this was, by far, my best soldering results) easier than regular Strat wiring because you only have one of each pot (I guess? It just seemed less complicated to me) volume, tone & blender. I didn't realize it came with a treble bleed circuit (I had seen an unrelated video the night before my package arrived and was pretty excited that it came with it) and I put that in too. I can't believe how much better the guitar sounds. I mean in every way. The overall tone, I like each pickup better now (I really preferred the neck pickup almost exclusively before) and the 2 and 4 positions sound amazing too. The treble bleed circuit works as advertised and I like that too. And the blender knob works great. I had wired a push-pull in the guitar previously that would turn the neck pickup on so you could get every combination of pickup but I never used it very much. But with the blender you actually control how much of the other pickup you hear. You can have the neck with just a little bridge or vice versa. I was never really a fan of the bridge pickup. I always thought it was a little harsh but with the new wiring it sounds much better but with the blender knob I can really tweak the sound. Even my middle pickup I would use alone now where before it was only used with the 2 & 4 positions. I'm happier with my pickup set too (David Allen SV 59s) they sound great now, so much better. I even like my amp more too (Fender '68 CDR). I can't get over how well this worked. The quality of all the parts was as advertised and you get more than enough wire too. They even give you both cloth and PVC covered wire depending on what you're going for. Overall, (I know you'll be surprised) I can't recommend this kit enough. Once again, this is a best result scenario and I can't say everyone will have the same level of satisfaction. But if you want to rewire your Strat, these are all top quality parts. You want to try the blender thing out? You can probably but that separately but it works really well. You want to try a treble bleed? You can probably get that separately too but it's in there if you want it. There is no downside to this in my opinion. Try it out and I hope your results are as good as mine. Good luck and thank you ToneShaper!

Never upgraded my wiring before. Went smooth as butter, I’m both proud of myself and happy with the gear I purchased. Everything is dead silent, even with all knobs on 10, and the blender works great. I won’t be using it very often, but I love that I have one master tone now. Great buy!

Used to upgrade an old MIK squier Strat. Takes a little fitting due to small low quality original parts but wow! Sounds so much better. I also shielded the cavity and pickguard while it was apart and all my crackles, pops, and buzzing are gone. Smooth solid feeling controls. The modifications are perfect and give more usable tone options. Also worth mention is I initially wired it all up less the treble bleed (it’s very small and was packaged separately) and there was a major drop off in sound rolling back the volume, put it in and wow! I ordered a separate treble bleed network for my tele too! If you have a foreign Squier you may need new knobs and switch tip, mine didn’t fit (again junky mini parts).

Works great to blend in the normally unused pick ups, and the vintage cloth wire is a great touch… but I feel like my master tone control doesn’t do anything at all now. Wired exactly as the diagram shows, and added the additional treble bleed they included to the volume pot. But my tone control does nothing now.

finally a very easy modification for a Stratocaster guitar without having to drill hole in pickguard or use of a push-pull pot to enable bridge and neck pickups to work together

This kit is fantastic; quality parts, both teflon coated and cloth wiring included, tone bleed circuit, diagram is spot on, nothing left to chance. I modded a cheap, thrift store find Starcaster strat, which by the way is a great guitar to mod if you take the time. I am not the best at soldering, but a friend helped me through the task to make sure I didn't burn up a capacitor, otherwise very straightforward. I used the stock pickguard and had to enlarge the holes for the pots (go slow, step up to a larger bit each time and all will be well). Although the Starcaster has plenty deep cavities, I had to do a little relief work in the body for the larger blender pot to clear, not much, but a Dremel is most useful. All said if you're already modding it's much cleaner than a Gilmour switch, with the added benefit of a master tone. The tone bleed circuit was a nice addition too.

Great sounds from my strat. Ease of installation depends on your soldering skill, so take it to a pro tech if you can't solder.

amazing , beyond what is ordinary