Under the hood

Outwardly, it looks like the usual threecontrol Stratocaster setup, but only the five-way lever switch and the master volume function the same. The middle knob operates a master treble control (a standard tone control that shunts off the high-end to ground via a 0.022microfarad cap), while the lowest tone knob is the bass-cut control, which on our Skyhawk uses two capacitors, a 0.0022microfarad between the input and wiper lugs, and a 0.001microfarad between the wiper to ground. The pots themselves are CTS, the volume is 250kohm (with a 0.001microfarad treble bleed cap), the treble control uses a 500kohm, and the bass control uses a 1meg-ohm Mighty Mite.

The Expander circuit – commonly known today as the ‘Seven Sound Mod’ for Strats – is very simple, too. In up position (towards the player), the two pickups are joined in parallel, giving both pickups on in position 1 and 5 of the five-way lever switch. In positions 2 and 4, both are added to the middle pickup. In the centre, position 3 of the five-way – wherever the Expander switch is set – the middle pickup is voiced.

The Magnetic Field Design pickups were originally granted a patent in 1980. Unlike a Fender single coil they are more like a humbucking coil where the coil sits over a bar magnet (ceramic) and uses soft iron poles (not rod magnets) – a two-piece design where the central ‘bolt’ is height adjustable. The whole assembly sits in a ‘U’ shaped metallic keeper plate. The Skyhawk’s single-coil MFDs have DCRs of 5.18 (bridge), 5.19 (middle) and 5.30kohms (neck); the Z Coil designs actually use two smaller coils, linked as a humbucker, with DCRs of 4.91 (bridge), 4.92 (middle) and 4.84kohms (neck).