Deaf Eddie Chromacaster

Rotary switch to add various pickup combinations to the five way traditional strat type switch

Squier Stratocaster 50th anniversary.
Added a fat steel block, ferraglide saddles,graphtech bridge, new springs,GFS 64 Texas Staggers,orange drops .047, and CTS 250k pots.
Fresh rewire and this switch.

Great mod.Sound is stock Strat on 5way plus you get:
neck and bridge in and out phase, parallel and series combinations
neck, middle and bridge combinations again on a variety of in/out of phase.
Master tone proves more usefull in my view. I would say most if not all are usefull sounds, just depends on your imagination, your fingers and some creative pedals if you need more.If Jimmy did it with a 5 way a fuzz and a wah....

No other Strat of mine will be without it.
It is a simple but effective way of adding colors to your guitar playing.
Fast deliverey, well packed, good instructions and I even got a cool free pick!

Enjoy it so much I am currently modding my Ephi 335 to Eddies Gibby ES-333 The King schematic

It's basically just a rotary switch that you wire your bridge pickup onto and then wire in parallel with your mid and neck pickups.

I put this onto a 50's daphne blue stratocaster that I modified with graph-tech saddles and string tree, locking vintage style tuners from Stew-Mac, a nice vintage pearloid pickguard and the Fender SCN's. I also copper taped the cavities and star grounded the wiring. This is a pretty (and sick!) looking guitar. It's a sleeper.

Well, first off, the stock Fender was crappy sounding. I didn't realize why it sounded different than I remembered until I opened it up and saw that the Mexicans had soldered the middle pickup onto the neck pickup's spot on the 5 way and vice versa. After I ditched the stock pickups and wired the Chromacaster in with the SCN's, it was a world of difference. In a few clicks of the switch and a stomp on the pedal or two I can go from one end of the guitar sound spectrum to the other. Literally going from ultra-thin tele country double stop stuff to overblown Metallica And Justice for All distortion on the same, pretty-boy Buddy Holly-looking innocent little guitar that the girlies love the look of. I'm a stud!

This thing is crazy! You might do well to check out his other switches, namely the Memphis Mods one, to get some different tones out of it. Just check his page to listen to the sounds of all of these. Once you start playing with this you wind up wanting a 50 position switch with 9000 different in phase out of phase series parallel sounds.

Deaf Eddie Chromacaster Mod

Stock American 62 Reissue Stratocaster

The Chromacaster is a remarkable and inexpensive device for adding unexpected, interesting, and completely useable tonal options to a Strat, without changing the stock appearance or tones. The trade-off? The bottom tone pot controls the tone of all the pickups???but for most Strat players, this is hardly a compromise. Being able to arrange your pickups in series or parallel (in/out of phase) combinations so quickly and easily more than makes up for a master tone pot. It's a great invention, and I wonder why all Strats don't come with the Chromacaster stock.

Installing the Chromacaster is not difficult, if you are good at using a soldering iron and can follow simple wiring directions. Even with the color-coated wires and matching diagrams, I had some trouble at first; but I emailed for help, and I received a comprehensive and prompt response from Emmett. Ultimately, I decided to replace/rebuild my guitar???s wiring harness, because I could not get the Chromie to work properly. I???m certain that I made a silly mistake, like an accidental drip of solder that grounded something. I enjoy working on guitars (most guitar players I???ve met do, too), but I admit that I???m not the best at it. However, after starting from scratch with the wiring harness, the Chromie worked perfectly. So, for those bumbling amateurs out there (like me), I wouldn???t be dissuaded from giving the Chromie a shot. If you have problems with the installation, Emmett will provide great support. It was easy to tell that he believes in his product and wants his customers to be satisfied.

Not a pickup, but a prewired rotary switch that works with your Stratocaster's 5-way pickup selector. It adds 11 new pickup combinations to your Strat's "stock" 5 options. The added tones include Telecaster, humbucker (coils in series), and out-of-phase sounds. See the designer/vendor's tone chart at:
http://deaf-eddie.net/tonecharts.html

Squier Affinity Stratocaster, upgraded with Fender American-Series Strat pickups and StewMac electronics.

The Chromacaster normally replaces one tone pot, with the second tone pot rewired as master tone. But I chose to keep both tone pots (rewiring the middle pickup's pot to the bridge pickup). The designer/vendor sent me modified schematics that allowed me to add the Chromacaster as a fourth knob.

Works just as promised: Adds a wide range of new Tele, Gibson, and specialty tones to your Strat -- making it a much more versatile instrument. The out-of-phase tones range from Mark Knopfler clicks to a very thin "disco" shimmer.

I can't overstate designer/vendor "Deaf Eddie's" (Emmett Brown's) generosity. He's designed several ingenious switches that he sells at very modest prices. His Website gives away many other useful (do-it-yourself) modification instructions. He's rebuilt and hot-rodded dozens of guitars, and eagerly shares his acquired wisdom and advice.

Best of all, he's incredibly flexible and patient about customizing his switches and installation instructions to match his customers' desires. Several of the switch variants he offers were originally custom-built for a single customer. So, as a public service to the performing community, he provides custom solutions at mass-produced prices. His switches work great and open up a world of new sounds.

Pickup features: single coil
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: American Strat
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: tone control
Other pickups on guitar: Pete Biltoft
Artists using this pickup: Whalebone Bill
You musical style(s): Blues
Reason for pickup change: Tone

Perceived output level: out standing !
Tone: balanced
Sonic evaluation: Fender Strat/Peavey

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Blues/all positions are out standing!

Comments: Yes, 49 years, This is the greatest thing to happen to my playing ever! This switch has eliminated having to carry 3 or 4 guitars to a job in order to get the tones I most use. Now I only have to take my Strat, and my Tele. I would tell all guitar players, BUY ONE or TWO !!
Whalebone Bill... Music City Records..

Pickup features: sixteen different pickup combinations
Impedence or other specs: passive guitar switch replaces middle tone pot in strat type guitar

Model of guitar or bass: actually its a mohagony body goncalo alves lam top stratocaster
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: you replace the middle tone pot on your pickguard with eddies switch
Other pickups on guitar: then click away and blow your mind on the tones
Artists using this pickup: everyone with a strat or three pickup guitar could benefit from this switch
You musical style(s): blues,classic,jazzblues ie jimmy smith and his b3
Reason for pickup change: cause i couldnt live without it and call myself a toneman

Perceived output level: the same as stock and a little more or less
Tone: ill agree with eddie himself on the thin out of phase tones but i personally like them very gibsony
Sonic evaluation: im using fender custom shop texas special strat pups with 250k pots
22mf capacitor and a fender twin reverb and this switch is killer

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: for anyone looking for more tones to play with you got to have it

Comments: you know the answer im satisfied

Pickup features: Passive six position rotary switch for strat type guitars
Impedence or other specs: Passive

Model of guitar or bass: early 80's Tokai 57 Strat Copy
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Replaces a tone control
Other pickups on guitar: Fender alnico
Artists using this pickup: None now, but I predict everyone will once they hear it!
You musical style(s): Blues, R&B, Country, Original, Altered Tunings, Rock, Gospel, Soul, Etc....
Reason for pickup change: Looking for more versatilty and abundant ( 16 in all! ) useable tones.

Perceived output level: The series settings give you humbucker girth and power while retaining single coil sheen.
Tone: You have to hear it to believe it! Fantastic tones abound!
Sonic evaluation: One fine day, I happened upon the web page of deaf-eddie. The page was quite entertaining due to eddie's wit, brains and candor. He described his ongoing quest for tone and the different wiring forays made to his guitars to provide said tone. One of the things he mentioned was a Chromocaster. The Chromocaster is a six position rotary switch that replaces your middle ( or back ) tone control. It is very easy to install and wire up. When done, your other tone control becomes a master tone. What the switch does is this: Actually, I'll let the manual explain it as it does a much better job than I! " The traditional Strat 5-way selector switch gives you only 5 of the possible 7 parrallel combinations, and NO series or out of phase connections. With the Chromocaster, you can get all seven parrelle combinations, PLUS two series settings with variations, PLUS two out-of-phase settings with variations, for a total of sixteen
( yes 16!! ) different combinations. That is a lot of tones!!" Best of all...NO NEW HOLES! You just put your old tone knob back on the Chromocaster switch, and your Strat looks completely stock!" I could take up a bunch of space and list how the 6 different notches work, but you would be better served going to www.deaf-eddie.com and checking out the very well written, very informative users manual and guide. That will explain everything you need to know about this incredible little tone device. In the past, I've always used a mini-switch to turn the bridge pickup on and off so I could get the neck and bridge pickups together and all three pickups at the same time. The Chromocaster does all that and Sooooo much more! Wow, I feel like I'm doing an infomercial.."But wait!! Order today and.....". Honestly, this is about the coolest bad boy to come along in years. To be able to get the series, out-of-phase, all 3, neck and bridge...and in a variety of combo's is just to sweet. Deaf-Eddie also makes a 3 postition switch called the Fatocaster. A lower cost switch that gives all 3 pickups, bridge & neck, series/parralell and out of phase ( I believe )positions. I happen to like having all 16 sounds at my fingertips. Not that I'll use em all, ( some of the out of phase tones a thin, nasaly and weak ) but for recording, the more tones available the better. You never know where inspiration will strike!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I mainly play with the Worship Team at my church now-a-days and jam around the house. The added versatility provided with the chromocaster matches well with the stock Fender pickups I have. I can only imagine how good it would sound with a set of Fralins, Van Zandts or Kinmans! I would love to hear the Chromocaster in conjunctions with a set of Bill Lawrence pickups and a Q Filter! They may put you in jail for that one! It may be too good!!

Comments: If you have not caught the gist of my review by now, let me just say...THIS THING RULES! for way less than the price of a good pickup you can turn your strat into the guitar Fender should be putting out. I really want to keep this thing quiet so no one will catch on to what a fantastic difference this makes in your tone(s), but in good concious, I can't. All strat players should have one in their guitar. It just makes sense ( to me anyway ) to use the pickups in your guitar to their full capability. By installing a Chromocaster, you are! Do yourself a favor and go to www.deaf-eddie right now and order one. You'll be glad you did!

Pickup features: not a pickup, but a pickup switch
Impedence or other specs: n/a

Model of guitar or bass: "Parts-O-Caster" Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: switch replaces one tone control
Other pickups on guitar: Rio Grande Dual Calibrated Set
Artists using this pickup: who knows?
You musical style(s): rock/blues/country
Reason for pickup change: Wanted more tones from a Strat three-pup setup

Perceived output level: "Stock" settings sound the same, series settings are slightly hotter, out-of-phase slightly less gain
Tone: Tone? TONE! Ballsy as an LP, thinner than a $69 Tele copy - you name it.
Sonic evaluation: The Chromacaster is a six-position rotary switch that opens up the tone-floodgate in yer garden-variety Strat (and combined with he Rio Grandes I put in this one, it's, like, tone nirvana!). This switch gives my Strat SIXTEEN pickup combos - it's a cover-band picker's delight!
Say, remember that kinda '"super quack" tone Clapton used for the "After Midnight" guitar solo? It's in there (all three parallel)! How about Albert King's stinging-but -fat tone? It's in there (bridge and neck series/out of phase)! Tele tones? Try the bridge and neck parallel. Thinner? Got 'em - try some of the out of phase settings. Gibson tones? Try the bridge and neck series (my favorite) or one the other series settings.
It's an easy install; comes with instructions, drawings, pre-wired and ready to go, simply remove one of your tone controls and replace it with the switch. If you can solder, you can do this. Put your old tone knob back on, and it's INVISIBLE to the eye, but a FEAST for the EAR!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This switch is a "must have" if you need a LOT of different tones for stage OR studio.

Comments: Use a Strat in the studio? Gotta get one of these!