"SHREDDER" GUITARS (Hum-Single-Single configuration)

A list of ELECTRICAL CONNECTION DIAGRAMS for various H-S-S guitars is contained further down on this page. You can click on that which matches your guitar.

These "shredder" guitars include various guitars like Jackson, Brian Moore, BC Rich, and so many other brands too numerous to mention. Most of these guitars are similar electrically to the Fender Stratocaster, in that they use a similar 5-position pickup selector for the three pickups. But, they usually have two controls, master tone and master volume. Furthermore, they don't have pickguards. The single-coil pickups are mounted directly into their respective pickup cavities with woodscrews. The bridge humbucker is mounted in the traditional trim ring.

The good news is that most of these guitars have a generously-sized electronics cavity, making the installation rather easy.

The bad news is that most of the shredder guitars have only two control knobs, master volume and master tone. If you replace both of these with our push-pull controls, you will lose the original control function of one of the knobs. This is because the Sustainiac Harmonic Mode control uses both the pot and the switch sections of the push-pull control. (ON/OFF control uses only the switch portion, so the original guitar control that this replaces will retain its original function. So, you will end up with a guitar having either no tone control or no volume control. Many people play with the tone control in full treble position all the time. Removing the tone control simply places the guitar in full treble position. This is what most people elect to do when they choose push-pull controls.

There are two ways around this: (1) You can drill one new hole for the Harmonic Mode push-pull control, keeping the volume and tone control functions intact. The electronics cavities of the shredder guitars usually have ample room to do this. (2) You can drill two new holes and choose the optional toggle switch controls at no extra cost.

FURTHER INSTALLATION NOTES, BATTERY-MOUNTING, ETC: Go the INSTALLATION SECTION for more general info on installing the Sustainiac Stealth PRO sustainer.

SHREDDER GUITARS WITH 5-WAY SELECTORS: Most of these guitars use standard Strat-type pickup switching, and a standard 5-position "CRL" switch, no coil-tapping. Others use an "import" version of the 5-position switch. These switches can be identified by having 8 contacts, all in a single row. Generally, they are enclosed in plastic so that the internal switch operation cannot be viewed. The CRL switch also has eight contacts, but they are mounted in two rows of four. Furthermore, the switch operation can be viewed because the switch inner workings are not enclosed. We have drawings for these switches also. Our recommendation is that if you have a guitar with an import-type switch, that you use the sustainer hookup as an opportunity to replace the switch. Our experience is that the CRL switches will generally last the life of a guitar, where the plastic-enclosed switches will fail within a few years.

LIST OF PDF INSTALLATION DRAWINGS FOR H-S-S GUITARS This list is for the most common guitar models. We have other drawings not contained on this list. If you don't see what you want, send us an email. We have a large library of installation drawings. Once in a while, we come up with something we don't have. Then, we create a new drawing.