Justin has a lesson on the electric guitar controls but I can’t remember where to find it!
If you say so I am gonna do deeper research, I just did not find it on first attempt. Found only that setting guitar as truss rod and action.
Just had a quick rummage. I think it might be Grade 3, Module 15 “Great guitar tone starts here”
Oh, I am gonna check it. I am Grade 2 and Module 10, thatswhy I did not hit it yet. 
Thank you very much.
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Hi ,
maybe this one will also help… I remember that this was an eye-opening lesson in the beginning, together with the information about the difference between humbuckers and single coil, and I play/switch with it every day now in blues land
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Yeah, this one is really helpfull… looks like for a really litlle bit of volume you got it much cleaner. Cool, thanks.
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Single coil pickups are prone to hum. “Humbuckers” are 2 single coils wired together so that they cancel the hum and thus also have stronger output.
I have upgraded many a tone pot which improves them. Also I have always done the common mod on a Strat to wire the bottom tone to the bridge pickup. I don’t know your HSS Strat but standard wiring of a Strat is that the bridge pickup is not connected to a tone pot.
The 5 way switch allows the neck and middle or bridge and middle to be selected, out-of -phase, and this mimics a humbucker and supposed to cancel out the hum. It also gives that distinctive out-of-phase chime in positions 2 and 4.
@rorystrat Thats interesting. So do you recommend to dive so deep to learn how to change those pickups and have better tone on cheaper electric guitar or its not worth it?
@Carreta the great thing about a Fender Strat is that it’s a kit of parts. My Strats are all Frankensteins, like the fisherman’s knife, where I’ve changed and upgraded the neck, body, the bridge etc. in the end it’s a totally different guitar.
What I mentioned was upgrading the tone pots not the pickups but you can do it all. One thing is that Export Strats might have metric parts whereas US Strats are imperial so you might have to open up the holes in the pick guard or get a new one. Not a massive challenge…
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Can you give me some brand names of things that are good to look for before doing some research?
Like I was changing tunners on my acoustic and found Gotoh are one of TOP tier. So is there any brand like this for changing electronics?
Or its really big topic where everyone has strongly different opinion?
I have only used Fender parts. Fender do sell upgrades online such as pickups and necks too. I think US Fenders use CTS branded pots. There are some specialist sellers on eBay etc that break down Fenders and sell off the parts too.
Near Where I live in the UK, there is Northwest Guitar who sell licensed parts online. I hear Seymour Duncan pickups are good but I’ve never used them
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Changing pickups is fine if you have a particular sound in mind but if you don’t then you’re probably just spending money for the sake of it. It’s all just bits of wire wrapped around a post at the end of the day. The biggest single upgrade to any guitar is new strings!
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Hmm, hmm… because my main is acoustic and electric was just for unplugged learning at night or by TV… trust me or not, there are still prefabricated strings and they are about one year old now. Guess I should start here.
If you do change strings, try to find out what gauge of strings came on it from new, manufacturers website maybe. It’s not that you can’t put something else on but you could run into set up issues such as the slots in the nut being too small (if you bought thicker strings) or affecting the tension on the neck which would alter the guitar action.
Before anyone shouts at me, I said “could” cause issues - in some cases changing string gauges makes very little difference. For someone who isn’t proficient with this stuff, saying the same is safest
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A lot of people play with everything at 10 in which case it doesn’t matter much. Old school players (i.e. me) play on the controls to use the volume to clean up or increase gain etc. so at least they should work properly.
If you’re just starting now, don’t practice with the electric unplugged: may introduce bad habits about not muting strings correctly, etc. If you need it quiet for night practice, or are still too n00b to feel good playing it out loud (I know I was when I started), then get something which allows you to play from headphones. See this thread for some good discussion and options for low-volume amps.
Or, if you’re not yet ready to pick an amp, what I did when starting was to get myself a Boss GT-1 effects box. It allows me to play/practice with headphones, have many different “patches” for different sounds, and it’s fully customizable. Plus, it has a USB audio interface, which is great for recording; later when you get an amp you can still use it as your stompbox.
Coils: I have an HSS strat as well; when I started with Justinguitar I used almost solely the middle, single-coil pickup, as it sounded best for open chords to my ears. It was only when I got to the lesson on power chords (and adding some distortion) that I started using the humbucker pickup on the bridge position.
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I thought it was the other way around? 
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Oh it is lol
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I followed Justins explanation about Boss Katana 50. I got Mk.2 version and I made sound how I want. I can play power chords and they sound good to me now. Also I changed strings on my guitar because I had prefabricated and one year old.
Tried to connect Koss Porta Pro with plug adapter from 3.5mm jack and it works great. So I am pretty satisfied now with sound. Gonna explore it more. 
I practiced unplugged only for learning acoustic. Its strange using for electric, but its working for me, but now I am exploring electrics sounds great too and I wanna dive in more.
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