Good HS setup -> confused

[bogiiman]

This might become a long, confused and un-organized post.
Sorry before hand!

In short, what I want is pickup and wiring reccomendations for an HS-setup.
I like it easy so as for wiring I am thinking something like this:

5-way super switch, 1vol,1tone

1 neck SC
2 split coil of humbucker (bridge side only)
3 split coil of humbucker(bridge side coil on) in paralell with neck sc. (How would this sound if wired in series? Is it possible? Would it match volume better?)
4 paralell bridge humbucker
5 series bridge humbucker

OR

3way blade switch, 1 vol, 1tone, 1 spin a split for humbucker

Is this doable, and... actually usable in a real guitar for live situations?


Anyway: some of my thoughts and ramblings:

So, I have been playing guitar for many years now.
Early on it was mostly HH guitars, because I was into metal.
But lately I have really gotten into strats.

Now the middle pickup has always been in the way of my picking, and I never really use it anyway... so lets toss that away.
Doesnt the neck and bridge sc (like a tele) and the 2nd and 4th positions on a strat sound similar anyways?

As for single coils, I LOVE the neck pickup sound. From sparkly and glassy cleans to Frusciante like dirty chords and Malmsteen violin sounding leads.
Lets keep that!

As for humbuckers, welll... you cant really play metal without a nice fat/tight humbucker in the bridge right? Tones that I like are chewy and spongy feeling Adam Jones tones to super tight meshuggah like rythms.

So I come to the conclusion that an HS setup would be the perfect thing for me.

So I start investigating what kind of pickups and switching would be the most versatile and easy to use.
I def want the single coil to actually sound like a real single coil, or else this setup would be kind of pointless.

First thought was a SSL1 in the neck. (as Frusciante uses?) Or maybe a dimarzio FS1 as Yngwie used in his early days. (the HS3 seem to be super low output so I am thinking it would balance with a humbucker?)

And my favourite humbucker sound has always been early meshuggah (dimarzio blaze, 6 string equviliant= steves special) and Tool (Duncan JB)

But upon reading pages like this: http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/t...at-strat-single-coils-and-humbuckers-at-peace
I realize that I would probably have a problem of volume matching between the neck single coil and the bridghe humbucker.
Actually this page is saying:

"You can have good notch position tone, or you can have matching output levels. You can’t have both. Choose one and live with it."

Is this really true? Does anybody have any other experiences they would like to share?

I am sceptical because of several guitars I have played in the past.
My RT140 ibanez has a HSS setup and both normal and notch positions matches totally fine in output level.
I also read that a split coil humbucker will have half the ohm resitance of the full series wired humbucker, and a paralell wired humbucker will have around a 4th of the series wired humbucker.
This sounds strange to me as pretty much all of ibanez HH guitars have their position 2 as the neck hum wired in paralell, and the output of this doesnt really differ that much from the 1st position (neck in series).

Are all these people warning about unmatched volume between pickups oversensitive? Or is there some secret in the wiring of the ibanez guitars?
IF it is actually impossible to get good notch position and normal position volume matching, wouldnt a compressor or overdrive fix this?

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Good HS setup -> confused

Are all these people warning about unmatched volume between pickups oversensitive?

Yes.

You'll be fine with a vintage output single coil and a medium or hot bridge humbucker. I had a surfer strat and a custom 5 in a Jaguar and it worked well. The only difference was the bridge pickup was slightly lower than the neck pickup. When you usually have the neck pickup slightly lower than the bridge pickup.

I'm really liking the 5 way super switch on my Mustang. It's really ergonomic and it gives me all the pickup combos that I need. So if you want simplicity then go for that. If you want more stuff to fiddle with then go for switches and pots.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Good HS setup -> confused

"You can have good notch position tone, or you can have matching output levels. You can’t have both. Choose one and live with it."

This isn't really true. Thing is, that singlecoils are really sensitive about the height, you have to get it just right to get single tone, balanced output and notch position tone. There certainly is some combos that you can't just make work together thought. You also have to take your guitars action into account (for radius <10" I think staggering is almost essential for good SC tone). For me, it has taken hours of trial and error to get the overall height, slanting and action to work together just right, and also to get the balance, parallel tone, and series tone right between them. But it can be done.

"Is this doable, and... actually usable in a real guitar for live situations?"

I would go for superswitch. It's easier to just use single swith instead of knob and switch when changing tone. And most people who have spin-a-split seem to just use either full HB or full split most of the time anyway.

I didn't exactly got it from your post what pickup you were looking at, (SSL-1?). With humbucker on bridge, I might go SSL-5, as it's more balanced and has better high end for soloing, while still sounding like strat.

Of course SSL-1 is good choice too, it has more roundish Hendrix vibe in it. Classic strat tone. And it probably can be balanced well, if you don't get overly hot 'bucker for bridge.

EDIT: Seems really interesting project. Keep us informed how it goes.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Good HS setup -> confused

I have been building a lots of wiring schemes lately because of one project. I got interested enough about yours that I modified one of them for what you're after:



Positions:

1: Neck
2: Neck + HB outer coil parallel (bridge side)
3: HB outer coil
4: HB parallel
5: HB series

If you want to switch positions 2 and 3, move red wire on the right side of superswitch one upwards.

If you want to try the halved HB in series with SC, look at how upper left side of the super switch is wired. You can use upper right side to add that switching. Just make sure you remember to remove the parallel connection.

 

[bogiiman]

Re: Good HS setup -> confused

Thank you so much for the wiring diagram, this will be super helpfull!
The wire color codes are for seymour duncan I take it?
Thanks!

 

[bogiiman]

Re: Good HS setup -> confused

Right now I am waiting for my custom order HS pickguard to come in. Hopefully I will have it next week.

I am still undecided on what kind of pickups to get.

In short I want a neck single coil, that actually sounds like a real single coil.
I am slightly worried a ssl5 would be to hot and sound more like a p90 or someting?

The bridge I am kind of thinking about a JB, as I hear it splits very nice.
But I am totally open for any recommendation!
I just need the humbucker to be able to handle metal level distortion and have an overal good articulate sound!

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Good HS setup -> confused

Those are great choices. The ssl5 is a strat pup and sounds like a strat pup. Nothing to worry about. The JB is awesome too. On its own, split, and in middle position.

 

[Artie]

Re: Good HS setup -> confused

It looks like the crux of your question has been answered, but I thought i'd throw this out there just for g&g's. It's my favorite HS setup, from my "Simple & Clean" collection:



Two simple DPDT switches, give you my four favorite guitar sounds. The hb'er stud coil, (cream), is always on. The 1st switch just selects which of the other two coils you use with it. The 2nd switch selects whether that coil is in series or parallel. So, you get normal bridge HB'er. Neck HB'er, with one coil "slid" down to the bridge position for a little more treble bite/less mud. And then you get the two Strat "notch" positions.

Simple, clean, tasty.

Artie

 

[Dalo320]

Re: Good HS setup -> confused

Hi,

I just came across this post as I am looking for a very similar wiring diagram. Do you know how to change this so that position 3 is Neck + HB in parallel?

Thank you!

I have been building a lots of wiring schemes lately because of one project. I got interested enough about yours that I modified one of them for what you're after:

View attachment 78645

Positions:

1: Neck
2: Neck + HB outer coil parallel (bridge side)
3: HB outer coil
4: HB parallel
5: HB series

If you want to switch positions 2 and 3, move red wire on the right side of superswitch one upwards.

If you want to try the halved HB in series with SC, look at how upper left side of the super switch is wired. You can use upper right side to add that switching. Just make sure you remember to remove the parallel connection.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Good HS setup -> confused

Hi,

I just came across this post as I am looking for a very similar wiring diagram. Do you know how to change this so that position 3 is Neck + HB in parallel?

Thank you!

This should do it.



EDIT: The wire colors are random. Just to make it easier to read...

 

[Dalo320]

Re: Good HS setup -> confused

Thank you so much!!

This should do it.

View attachment 79148