Classic Stack Strat single and Custom bridge - help with bridge/middle Strat sound?

[DesolationBlvd]

I'm back with a new pickup question.

To follow up my previous post about whether I should swap a Distortion/Jazz set into an ESP EX that had Black Winters, I decided to keep the BWs in the guitar in question. Running through my Ibanez TS7 and Marshall Studio Vintage and I've found a sound I keep coming back to. Though there isn't a treble bleed to help clean up, I'm pleasantly surprised at how it doesn't seem to need one.

I got an ESP M-III USA this year, and am in love with it. It's serving my Strat needs well. I was a little skeptical about the Classic Stack singles, but they sound great alone and in the neck/middle position. For the bridge pickup, I went with the Custom as I'm already familiar with it, and split it does a decent enough job as a Strat bridge. But the bridge/middle position just doesn't sound right. Doesn't have the sparkle I want. Should I try rewiring the push-pull tone pot as series/parallel?

Also, what would be a good value for a treble bleed with these pickups? I checked the M-III's wiring and there wasn't a treble bleed on the volume. Pretty important especially with a single channel amp.

I don't want to have to switch out the singles, especially as the pole pieces are darker and look amazing with the blood splatter on black finish. Worse comes to worst, I'll live with it and just have a setting on my MP-1 with extra treble to compensate when I'm switching to that bridge/middle clean sound.

[Mincer]

I love the Classic Stack singles, too. I use them with an HSS Warmoth Strat, and in the middle/bridge position, I have a 59/Custom Hybrid split to the Custom coil along with 1 coil of the stack. Sounds pretty quacky.

[jeremy]

you have the custom split in the bridge/middle with the cs+, i dont think parallel will help all that much. pup heights do make a difference but youll change the tone of the bridge pup by itself if you adjust it

[freefrog]

For the bridge pickup, I went with the Custom as I'm already familiar with it, and split it does a decent enough job as a Strat bridge. But the bridge/middle position just doesn't sound right. Doesn't have the sparkle I want. Should I try rewiring the push-pull tone pot as series/parallel?

Also, what would be a good value for a treble bleed with these pickups? I checked the M-III's wiring and there wasn't a treble bleed on the volume. Pretty important especially with a single channel amp.

I've no personal experience with the pickups that you mention in this configuration but theoretically, a Custom in parallel would have a bit less output volume and half less inductance* than the same pickup split so it would surely make brighter your position 2.
Now, the tonal result would depend partly on the height of your PU's and on the guitar at play, of course, so it's a bit unpredictable, as usual.

One thing I do in such cases is putting the bridge humbucker in parallel with an external inductor (a dummy coil) rather than with itself. It allows to fine tune the tone. But it requires some room in the guitar to put a dummy and some lab gear to test the result. I've such a thing in my old Charvel CH4.

You could also put something inspired by Knopfler's Suhr guitar with EMG's: he had a resistor and a cap to "tune" the response of the non splittable bridge HB in position 2. More later about that if necessary.

Regarding treble bleeds: such circuits always interact with the capacitance of your cable + the input impedance of the first "host" after the guitar (pedal or amp input).
Reason why there's no rule IMHO. The best thing to do is to wire temporarily two thin cables to the volume pot and to try various treble bleeds while playing. At least that what I do and to be honest, I rarely mount a same treble bleed in two different guitars...

Good luck in your experiments. :-)

*NOTE about inductance: if memory serves me, a Custom should measure something like 3 to 4 Henries once split. It's a bit high to emulate a Fender style single coil. In parallel, it would fall @ 1.5H to 2H, which are in the right range for the desired sounds.

[DesolationBlvd]

Update: I'm leaning towards just using a bright cap on the volume control. Switching from the Marshall SV20H and using the volume knob to clean up, to the A/DA MP-1, and the sparkle is there in bridge/middle. Just a little pickup height adjustment needed to get it perfect - I was wondering why the output was less than on my other guitar with a Custom. I'll accept the volume imbalance when the bridge is in series.

[ErikH]

I have a Jason Becker Perpetual Burn with a Classic Stack Plus in the neck and middle. I love how it matches up with them. Yes, there is some volume jump but not near what it might be with the Custom (ceramic mag). The PB is a big fat pickup without being too much. The Classic Stack Plus is probably the best noiseless single-coil I've ever used. For good while I had a WLH neck in the bridge eventually wanted a bit more output there. The PB was in the guitar originally (and the only pickup) when I slapped it all together so it felt right to put it back in there.

[alex1fly]

I'd suggest playing with the Custom height until you dig the bridge/middle quack sound. Then see if you like the bridge by itself. If not, might need a different bridge pup. I think getting that quack with a bridge HB can be tricky. Best luck I've had is with a Texas Special middle and a Thornbucker+