my first Strat.

[SdC]

Question to other strat owners re electrics
Do the tone knobs work on all Pickups on other strats?
Mine seems to be connected to just the top 2 and not the bridge one.

Correct. That is the standard Strat setup.
George Fullerton and Leo Fender later admitted that is not the most flexible setup and te G&L Legacy has passive High and Low tone controls that work on the master output instead. I have modded my Squier strat with that setup (wiring diagrams are available on te G&L website)

[Glenn Mitchell]

Excellent thanks.
 I now have a rewire and a copper liner to do for mods.

[SdC]

Excellent thanks.
 I now have a rewire and a copper liner to do for mods.

It was just a suggestion-not a must to get the classic strat tone. My squier is my first strat and I've been modding on it since 1991.
I'm gonna get me one of these next week, and I have no intention of modding it in any way:

[Glenn Mitchell]

No.. I was thanking you for the idea. I am addicted to mods. I think it makes a guitar my own.
I would have loved to have found a natural wood rig. That looks sweet.

[SdC]

That is from a one-off series of Lite Ash strats and teles from 2008 or so, made in Korea by Cort for Fender. I found a store that still has one in stock. I love the single ply black cover and birds-eye maple neck. It is just so totally different from my old strat.

BTW my old strat is no longer a Squier but a Sander (my first name):

[Davo]

Question to other strat owners re electrics
Do the tone knobs work on all Pickups on other strats?
Mine seems to be connected to just the top 2 and not the bridge one.

Thats actually a "vintage" thing.  Because of this, back in the day many people didnt use the bridge pup.

There is an easy mod (removing and re-soldering one wire) to have the formerly middle pup tone control affect the bridge pup, or both the bridge and mid pup.
Some apply the tone controls to the neck and bridge, leaving the middle pup wide open, apparently this helps the "quack" tones-and many folks rarely use the mid pup alone (im one of them).
IMO the bridge is where the strat needs a tone control the most. 

[Glenn Mitchell]

I agree on that and thanks for the tip. I can do basic soldering if anyone happens to have a diagram

[Sprocket]

Glenn, the lack of bridge tone does drive people to creative solutions...Ive tried a few myself, such as swapping wires on the middle pup and bridge pup.
I found this to be a temporary solution...temporary because when you go to solo you kinda want a lil more heat, with a tone pot there its cools it down and you may as well just switch to another rhythm pup, cause thats kinda what youre doing.
I got frustrated and sought out different ways of taming my bridge pup.

The MOST effective way Ive found to tame the bridge pup...is to set your amp up to the bridge pup. If it gets out of hand tame it with the tone stack...then when you flip the five way to the neck and middle pups, youve got tone pots to shape treble and bass to something desirable.

The mods are easy, but doesnt this make more sense?
Your guitar and amp both will sound better...so will your tone.

[Glenn Mitchell]

I never thought of it that way. I'll give it a try.
I have an old late 60's Fender Reverb Delux for that classic sound but it does not have much in the way of FX.
So I have some pedals, naturally.
A Digital delay, to a sustain/Compressor, to a custom distortion, to the amp. It allows for plenty of tone control at least.
The main thing now is the buzz the sustain/comp creates. That's when I want to roll off some highs.
I understand I can put, yet another, pedal in the line- (a noise gate?). Maybe then I'll have it all!!   Muuaaa haa haa.

[Davo]

Question to other strat owners re electrics
Do the tone knobs work on all Pickups on other strats?
Mine seems to be connected to just the top 2 and not the bridge one.

Correct. That is the standard Strat setup.
George Fullerton and Leo Fender later admitted that is not the most flexible setup and te G&L Legacy has passive High and Low tone controls that work on the master output instead. I have modded my Squier strat with that setup (wiring diagrams are available on te G&L website)

I have a G&L tribute s500 and the master bass and treble is very useful.