Forgive my grammar but no such thing as a dumb question – except the ones that people won’t ask 🙂

I would suppose that your Strat has humbuckers in the neck & bridge positions with a typical Strat pickup in the middle
Usually, the first tone control, the middle knob, controls the tone of the neck pickup and the other tone control is for the middle pickup

See if you can pull up one of the pots, probably the volume pot, and it clicks into another position; if so, that is a coil split that will make the humbuckers into a single coil pickup, which will give you more of a Strat tone.

I’m uncertain on the switch so I’ll let someone else answer that

You have three pickups (neck/middle/bridge) — the Fender switch has three basic positions to select each pickup individually, PLUS two in-between positions/phases that allow you to combine the pickups (neck+middle/middle+bridge), which gives that very special, sort of hollow, Strat-like sound.

I’m not certain what the individual tone pots do — but in general, tone pots bleed the signal through a capacitor, draining off some of the high-end. (I tend to leave my tone pots on full, simply because I can’t be bothered fussing, but other people are more particular).

Electric guitars tend to be easier to play than acoustics (as you’ve no doubt already figured out), but I prefer to look at them as two different instruments, each designed to make a specific type of music.

Hi Jeff, ok hear goes, sound like you may have a ‘single coil’ in the middle, and a ‘humbucker’ in the neck and bridge. Humbucker’s look like two singles together.
So the selector when it’s pointing furthest down is just selecting the bridge pick up ( in your case a humbucker) .
When it’s in the next position up, it’s selecting both the humbucker and the middle single coil pick up.
When it’s in the middle it’s selecting only the middle single coil pick up.
When it’s in the next to the top position it’s selecting both the middle and neck humbucker pick ups.
And last but not least the top position is the neck pick up only.
As for the tone knobs these may vary , but generally the one furthest down controls the bottom three positions of the selector switch and the top tone knob controls the two top positions of the selector. Phew!
If in doubt have a play around, I’m sure if I’m wrong someone will say!
Mike.

Maybe this will help:

second try maybe this will help:

http://www2.fender.com/experience/tech-talk/the-stratocaster-pickup-selector-switch/

In regard to your statement – I thought geez I’m struggling with acoustic, I’ll never be able to do electric – let me say this

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Learning guitar takes time and it takes effort. I’m not a fan of Dream Theatre but I found a desktop wallpaper of John Petrucci with the caption – You don’t just sit on the couch and miraculously get better. You have to put the hours in. That wallpaper is on both of my PC as a reminder that I’ve got to keep practicing and working.
Its been proven that learning an instrument is less about talent and more about effort. Something like 15% talent and 85% perspiration.

As you are on this journey, be cautious about putting up billboards in your mind that will hinder you. If you look at the end of the journey from the starting line, you could get really discouraged. You can’t look at other players and let the thought ” I will never be as good….” prevail in your mind. How do you know if you will be that good or better if you work diligently?

Make a note where you are today and look at that note in six months. How much have you improved?

Congrats Jeff. Now you can spend a big chunck of your savings on amps and pedals, chasing after the perfect tone. lol

Some things you may not be aware of when it comes to electronic gear: (opinions vary)

1. A 4-6 watt tube amp is louder than a 50 watt solid state amp. If it has a line out, you can run it through a PA and gig with it.
2. Every time you double the output wattage of an amp, you increase max volume by only 3 decibels.
3. However, increasing speaker efficiency even a little, say, from around 96% to 99% can double the volume of any amp. Look up the efficiency rating of a Jensen P10R vs. a Celestian Greenback (G12H) vs. Celestian Bluebells (bulldogs) and you’ll see that you can do a lot with volume by switching speaker cabs. A little more efficiency goes a long way.
4. A cheap guitar paired with a good quality amp sounds better than an expensive guitar played through a crappy amp.
5. There is a trend toward high output (overwound) pickups. Also, active pickups. They will give you distortion, bite, and dirt without the need for a pedal. However, a good amp or a cheap pedal can do the same thing without sacrificing headroom for your clean, chimey tones. You may have to roll the volume down to 2 or less to clean up high output pickups, which takes you out of the mix. So get your dirt from pedals and 2 channel amps, not your pickups. (My opinion) Get the best clean sound possible out of your guitar with good volume and you’ll be in good shape. (I use ‘underwound’ Fender 57/62s, or Gibson 57 Classics)
6. When buying a tube amp, the fewer bells and whistles, (ie, tremolo, high/mid/bass tone knobs,reverb, etc) the better. All the knobs blead signal off to ground and often require another pre-amp tube to boost the signal you lost. The first thing that drops out are the lush even and odd order harmonics. A Vox AC4 or Fender Champ with only a volume knob is one of the richest sounds you’ll ever get from an amp. (Think Layla, from Clapton. Fender Champ)
7. Pre-amp tube distortion is buzzy, or , fizzy. Output tubes that are overdriven to breakup sound like heaven on earth. (can you tell, I’m a tube amp guy?) Any tube amp above 6 watts will be so loud in most rooms that you will have to drive the pre-amp tubes for your distortion, and use a master volume to dial back the volume. If you get a 2-6 watt tube amp, you can drive the output tubes (rich, lush distortion) without causing your ears to bleed. ( your wife may leave, but the neighbors shouldn’t protest)

I know I answered a bunch of questions you didn’t ask, and many have different opinions, but I wish someone would have told me these things early on in my electric guitar adventures. Good luck.

Bryce-AKguitar wrote:

That’s some good stuff Keith! That needs to be a standalone post to remind the rest of the Membership. Thanks for sharing that!

Here is the John Petrucci wallpaper if anyone is interested

In another thread, someone posted a video about practicing inspired by the book The Practice of Practice (which I just ordered, should have it by Thursday) — I believe the thread has the word “repetition” in the title.

I think the most important part of playing is having fun with it. If you find practicing a chore, then you’re doing it wrong — find something you WANT to practice.

That’s why I joined up here at AM not only is this site oriented toward the style I want to play (blues), but there are enough lessons that I can focus on the ones that interest me the most. AND Brian’s way of presenting the information breaks it all down into easy to digest chunks (which is one of the secrets of good practice, which Brian surely knows).