Stratocaster HSS Wiring Kit - USA Components

HSS Wiring Kit for Stratocaster

This HSS Stratocaster Standard Wiring Kit is a powerful upgrade for the stock electronics of your Fender/Squier Stratocaster. Packed with high quality components from top manufacturers, its an inexpensive way to improve the tonality of your guitar.

Compatibility

Our Stratocaster wiring kit will fit genuine Fender guitars, and is also compatible with Squier/import instruments with a little modification. When installing on a Squier or import guitar, you may need to widen the control knob holes to ensure the pots fit. You may also need to replace your current guitar knobs with their imperial sized cousins.

All of our kits come with an easy to follow wiring diagram. For help on using our Stratocaster Standard wiring kit please refer to our video guide on wiring a Stratocaster

Our wiring kit for Stratocaster includes:

• 2 x 250k audio taper pots (10% tolerance)
• 1 x CTS 500K Push Pull Pot
• 1 x .022µf Capacitor (Orange Drop or Paper in Oil)
• 2ft of black cloth wire and 2ft of white cloth wire
• 1 x CRL USA 5 way switch
• 1 x Switchcraft USA 1/4'' jack socket

Orange Drop Capacitor

Orange Drop capacitors are often described as ’bright’ sounding and their primary benefit comes from their reliability, they essentially never go wrong. For a professional guitarist, stability and consistency is what you need in an instrument that has to play shows night after night, which is exactly why Orange Drop capacitors are so popular amongst guitarists and guitar builders.

CTS Audio Taper Pots

CTS pots are typically used by higher end guitar builders and techs but this is not due to any difference in tone. The main reason cited for using CTS pots is that they will last longer due to a more sturdy construction, and for that reason you’ll often find them used in USA-made guitars and guitar gear.

We supply audio taper pots for both volume and tone as these produce a smoother and more rounded sweep. All pots are metered and matched to ensure a perfect balance of tone and volume across all switch positions.

Push Pull Pot

The HSS Stratocaster includes a push-pull pot for the second tone control. This feature allows the user to split the coil-split the humbucker for greater versatility. Choose between the Alpha push-pull pot or the CTS version for your preferred setup.

Switchcraft Mono Output Jack

Large guitar manufacturers will very often cut corners by using cheaper components, particularly on the input jack. Switchcraft have a great reputation for using only the highest quality materials in their input jacks, providing a significant durability and performance upgrade over stock input jacks.

Cloth Push Back Wire

Paper-in-Oil Cap Upgrade

Want an extra vintage tone upgrade? Add Paper-in-Oil caps instead of Orange Drop. Paper in Oil (PIO) capacitors are an older technology, highly sought after primarily due to their use in many vintage instruments such as 50s era Gibsons. The capacitor is literally filled with paper and a special oil before being sealed in thermoplastic, delivering a darker, warmer and smoother tone.

Will this fit my guitar?

Our wiring kit for Stratocaster will fit all genuine Fender USA/MIM Stratocasters and will also fit the majority of Stratocaster type guitars and imported models.

Many imported models use the smaller Alpha pots, so it may be neccesary to drill your pickguard holes to 10mm diameter to accommodate the larger USA pot shafts. If you are upgrading your Alpha pots to CTS then you will also need to purchase imperial control knobs that fit the larger CTS pot shafts.

All of our kits come with an easy to follow wiring diagram. For help on using our Strat® wiring kit please refer to our video guide on wiring a Stratocaster