Wiring for Stratocaster & Three-Pickup Guitars

5-way Lever-action Switch

Wiring for Stratocaster & three-pickup electric guitars

Typical Strat three-pickup wiring. The switch is usually installed with the spring facing away from the pots, but can face either way—there’s no difference, electronically.

Reduce unwanted electrical noise by using shielded coaxial cable for your longer wiring runs (for example, the connection between the controls and the output jack). Coaxial cable contains a center “hot” conductor which is shielded by an outer braid used for the ground wire.

For short connections between components, use standard non-shielded wire. Typically, white wire is used for hot and black for ground.

Stewart-MacDonald wiring kits contain black and white non-shielded wire, plus shielded coaxial cable. Extra black wire is included for running a string ground.

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