SSL-2 Bridge?

[ItsaBass]

Wait, that second statement is wrong too, the middle should be RWRP...

The second statement refers to the standard versions of the pickups, which are referred to as neck/middle/bridge, i.e. all the same. It's not talking about the packaged set.

RW/RP middle is optional when buying the pickups individually, in other words.

Buy a packaged set, and you don't get to choose to have a regular middle pickup. You get one RW/RP in the package.

It doesn't make sense to me that Duncan would wind a slightly overwound bridge pickup, but only supply it in sets. If they were doing that, they might as well just sell the SSL-1/2 as separate neck, middle, and bridge versions, and explain the main ways they can be configured: 1) Neck/neck/neck for true vintage style, 2) Neck/middle/neck for vintage style with 5-way switch hum canceling in positions 2 and 4. 3) Neck/middle/bridge for (2) with an overwound bridge, and 4) neck/neck/bridge for (1) with an overwound bridge.

Point being, I reckon the "bridge" version doesn't exist, and maybe never did. Because if it did, why on Earth wouldn't they be selling it separately, or at least marketing it with an accurate DCR?

The new product pages make this even more confusing. You can't just click on a pickup variant and go right to it. You need to select from drop-down menus, and the main description has to be used to speak about all variants of the pickup. Really cumbersome and potentially confusing.

Duncan needs to look at the DiMarzio site and learn a thing or three.

Also, I'll say it again: the Red Velvet makes the perfect slightly overwound Strat bridge pickup to go with two SSL-1s or SSL-2s. No reason to get stuck on having your guitar loaded with all Duncans. If they don't make what you want for the bridge spot, someone out there does.

[PFDarkside]

The second statement refers to the standard versions of the pickups, which are referred to as neck/middle/bridge, i.e. all the same. It's not talking about the packaged set.

RW/RP middle is optional when buying the pickups individually, in other words.

Buy a packaged set, and you don't get to choose to have a regular middle pickup. You get one RW/RP in the package.

It doesn't make sense to me that Duncan would include a slightly overwound bridge pickup, but only in sets. I reckon the thing doesn't exist, and maybe never did.

Oh I see, I thought that was all from the same product page for the loaded pickguard.

[DobieK]

This is really kind of weird and funny to me. I read posts all over the interweb that say SSL-1 or SSL-2 set is really the Stratty 50's sound, so I was hoping someone here would have an SSL-1 or SSL-2 calibrated set would be able let us know if the bridge pickup was actually higher DC resistance than the neck/bridge, but it seems nobody really uses a bridge SSL-1 or SSL-2.

[Clint 55]

There have been 50 page threads about this before. Either the bridge is exactly the same as the rest of them, or there's a mythical bridge model that noone on the forum actually owns that has like 10 more turns on it. So you either get clank or.. clank.

[ItsaBass]

I would venture to guess that even those who are using an SSL-1/2 bridge might not have bought the set or loaded pickguard to get it. The only way I've ever used SSL-1s is purchased individually to put with various other vintage style single coils that I already had. In fact, I have almost never bought a pre-packaged "set" of pickups.

I use the equivalent of SSL-1/2 in the bridge position of several of my Strats, but they aren't Duncan brand. Fender, mostly (including real '60s ones). PV '65s, 57/62s, a real vintage '62 Strat set, and a set of Duo-Sonic II pickups (which are basically SSL-2s with slightly shorter poles) in the middle and bridge positions. None of my Strats have calibrated sets in them. My G&L Legacys do, from the factory. IIRC, in each Legacy I have, the bridge pickup is around 1/2 K over the other two pickups. I don't hate them...but it's definitely not a traditional Strat sound.

[eclecticsynergy]

+1 on the Surfer Custom bridge. Still sounds pretty Stratlike, just a little stronger.
Another contender is the Zhangbucker Paul Bunyan, beefier still yet not congested or overly thick.

Haven't tried the Red Velvet, but it has a good reputation. When it comes to Strat pickups somehow I just never think of DiMarzio.

Except for one 40-year-old SSL-1, most of my Strats either have their stock Fender pickups or boutique ones:
Fralin Woodstock 69s, Fralin Vintage Hots, Onamac Pinktone set, D. Allen Echoes set, and Chevalier 67s.
The Pinktone and Echoes sets have moderately overwound bridges; the others are calibrated.
One other Strat has the Paul Bunyan bridge; another has a Quarter Pound that sounds almost like a P90.

I prefer a fairly muscular pickup in bridge position on Strats, probably because I also play Teles and humbucker guitars.