Unlock more sounds from your guitar with ObsidianWire® wiring features.
From simple solderless upgrades to advanced pickup switching, coil splitting and series/parallel wiring, ObsidianWire gives you more control over your guitar without sacrificing the familiar feel of traditional controls.
Choose the features that suit your pickups, playing style and guitar — from practical improvements like treble bleed and smoother control tapers to advanced switching systems that can dramatically expand your tonal range.
Explore Solderless Guitar Wiring →
What Guitar Wiring Features Are Available?
ObsidianWire offers a range of wiring options designed to change the way your guitar controls pickups, volume and tone. Some features add new pickup combinations, while others improve control response or make installation and future modifications easier.
- Solderless guitar wiring
- Treble bleed
- Smooth volume & tone controls
- Blender wiring
- 7-way switching
- 4-way Telecaster switching
- Coil splitting
- Tuned SC coil splitting
- Automatic coil splitting
- Series / parallel switching
- Phase switching
- Vintage 50s wiring
- 60s Plus wiring
- Smart Tone Control
- 250k / 500k volume loading
- Pure Output
- Kill / mute switches
- Stutter switching
- Intelligent pickup switching
- Pro-grade components
Solderless Guitar Wiring
Professional guitar electronics without the soldering.
ObsidianWire Pro-Wired™ harnesses use Plug, Play & Enjoy™ connectors to make installation and compatible pickup changes quick and straightforward. The electronics are professionally assembled before they reach your guitar.
- Install without traditional soldering
- Easy compatible pickup changes
- Professionally assembled electronics
- Clean, consistent installation
- No need to work around a hot soldering iron
- Ideal for home guitar upgrades
Shop Solderless Guitar Wiring →
Treble Bleed
Keep your guitar clear when you turn down.
A treble bleed circuit helps retain high-frequency content as you reduce the guitar's volume, helping prevent the sound from becoming dull or muddy at lower volume settings.
- Retains clarity at lower volume settings
- Helps maintain articulation
- Makes the volume control more useful
- Particularly useful when controlling amp gain from the guitar
- Included in many ObsidianWire harness designs
Smooth Volume & Tone Controls
More usable control from 0 to 10.
ObsidianWire uses carefully selected components and custom circuit modifications to create smoother, more predictable volume and tone control response.
- Smoother control taper
- More predictable adjustment
- More usable range across the control
- Easier small adjustments while playing
- Designed around practical guitar use
Blender Wiring
Add pickup combinations your standard switch can't access.
Blender wiring allows an additional pickup to be blended into the selected pickup combination. On Strat-style guitars, this can provide access to combinations such as neck + bridge while retaining a familiar 5-way selector.
ObsidianWire's Universal Blender is designed for SSS, HSS, HSH and HHH configurations and incorporates intelligent switching.
- Adds additional pickup combinations
- Access neck + bridge together
- Retains the familiar 5-way switch
- Provides variable pickup blending
- Available for multiple Strat pickup configurations
Explore the Universal Blender →
7-Way Pickup Switching
Add additional pickup combinations to a familiar control layout.
7-way switching expands the pickup combinations available from a conventional 5-way Strat-style system, depending on the particular wiring configuration.
- Adds additional pickup combinations
- Can provide neck + bridge operation
- Can provide additional multi-pickup combinations
- Retains a familiar primary selector
- Can be incorporated into compatible existing controls
4-Way Telecaster Switching
Add a series-powered sound to a traditional Telecaster.
ObsidianWire's 4-Way Tele wiring retains the traditional Tele pickup combinations while adding a fourth position where the neck and bridge pickups operate in series. This creates a higher-output, fuller sound with a humbucker-like character.
- Retains traditional Tele pickup combinations
- Adds neck + bridge in series
- Produces a fuller, higher-output sound
- Provides another rhythm or lead option
- Does not require adding another pickup
Typical 4-way positions
- Bridge
- Bridge + Neck — parallel
- Neck
- Bridge + Neck — series
Coil Splitting
Turn a compatible humbucker into a single-coil-style sound.
Coil splitting allows one coil of a compatible humbucker to be disconnected, giving access to a lower-output, more single-coil-like sound.
- Adds a different tonal character
- Provides lower-output pickup sounds
- Creates greater contrast between pickup settings
- Useful for HH and HSS guitars
- Can be controlled through compatible switching systems
Requires a compatible multi-conductor humbucker.
Tuned SC™ Coil Split
A fuller alternative to a conventional full coil split.
ObsidianWire Tuned SC™ uses a tuned partial-split approach designed to retain more output and midrange than a conventional full coil split. The result is a fuller single-coil-style sound with greater output and body.
- Retains more output than a conventional full split
- Retains more midrange and body
- Produces a fuller single-coil-style sound
- Useful for modern humbucker guitars
- Available as a compatible Flex-Series upgrade
Automatic Coil Splitting
Let the wiring select the appropriate pickup configuration.
Compatible HSS and HSH wiring systems can automatically manage the humbucker configuration when it is combined with single-coil pickups, reducing the need for additional controls.
- No separate coil-split switch required in compatible systems
- Keeps the control layout simple
- Automatically manages compatible pickup combinations
- Useful for HSS and HSH guitars
Series / Parallel Switching
Add thicker, higher-output pickup combinations.
Series wiring connects pickups differently from the familiar parallel configuration, producing a thicker and higher-output sound. It is particularly useful when you want another powerful tonal option without adding another pickup.
- Adds a thicker pickup sound
- Increases output in compatible configurations
- Adds additional midrange character
- Useful for rhythm and lead sounds
- Provides a strong contrast to parallel wiring
Series / Parallel switching is also available as an advanced Flex-Series™ upgrade.
Phase Switching
Add an unmistakable out-of-phase pickup sound.
Phase switching changes the electrical phase relationship between compatible pickups. When the pickups are combined, this produces the distinctive thinner and more cutting character associated with out-of-phase wiring.
- Adds another distinctive pickup sound
- Particularly useful with two-pickup configurations
- Useful for rhythm, funk and cutting lead tones
- Can be incorporated into compatible switching controls
Vintage 50s Wiring
Change the way your volume and tone controls interact.
Vintage 50s wiring changes the relationship between the volume and tone controls, giving the guitar a different response as the volume control is reduced.
- Classic-style control interaction
- Changes the relationship between volume and tone
- Useful for players who actively ride the volume control
- Available in compatible Les Paul wiring systems
60s Plus Wiring
Designed to retain clarity as you roll back.
60s Plus wiring provides a different volume and tone interaction from traditional 50s wiring, with an emphasis on retaining clarity as the volume control is reduced.
- Helps retain treble at lower volume
- Maintains clarity when cleaning up an overdriven sound
- Provides an alternative to Vintage 50s wiring
- Useful for players who work the guitar's volume control
Smart Tone Control
A tone control designed for a more useful sweep.
ObsidianWire's Smart Tone Control is designed to combine the open character of a 500k control at maximum setting with the more natural sweep associated with a 250k tone control through the rest of the range.
- Open sound at maximum setting
- Natural-feeling tone adjustment
- More usable control range
- Designed for practical guitar use
- Available on compatible Flex-Series™ systems
250k / 500k Volume Loading
Choose the volume loading that suits your pickups.
Different pickup types can respond differently to volume-pot loading. Compatible ObsidianWire systems provide options designed to work with different pickup configurations.
- 250k loading can provide a warmer response
- 500k loading allows a more open, brighter response
- Useful for different pickup types
- Particularly relevant to mixed pickup configurations
Pure Output
Keep the signal path as direct as possible.
Pure Output configurations are designed for guitars where the player wants to minimise the loading associated with a conventional tone circuit.
- Simple direct signal path
- Removes conventional tone-control loading
- Useful for simple guitar control layouts
- Can be incorporated into compatible wiring configurations
Kill & Mute Switches
Instantly interrupt your guitar signal.
Compatible ObsidianWire systems allow kill and mute switches to be integrated into the wiring, giving you instant control over the guitar's output.
- Instant signal cut
- Useful for muting between songs
- Useful for performance effects
- Can be integrated into compatible Flex-Series™ systems
- Available with solderless connections on compatible systems
Flex-Series™ systems are specifically designed to accept compatible kill, mute and stutter switch upgrades.
Stutter Switching
Create rhythmic on/off effects directly from your guitar.
A stutter switch rapidly interrupts the guitar signal, allowing you to create rhythmic gating and performance effects without relying on an external pedal.
- Creates rhythmic stutter effects
- Useful for experimental playing
- Operated directly from the guitar
- Available as a compatible Flex-Series™ upgrade
Intelligent Pickup Switching
More useful pickup combinations without unnecessary controls.
ObsidianWire uses intelligent switching in compatible systems to manage pickup combinations and circuit behaviour automatically. The Universal Blender, for example, supports multiple pickup configurations while providing intelligent switching.
- More useful pickup combinations
- Can simplify the control layout
- Reduces the need for additional switches
- Helps optimise compatible pickup configurations
Pro-Grade Guitar Wiring Components
Premium components, professionally assembled.
ObsidianWire uses custom-specified and professional-grade components throughout its wiring systems, including custom CTS® potentiometers, Oak® and Schaller® switches and PureTone® or Switchcraft® jacks.
- Custom Obsidian® CTS® potentiometers
- Oak® and Schaller® switching components
- PureTone® and Switchcraft® jacks
- Polyester film capacitors
- Professionally assembled wiring
- Consistent, repeatable construction
Choose Your Guitar Wiring
The right wiring depends on your guitar, pickups and the sounds you want to add. Start with your guitar type, then choose the wiring features that make sense for your setup.
Stratocaster Wiring
Explore solderless Strat wiring, Blender systems, HSS/HSH options, additional pickup combinations and more.
Telecaster Wiring
Explore traditional Tele wiring, 4-way switching and other Telecaster wiring upgrades.
Les Paul Wiring
Explore advanced Les Paul wiring options including volume and tone control configurations and additional pickup switching.
Flex-Series™
Build a flexible solderless wiring system and add compatible upgrades such as Tuned SC™, Series / Parallel switching, kill switches and other features over time.
Loaded Pickguards
Get a complete pre-wired Stratocaster pickguard with your chosen electronics professionally installed.
Loaded Control Plates
Upgrade your Telecaster with a complete pre-wired control plate and professional-grade electronics.
Build Your Own Guitar Wiring Setup
Choose the features that make sense for your guitar.
You don't have to completely redesign your guitar to get more from its electronics. ObsidianWire offers everything from straightforward solderless wiring through to advanced systems incorporating pickup switching, coil splitting, series/parallel options and tone-shaping features.
- Strat: 5-way + Blender + Treble Bleed
- Strat HSS: Intelligent Switching + Coil Split + Treble Bleed
- Tele: 4-way + Series + Treble Bleed
- HH: Tuned SC™ + Series / Parallel
- Les Paul: Advanced pickup switching + Vintage/Modern wiring options
- Single Humbucker: Treble Bleed + Tuned SC™ + Kill Switch
- Flex-Series™: Selectable controls + Tuned SC™ + Series / Parallel + Kill / Mute options
Find Your Solderless Wiring Upgrade →
Frequently Asked Questions
What does guitar wiring change?
Guitar wiring can change which pickups work together, how pickups interact with each other, how volume and tone controls respond, and how much tonal variety is available from the instrument. Features such as coil splitting, series/parallel switching, Blender wiring and 4-way switching can add new pickup combinations without changing the pickups themselves.
What is solderless guitar wiring?
Solderless guitar wiring uses connectors instead of requiring traditional soldered pickup and control connections. ObsidianWire Pro-Wired™ harnesses are professionally assembled and use Plug, Play & Enjoy™ connectors for compatible installations.
What is a treble bleed?
A treble bleed circuit helps retain high-frequency clarity when you turn down your guitar's volume control. This can make the volume control more useful for cleaning up an overdriven amplifier.
What is a 4-way Telecaster wiring harness?
A 4-way Telecaster harness adds a fourth pickup combination where the neck and bridge pickups operate in series. This provides a fuller, higher-output sound while retaining the traditional Telecaster combinations.
What is a Blender control on a Stratocaster?
A Blender control allows you to mix an additional pickup into the selected pickup combination. On compatible Stratocaster configurations, this can provide neck + bridge operation that isn't normally available from a standard 5-way switch.
What is Tuned SC™?
Tuned SC™ is ObsidianWire's tuned partial coil-split system. It is designed to retain more output and fuller mids than a conventional full coil split while providing a more single-coil-like sound.
Can I add wiring features later?
With compatible Flex-Series™ systems, yes. The Flex-Series™ is designed around a modular system that allows compatible upgrades to be added later using its click-in architecture.
Find Your Wiring Upgrade
Whether you're looking for a simple solderless replacement or a complete guitar electronics upgrade, ObsidianWire gives you the flexibility to choose the wiring features that suit your instrument.
