HSS Strat: two single coils and a humbucker, five-way, one volume and two tones

Parts and values

“Example part” means any part with the same value and lugs will do; the source does not name a brand. “Generic” stands in for an unspecified pickup: check your own pickup's lead colours before you solder.

Specific to this wiring

• Title: HSS STRAT WIRING. Subtitle: 1 VOL / 2 TONE / 5-WAY TOGGLE, without humbucker split. The switch is drawn as a five-way blade.
• Correction (not on this sheet): the sheet draws both outer lugs of the Neck Tone 250k as empty rings, with only a black wire from the switch on its middle lug, so as drawn the neck tone has no resistive path and does nothing. This diagram adds one wire (w20) from the Neck Tone's lower outer lug to the Mid Tone wiper / capacitor junction. Tonerider's later sheets with the same art, WD_HSS_1V2TL5AS.pdf (2024) and HSS_Auto-Split_Mod.pdf (2025), solder that lug to the grey lead from the Mid Tone's middle lug and to the capacitor leg. Tonerider has not published a corrected WD_HSS_12L5.
• On the bridge humbucker the black and white leads end together in a short taped stub beside the cable; the red goes to the switch and the green and bare go to the volume casing.
• The neck and mid black leads, the humbucker green and bare all end on the solder spot at the top of the volume casing.
• The switch's upper row carries, from the top: humbucker red, mid yellow, neck white, and the row's common. A black jumper joins that common to the lower row's top lug (the second row's common), which also has a black wire to the volume's input lug.
• The lower row's third lug feeds the Mid Tone and its bottom lug feeds the Neck Tone; the two wires cross on the way down with no joint drawn. The lower row's second lug is empty, so the bridge humbucker has no tone control.
• Mid Tone: the switch wire lands on its outer lug nearest the Neck Tone; its middle lug has a grey lead to the .022µf capacitor, which passes the Neck Tone's lower outer lug without joining it on this sheet. The capacitor's other leg goes to the Neck Tone casing.
• The volume's bottom lug is linked to the casing. The jack sleeve and a black wire to the Neck Tone casing leave from the lower volume solder spot; the Neck Tone and Mid Tone casings are joined by a black wire.
• The switch lugs are not numbered on the sheet; they are mapped by what they do. The second row is read from its common, the lug diagonally opposite the first row's common.
• The pots are drawn tilted; their lugs are named as if viewed from the back with the lugs down.
• Capacitor Value Guide printed on the sheet: 0.001µf - least high-end roll off / brightest; 0.022µf - good all rounder, our recommendation; 0.047µf - More roll-off; 0.01µf - Vintage 50's / Most high-end roll-off.

Connections

In soldering order: grounds first, then the switch, the pickups and the signal path.

What each position does

Checked with the Tinkercaster wiring engine against the switching the source describes.

• One wire (w20) is not on the sheet: it corrects the source's empty Neck Tone outer lugs, following Tonerider's later sheets with the same layout.
• The engine names one tone control per position; with the shared capacitor it names the Neck Tone in positions 2 to 5 and does not report the Mid Tone separately.
• Pot tapers are not printed; pots are simulated with a linear track.
• Hum cancelling and phase describe the generic pickup models, not a measurement of Tonerider pickups.
• Pickup resistance is not specified, so no numeric meter readings are given.

Before you solder

• Identify every lead on your pickups against the source's colours.
• Title: HSS STRAT WIRING. Subtitle: 1 VOL / 2 TONE / 5-WAY TOGGLE, without humbucker split. The switch is drawn as a five-way blade.
• Correction (not on this sheet): the sheet draws both outer lugs of the Neck Tone 250k as empty rings, with only a black wire from the switch on its middle lug, so as drawn the neck tone has no resistive path and does nothing. This diagram adds one wire (w20) from the Neck Tone's lower outer lug to the Mid Tone wiper / capacitor junction. Tonerider's later sheets with the same art, WD_HSS_1V2TL5AS.pdf (2024) and HSS_Auto-Split_Mod.pdf (2025), solder that lug to the grey lead from the Mid Tone's middle lug and to the capacitor leg. Tonerider has not published a corrected WD_HSS_12L5.
• On the bridge humbucker the black and white leads end together in a short taped stub beside the cable; the red goes to the switch and the green and bare go to the volume casing.
• The neck and mid black leads, the humbucker green and bare all end on the solder spot at the top of the volume casing.
• The switch's upper row carries, from the top: humbucker red, mid yellow, neck white, and the row's common. A black jumper joins that common to the lower row's top lug (the second row's common), which also has a black wire to the volume's input lug.
• The lower row's third lug feeds the Mid Tone and its bottom lug feeds the Neck Tone; the two wires cross on the way down with no joint drawn. The lower row's second lug is empty, so the bridge humbucker has no tone control.
• Mid Tone: the switch wire lands on its outer lug nearest the Neck Tone; its middle lug has a grey lead to the .022µf capacitor, which passes the Neck Tone's lower outer lug without joining it on this sheet. The capacitor's other leg goes to the Neck Tone casing.
• The volume's bottom lug is linked to the casing. The jack sleeve and a black wire to the Neck Tone casing leave from the lower volume solder spot; the Neck Tone and Mid Tone casings are joined by a black wire.
• The switch lugs are not numbered on the sheet; they are mapped by what they do. The second row is read from its common, the lug diagonally opposite the first row's common.
• The pots are drawn tilted; their lugs are named as if viewed from the back with the lugs down.
• Capacitor Value Guide printed on the sheet: 0.001µf - least high-end roll off / brightest; 0.022µf - good all rounder, our recommendation; 0.047µf - More roll-off; 0.01µf - Vintage 50's / Most high-end roll-off.
• Use a small amount of solder, heat both surfaces, and hold the joint still as it cools. Lead-free solder may have a matte finish.

Ticks are kept in this browser only, as a reminder. They are not a check of your joints. New to soldering? Read the soldering cheat sheet.

Check before plugging in

• In each blade position the meter across the jack should read the selected pickup, or the two pickups in parallel in positions 2 and 4.
• The taped black–white joint should read open to ground.
• Positions 4 and 5: turning the Neck Tone down should roll off treble; positions 2 to 4: the Mid Tone should do the same.

Measure across the output jack with a multimeter on its resistance range. No exact readings are given where the source does not specify the pickups.