Direct-through switch is a guitar mod, popular in Stratocasters and Fat Strats. It's designed to send the pickup signal directly to the jack, by omitting all pots. It makes the tone brighter and more dynamic.
Usually, it's made from a push-pull pot, what is good if you don't want to lose any function of the Stratocaster tone control. It this article, I would like to show you a little bit different version of this great guitar mod. It's a direct- through SW based on an quick to use toggle.
Diagram:
The biggest advantage of a toggle, over a push-pull, is that it's more heavy-duty and really quick to use. You don't need to care about precision of move. One quick click, and you've got the function on.
The toggle (DPDT switch), in this guitar wiring, is in the place which usually belongs to the second tone pot. To save the tone control function for the middle pickup, I modded the connections of the first tone pot. In this project, it can control the neck and the middle pickup signal.
On most selector positions, the wiring will be working just like in a typical Strat. The neck+middle configuration tone will be a little bit brighter. It's because there are two potentiometers, not three.
The pickup signal will go directly to the output when the toggle will be in the up-position. You can wire the SW inversely if you like.
It's a quite simple and inexpensive guitar mod. It's usually known as a Stratocaster wiring modification, but It can be done in almost any guitar with a Strat style pickup selector.
