How do I Install a Stratocaster® Harness?

STEP 1

Remove your strings

First things first, take off your strings. You don't need to remove all of them if you don't want to, but at minimum, loosen them enough to get them out of your way. This gives you room to work and keeps you from accidentally burning a string with your soldering iron.

Once the strings are off, wipe down your fretboard. You're already here, might as well.

STEP 2

Remove the pickguard

On a Strat®, almost everything lives on the pickguard: all three pickups, the volume pot, both tone pots, and the 5-way switch are all mounted to it as one unit. That's actually good news, once you get the screws out, the whole assembly comes out together.

Unscrew all the pickguard screws (there are usually 11 to 13 of them) and set them aside somewhere you won't lose them. A small bowl or magnetic tray works great. Gently lift the pickguard up from the bridge end first, it's still tethered to the guitar by the ground wire running to the tremolo claw in the back cavity, so don't yank it. Flip it up and rest it on a towel next to the guitar so you can see the underside.

Finally, Desolder it or snip the Tremolo wire close to the old harness, you'll reattach it to the new one in a later step.

STEP 3

Take a photo (seriously)

Before you touch a single wire, pull out your phone and take a few photos. Get close-ups of how everything's connected: which pickup wire goes where on the switch, how the ground wire from the tremolo claw attaches to the volume pot, and how the output jack is wired. This is your safety net. If you get lost halfway through, you'll have a reference. You can also label wires with masking tape if that helps. Write things like "bridge pickup," "middle pickup," "neck hot," or "trem ground" so you're not guessing later.

STEP 4

Desolder the old electronics

Time to disconnect the old stuff. Start with the output jack, it's the easiest one to knock out first since it's out on its own in the jack cup, away from the crowded control cavity. On a Strat®, the jack sits in its own little jack cup on the lower bout, connected to the control cavity by a wire that runs through the body. It usually has two wires soldered to it, one hot, one ground. The simplest approach is to disconnect right at the jack itself, heat each solder joint with your iron and gently pull the wire free once it melts, or just snip the wires close to the jack if they're stubborn. You can deal with the other end later once the harness is out.

Next, desolder the three pickup wires (bridge, middle, neck) from the old switch. Heat the joint, remove the wire, and set it aside. Keep track of which wire came from which pickup, this matters more on a Strat® since all three feed into the same 5-way switch.

STEP 6/7

Install the harness and solder in pickups

Your 920D harness comes pre-wired on a plate, which means the pots, 5-way switch, and capacitor are already connected. All you need to do is mount the harness into the guard, then wire in the pickups, the output jack, and the trem ground.

If your 920D harness came on its own pickguard, transfer your three pickups over, following the height and spacing of your original setup as a starting point. Route the pickup wires toward the switch the same way the original harness did, and make sure nothing is pulled tight, pickups need slack to move when you adjust their height later.

Now connect your pickups to the new harness. Your 920D harness will include an instruction card with labeled connection points for bridge, middle, and neck, match each pickup to its corresponding spot on the 5-way switch. Each pickup has a hot wire and a ground wire. The hot wire goes to its designated lug on the 5-way switch. The ground wire gets soldered to the back of the volume pot, where it joins the rest of the ground connections.

Here's how to make a clean solder joint: pull back a tiny bit of insulation off the wire if needed, and tin the wire by applying a small amount of solder to it. Then hold the wire against the connection point, heat both the wire and the pot or lug with your iron, and apply just enough solder to make a solid connection. It should look shiny and smooth, not blobby, no need to press hard, just make sure the iron is touching both the wire and the pot or lug. Don't hold the iron on the joint for too long, a few seconds is enough.

STEP 8

Connect the output jack

Your output jack needs two connections: the hot wire from your harness and the ground wire. Since the jack lives out in its own cup on the body, fish the two wires from the jack cavity back through to the control cavity before soldering.

Solder these just like you did the pickups, heat the lug, apply solder if needed, make sure the connection is solid. Give the wires a gentle tug after they cool to make sure they're secure, then tuck any slack neatly so it doesn't get pinched when the jack cup goes back on.

STEP 9

Reattach the tremolo ground wire

This step is what keeps a Strat® quiet. Take the ground wire coming from the tremolo claw in the back cavity and solder it to the back of the volume pot on your new harness, alongside your other ground connections.

This is especially important on a Strat® because of the three single-coil pickups, skip this wire or get a cold joint here and you'll get noticeable hum and buzz, particularly in the "in-between" switch positions that are supposed to cancel hum.

STEP 11

Reassemble your guitar

Once everything's working, it's time to button it up. Carefully lower the pickguard back into place, tucking the tremolo ground wire and jack wires back into the body cavity as you go. Make sure no wires are getting pinched under the edge of the guard.

Screw the pickguard back down, but don't overtighten, you'll crack the plastic or strip the screw holes. Reattach the jack cup with its own screws.