Good setup? Complimentery? Etc...

[PhantomStranger]

Re: Good setup? Complimentery? Etc...

Awesome. I just took a peek and, by the looks of it, I can fit a humbucker in the bridge position. Thanks.
Ok so that brings me to the next question. What is the difference between the sh-6 and tb-6 Duncan Distortion? Is it just the dimentions?

What pickups would be a good combination in the middle and neck postions?

[Jeff_H]

Re: Good setup? Complimentery? Etc...

I also think probably Hot/Vintage/Cool rails will do what you want. Depending on what type of strat you have, it may be routed under the pickguard to accept a humbucker at the bridge, neck or perhaps both. Many are routed that way.

If that is the case, all you would need is a new pickguard and you could have a humbucker at the bridge, and then the rails in the neck and middle. A Custom or Distortion humbucker could really pull off a lot of the sounds you are talking about, and keep things tight since you are using dropped tunings. The vintage/cool rails would still be able to pull off some stratty, blues type stuff when you want it.

You can check to see how your strat is routed by removing the screws holding down the pickguard and lift it up. You'll probably have to loosen the strings, but you can peek under and see.

[Benjy_26]

Re: Good setup? Complimentery? Etc...

Consider yourself spanked, Artie. J/K

For what you want to do, the Hot Rails (bridge), Vintage Rails (mid), and Cool Rails (neck) is a combo that's pretty hard to beat. It'll do Santana all day with the CR at the neck, be heavy and hot at the bridge with the HR, and still have a decent strat sound in the middle and middle/ neck combo with the VR. Another plus is that you will always be humcancelling.

Slap a couple of push/pull pots in there to get the HR and CR to switch from series to parallel and you will have a ton of sound options at your disposal. Everything from Metal to Jazz, to snarky pseudo vintage strat tones.

Besides, a strat with 3 rails looks *****in'!

[PhantomStranger]

Re: Good setup? Complimentery? Etc...

Would the JB jr be a suitable pick-up for heavy, chunky, distorted kind of stuff, say like in the bridge position? neck?

[kelvin]

Re: Good setup? Complimentery? Etc...

i would try :
jb (b), sl59 (m) (n).
or
jb (b), ssl1 (m), sl59 (n).
or
jb / sl59 (b) , ssl1 (m) (n).

[PhantomStranger]

Re: Good setup? Complimentery? Etc...

ArtieToo, thanks for your feedback.

Anyone else have anymore suggestions, comment, on this matter?
I need all the help I can get with this decision.

[ArtieToo]

Re: Good setup? Complimentery? Etc...

Thanks for the suggestion. The thing is I don't think I will be purchasing another guitar in the near future. At the moment, I want something different, something with a different sound. I'm expecting to lose the Strat sound, I think that's what I'm aiming for. I'm looking for something new, different tones, and the overall sound of the guitar. I guess in a sense, this will be my "test" guitar. My entry into modifications, etc. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand what you're suggesting. My objective is to give it something new and alter what's already there.

Cool - in that case, what you we're originally suggesting, or what BornToShred suggested are all good options. I just ordered a Peavey Generation, myself, thats going to get a Cool Rails/Vintage Rails for the neck/middle. Not sure yet whats going into the bridge.

Hopefully, others will offer some more suggestions.

[PhantomStranger]

Re: Good setup? Complimentery? Etc...

Hi PhantomStranger - and welcome to the board. First off, don't let my high post count fool you. I've only been messing with aftermarket pickups in my guitars since last November - so not a ton of experience. However, one of the things I've picked up on, both from listening to the folks on this forum, and from my own observations with the few inexpensive guitars that I now have, is that it may be better to leave your Strat, well, "Strat-ish".

The pickups that you're considering using are all mini-humbuckers, and may alter the fundamental characteristics of your Strat. My point being - there are so many relatively inexpensive, yet decent, guitars on the market now, that you may want to consider keeping your Strat in its 3-single-coil configuration. Then, at some later time, acquire another guitar for humbucker operation. Its always fun to have a couple of axe's to choose from.

For your present guitar, maybe a set of single-coil, Alnico II Pro's for the neck/middle, with a Twangbanger in the bridge would yield a nice Stratty sound while not being very expensive. And it would keep your Strat a Strat.

Its just a thought. Others will be along to spank me if necessary.

Thanks for the suggestion. The thing is I don't think I will be purchasing another guitar in the near future. At the moment, I want something different, something with a different sound. I'm expecting to lose the Strat sound, I think that's what I'm aiming for. I'm looking for something new, different tones, and the overall sound of the guitar. I guess in a sense, this will be my "test" guitar. My entry into modifications, etc. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand what you're suggesting. My objective is to give it something new and alter what's already there.

[ArtieToo]

Re: Good setup? Complimentery? Etc...

Hi PhantomStranger - and welcome to the board. First off, don't let my high post count fool you. I've only been messing with aftermarket pickups in my guitars since last November - so not a ton of experience. However, one of the things I've picked up on, both from listening to the folks on this forum, and from my own observations with the few inexpensive guitars that I now have, is that it may be better to leave your Strat, well, "Strat-ish".

The pickups that you're considering using are all mini-humbuckers, and may alter the fundamental characteristics of your Strat. My point being - there are so many relatively inexpensive, yet decent, guitars on the market now, that you may want to consider keeping your Strat in its 3-single-coil configuration. Then, at some later time, acquire another guitar for humbucker operation. Its always fun to have a couple of axe's to choose from.

For your present guitar, maybe a set of single-coil, Alnico II Pro's for the neck/middle, with a Twangbanger in the bridge would yield a nice Stratty sound while not being very expensive. And it would keep your Strat a Strat.

Its just a thought. Others will be along to spank me if necessary.

[BornToShred]

Re: Good setup? Complimentery? Etc...

I would suggest

Hot Rails/Cool Rails/Cool Rails
or
JB jr./Lil' 59/Lil' 59

[PhantomStranger]

To start off, I have a Standard Fender Stratocaster, it's all stock, or whatever you want to call it. (S/S/S configuration)
It's my first guitar, and my only guitar at the moment.
I've thought about it and I've come to the conclusion that I want to change out the stock pick-ups and slap in some Seymour Duncans.
I've read through and search through part of this forum, up to page 13. I found alot of useful information. I'm not the most knowledgable when it comes to the eletrical specifications of guitars. So when I started reading, I was, well, you can imagine how confused I was with all the technical talk.
Anyway, I play mostly metal/rock stuff, standard to drop D and C tunings. I want to versital sound, something that can dish out the heavy low stuff, and at the same time have the capability to play bluesy stuff and clean up. Artist sounds that come to mind are Megadeth, Pantera, Santana, A Perfect Circle, System of a Down, stuff like that. I've looked and I have somewhat of an idea of what pick-ups might give me the sound I'm looking for. I could be totally wrong with this but here goes. Bridge: Hot Rails. Middle: Little '59. Neck: JB Jr. Now I don't know if that configuration compliments each other, or if it's crap. But that's why I'm asking for all your input, suggestions, answers.
Once I know what I want to replace the standard Strat pick-ups with comes all the other technical stuff, which I'm sure I'll need help sorting out. So, I've come to understand that with the pick-ups that I'll be installing, I will have to aslo change the 250k pot(s) to a 500k pot for maximun soundage? Now, would that be the Tone pots? or just the Volume? and is that fairly easy to do? I think I'm confident enough to perform the procedure with out burning down the house.
I'm sure I'll have alot more questions that need answers. I hope that some people will feel like answering them.

Thanks.

**Edit**
At the suggestion of Jeff_H, I have decided to change the original S/S/S configuration to an H/S/S config.
I'm leaning towards putting a Duncan Distortion into the bridge position. Now that leaves me with two single coil sized slots to fill. With my style of playing (see above) what would be suitable?
(1)Bridge: DD. Middle: Hot Rails. Neck: Cool Rails.
(2)Bridge: DD. Middle: Cool Rails. Neck: Hot Rails.
(3) ??? ??? ???

Considering the guitar I have; Would it be more advisable to get the Trembucker version or the original version?
Would there be a significant change in sound, tone, ect.?