The Joe Bonamassa Signature Bonnie Pickup Set

[ErikH]

The Eric Johnson Strat does have a .1uf cap. Sounds really good to me. I took the American Standard Strat I had and put Fender SCN pickups in it. It sounded great, 500K volume and 250K tones, with the tones on neck and bridge only. Originally it had a .022uf cap but I got curious and tossed a big .1uf cap in there and that made it sound amazing. I liked how the 500K volume worked with the pickups better than 250K and didn't want to change that so figured a bigger tone cap would take care of the extra top end and it sure did but made it sweeter. If I ever get another SSS Strat, it'll be wired the same way.

[jeremy]

his old strat was his baby for years so, again, it comes from the fact thats the way fender did it back in the day

[eclecticsynergy]

I believe Eric Johnson prefers a .1uF cap as well.

[ArtieToo]

When I tried it, it was just different . . .

Cool. I'll try it.

[beaubrummels]

Great info. Learn something new everyday around here. Now I really need to try this. It just seems extreme on paper.

When I tried it, it was just different, I didn't think of it as extreme, just different. The rolloff taper is the same, you can still play normal strat twang and brightness, just the corner frequency of the tone is lower, so while a .022 rolls off the twang and abrasive high end just to humbucker territory, the .1uF is more vocal, like a wah tone control. You could do Woman Tone on a Strat. Or like a clarinet type sound with fuzz; it was just different. not something everyone can use, or even I could use everyday. There were a few Hendrix tones that worked better with the 0.1uF (for example, times when he would scat vocally with his guitar lead). That's why I tried it - I saw it in a Hendrix strat schematic and wondered why. IMO The .022uF rolling off from twang to humbucker is more useful on a day to day / song to song basis however.

[jeremy]

wont know till we play them. other than they are another joe/seymour collaboration so im sure they sound great

[ArtieToo]

from duncan? none like this. and i dont think fender ever used a4 rods. the old plastics are a nice touch too

But it does make you wonder what these bring to the table. It's hard to tell from a YouTube video. Between SSL-1/2's, STK's, Antiquities, and one of my personal fav's, the Livewire Classic II active set, what do these do, that Seymour hasn't already covered?

I'm not criticizing. Just wondering.

[Aceman]

from duncan? none like this. and i dont think fender ever used a4 rods. the old plastics are a nice touch too

I don't care if they are from ALiexpress.

In the vintage mid-50's Start pickup set space, who does this. Obviously Duncan now.

[jeremy]

from duncan? none like this. and i dont think fender ever used a4 rods. the old plastics are a nice touch too

[Aceman]

So, I'm not a vintage Strat guy. Just how many 54/55/56/57-esque vintage sets are there out there besides this?

[jeremy]

i usually leave the middle without a tone i also seldom use the tone on the neck pup but its nice to have

[ArtieToo]

as someone that uses their tone control a lot, i prefer a smaller cap for sure but since on these old strats the bridge doesnt have a tone control, you get full on treble from that position. i prefer to put the tone on the bridge pup and have a lower value like .02 to roll off some highs when using dirt

I do similar. I like one tone pot for N/M and one for the bridge. And .022uf has pretty much become my standard. But, I do want to try this .1uf thang.

[jeremy]

as someone that uses their tone control a lot, i prefer a smaller cap for sure but since on these old strats the bridge doesnt have a tone control, you get full on treble from that position. i prefer to put the tone on the bridge pup and have a lower value like .02 to roll off some highs when using dirt

[ArtieToo]

Great info. Learn something new everyday around here. Now I really need to try this. It just seems extreme on paper.

[beaubrummels]

Did anyone notice that they're using a .1MFD cap, (same as .1 uf), for the tone control on the prewired pickguard? That seems extreme. I'm surprised that the tone control wouldn't act more like a volume control. 0.1 uf is enough to send ALL the signal through.

Appears to be the original spec for a 1950's-1970's Stratocaster, if these drawings can be trusted. (I've seein Leo's original drawings on the internet, still looking for them)
https://p4.zdassets.com/hc/theme_ass...1002B_SISD.pdf
https://p4.zdassets.com/hc/theme_ass...1000C_SISD.pdf
https://p4.zdassets.com/hc/theme_ass...7002A_SISD.pdf

Somewhere in the 70s maybe is where the .05uF came in?
https://p4.zdassets.com/hc/theme_ass...0072A_SISD.pdf

Since around the year 2000 drawings I'm seeing .022uF used (presumably due to noiseless/humbucking usage?)

Here's a teardown of a 1954 Strat: http://www.guitarhq.com/54strat.html

An original 1958 Strat control assembly