A versatile strat

[geremia]

Hello all, I'm new here, and I think like most, I joined to ask for opinions.

I'm looking to simplify my gig rig, I'd love to get down to one guitar. I'd like to modify my 2012 american standard strat SSS with rosewood and the custom shop pickups (i think fat 50s) to make it cover all the sounds I'll need. I understand that a strat will never sound exactly like a les paul, and vice versa, but i think it can get close enough to fool a bar or club crowd. My project plays 90's grunge and alternative, mostly pearl jam, rhcp, weezer, nirvana, stp and alice in chains. I'm willing to change every pickup or keep anything. I am leaning towards HSS and adding a jb...when i play my strat i tend to stay in position 4, especially for the clean stuff (think yellow ledbetter/sir psycho sexy) and i don't want to lose that. But I need to cover songs like alive and man in the box in the bridge...but I'm open to HSH, splitting one or all pickups...oh, and to kill two birds, I'll ask if I should buy a full size humbucker or if the single coil size is ok...
So i've searched the forum, but haven't found much that deals with the 90's sound...any help would be greatly appreciated...I promise to return the favor in the future.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: A versatile strat

I can get some heavier sounds (alice in chains) with my sd quarter pound in the bridge position. You wouldn't have to modify your guitar either.

 

[jimijames]

Re: A versatile strat

So, my thoughts are that an effects pedal will get you closer to what you want than a pickup change... For close enough I would get/mod a DS-1 or something, especially for 90s stuff.

If you really want to change out your pickups, for 90s stuff I feel like the custom can cut it. Duncan distortion too. If it's routed for a humbucker, though, I think a Jerry Donahue Tele bridge pickup would sound better... Not closer, but better. At every level of gain I prefer it to any other bridge pickup I've ever played. Not to nail a particular sound but just in general. So you probably wouldn't want it lol.

If I could only have one guitar for the rest of my life, it would be a strat or tele with a jerry donahue bridge. Neck pickup would be either a strat single or a flipped humbucker. Right now I'm inclined to say tele deluxe because having 4 knobs gives you a metric ****ton of versatility. I prefer the strat 5-way though to the 3-way toggle used on the tele deluxe.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: A versatile strat

I was in a 90's cover band for a while, did all the same material you mentioned. I had to use a Les Paul to get there. I think your JB idea sounds like how I would go if I was trying to do it with a Strat. If you split the JB and use position 4, not sure if your cleans will work out the same, however.

 

[DreX]

Re: A versatile strat

Check out the Seymour Duncan Everything Axe pre loaded pick guard http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/sets/everything_axe_1/

This is great for "drop in place". I go further than this and load all three spots with rails / single coil sized humbuckers, and give each pickup series and split or parallel modes, so that it can sound thick like an HH anywhere, or thin like a Strat anywhere.

I ordered a three gang pot off ebay that has yet to arrive, and I'm planning to try the 'roll a split' mod on all three humbuckers with a single knob (although I think you could accomplish this with a super switch and a standard pot also), and I also install a push pull to activate the bridge while in the neck position for B+N, and that would have to be the ultimate in versatility: three pickups that can be activated in any parallel combination, and which can variably change from humbucking in series to single coil. I like the tone of Lilttle '59's,. but for a versatile Strat which does split or parallel to achieve single coil tones, I favor something hotter such as Hot Rails or DiMarzio high output rails, because with higher output humbuckers you get a more full single coil tone when splitting or doing parallel.

 

[geremia]

Re: A versatile strat

thanks for all the replies...yea, I currently use my les paul or sg for 70% of the songs, but gibsons just don't sound right on some songs. I figured it would be easier to get the strat close to the lp sound, plus I feel better tinkering with the fender, it seems like strats were made to customize. I was looking at the everything axe, but I was concerned with losing the 4 position...just to get on the same page, i refer to the neck and middle as position 4. Anyone have experience with that preloaded pickguard? I was thinking that if I changed the bridge to the jb, I might change the neck/middle to quarter pounders to help balance the levels. Thanks again...

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: A versatile strat

I would think a full sized JB would be ideal for your needs. Maybe try splitting to the front and back coil to see which sounds best to your ear for the position 4. (Depending on which you choose, you may need to swap neck and middle pickups to retain hum canceling)

Depending on how much gain you use in the neck and what sound you want from it, a Classic Stack Plus (or two, N/M) may suit you well too. I'm thinking the solo in Man in the Box and Alive for those sections when Jerry and Mike throw the selector to the neck. You could wire the split JB to the split Classic Stack Plus to get a decent position 4 as well.

 

[DreX]

Re: A versatile strat

thanks for all the replies...yea, I currently use my les paul or sg for 70% of the songs, but gibsons just don't sound right on some songs. I figured it would be easier to get the strat close to the lp sound, plus I feel better tinkering with the fender, it seems like strats were made to customize. I was looking at the everything axe, but I was concerned with losing the 4 position...just to get on the same page, i refer to the neck and middle as position 4. Anyone have experience with that preloaded pickguard? I was thinking that if I changed the bridge to the jb, I might change the neck/middle to quarter pounders to help balance the levels. Thanks again...

I'm not positive, but I think the everything axe auto-split's the bridge and neck in the 2 and 4 position, and if it doesn't, Seymour Duncan provides a diagram for wiring auto-splitting, which is relatively easy to wire yourself if you have to. It will make the 2 and 4 positions have the Strat "quack", which the Duckbucker was designed to do especially well.

This diagram is unusual in that it thinks Strats only have two knobs, but it frees you up to make the third knob into a blender pot, making the Strat even more versatile still.

 

[geremia]

Re: A versatile strat

Thanks again all...Drex and PFDarkside - both great options...sounds like it's down to either a JB TB-4 at the bridge or an everything axe...time to think and waste too much time youtube...

Any experience with the everything axe or jb vs jb jr?

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: A versatile strat

an effects pedal will get you closer to what you want than a pickup change.

+1 An overdrive/distortion pedal with plenty of Gain and a built-in three-band or graphic equalisation will compensate for some of the "missing" frequencies.

The Fender C.S. Fat Fifties single coil pickups are fine. Through a serious valve amplifier, they should be capable of some fulsome tones. Just use the tone controls a little.

 

[geremia]

Re: A versatile strat

I've tried a lot of pedals...mxr, boss, catalinbread, ehx, jhs, zvex...I still feel like I'm missing something...my home rig is an egnater tweaker 40 (i've upgraded the tubes) into a mesa cab, but a lot of gigs are shared bills and back lines, so I run a pod HD500x right into the board. I'm sure a lot of this needing to change my pickups is in my head, but at this point, it's not getting out of there.
Not to mention I'm a pickup change virgin and I think it's time this boy becomes a man...

 

[Zombiemetl]

Re: A versatile strat

I play a lot of that same music, and having a kick ass humbucker in the bridge with a single coil in the neck handles it all perfectly, it seems to me that simply throwing a hotrails or single coil sized JB in the bridge would get you exactly where you wanna go. I agree with the pedal suggestion, but those strat pickups just don't have enough output to push those pedals into full heavy territory like humbuckers do

 

[geremia]

Re: A versatile strat

thanks again all...my laziness and lack of soldering skills are leaning me towards the everything axe with liberator...unless i can find a shop that will throw a jb in the bridge...either way, thanks for all the help and I'll let you guys know how it works out...

 

[njstoehr]

Re: A versatile strat

If it isn't to late for me to throw my $0.02 in, an HSS setup gave me pretty much exactly what I wanted out of a MIM strat. After a lot or deliberation, forum-ite advice, and a few calls to SD, I went with a JB in the bridge and SSL-5s in the neck and middle positions. I ended up changing the magnet in the JB to a ceramic after a while and it really gave me the bridge tone I was looking for. The SSL-5s are a little hotter but still true single coils so I get a great single coil neck tone. I have sense replaced the pickguard to a single humbucker with an Invader (a la Tom Delonge) but still have the HSS pickguard wired up for a quick swap.

 

[geremia]

Re: A versatile strat

So I found a tech, I'm gonna go with a full size trembucker and use my current fat 50's single coils in the neck/middle. He's gonna add a push pull to split the bucker...but he also said to listen to the custom 5 before I pick the jb.
So last bit of advice - throw some suggestions at me for the bridge humbucker. I should add that we have two guitarists in the band, but the other guy is the singer as well, so I'm leaned on for both the main rhythm and the lead work.
Thanks

 

[DreX]

Re: A versatile strat

What guitar, pickups and amp does the singer use?

 

[geremia]

Re: A versatile strat

Mainly a 2013 American tele with stock pickups and a studio Les Paul with stock pickups...it's fairly new so I'm guessing 490/498 combo. He has a Marshall mg series and a crate...both solid state...

 

[Oinkus]

Re: A versatile strat

I have a Strat that covers most anything HSH wired series/split/parallel with mini switches for both pups and a blend knob , master vol and master tone. It also has a Floyd and the pups are Tom Andersons. Think the bridge is a HN+1 , yellow output is what it used to read on the site so mid range output fairly hot. I can fake it as a LP but only to drunken,untrained ears. Does a pretty great sweet child o mine type sound and can do the ledbetter near perfectly.

 

[Sensates]

Re: A versatile strat

I have tried various hss setups and stack/rail pickups. To me the most versatile set for a strat is a set of Emgs. Im using the SLVX set.

 

[DreX]

Re: A versatile strat

Mainly a 2013 American tele with stock pickups and a studio Les Paul with stock pickups...it's fairly new so I'm guessing 490/498 combo. He has a Marshall mg series and a crate...both solid state...

You might consider looking at bands wit lead singers/rhythm guitarists who used that setup and consider what the lead guitarist used and think about if you liked their sound. His using both a Les Paul and a Tele puts him at two extremes, unfortunately. It's very easy for a Les Paul to drown out a Strat (and even the singing itself) in the mix, IME, even if it's an HSS Strat, but if he plays the Tele, you'll have more options that don't leave your guitar inaudible. If the singer uses crunchy guitar tone as a crutch to cover his signing, you might have to battle with him in order for him to leave room for your guitar in the mix. Make sure your amps are nowhere near each other's.