Good single-coil to go with a JB on a strat?

[bonscottmkii]

hello

i'm putting together a strat and want a jb at the bridge and am wondering what a good single coil would be to put in the neck. no middle pup. any suggestions?

also, i plan to wire them to just a single volume pot, no tone. i know 500k pots are generally used for humbuckers and 250k pots for single-coils, so which should i use?

thanks!

 

[Diocletian]

Re: Good single-coil to go with a JB on a strat?

I'd use a 250K pot personally, but either will work and it'll depend on your own taste which you prefer.
What is it you want to use the single coil for? Hard rock lead playing? Clean stuff? It's gonna make a big difference to what you get.

 

[bonscottmkii]

Re: Good single-coil to go with a JB on a strat?

thanks for the reply.

sonically, what's the difference between a 250k and a 500k pot?

i play hard rock, but i generally use the neck pickup for clean stuff. in my current guitar i have a '59 in the neck and i love how it sounds clean, but it's a bit too boomy in the lower frequencies when i add some dirt. so i guess i'm looking for a compromise--something that sounds good clean but can also handle some distortion without loosing clarity. and that would complement the jb in the bridge.

help?

 

[B2D]

Re: Good single-coil to go with a JB on a strat?

For a brief time, I had a Strat mutt built with a JB in the bridge and an SSL5 in the neck single slot with no middle pickup and a 250K pot. Sounded pretty wicked. The SSL5 complemented the JB's normal and split sounds very well, and was hot enough to keep up. I only took it apart because the guitar didn't play very well, but I wanna go back to that combo one day because it did sound great.

 

[Diocletian]

Re: Good single-coil to go with a JB on a strat?

My SSL-6 still hasn't been wired up, so I can't comment on it from experience, but I can see how a JB/SSL-5 or 6 combo would be pretty awesome. I would go with something like that.

A 500K pot will sound a bit brighter than a 250K pot. For the JB, I actually prefer the 500K, but if you're putting in a genuine single coil, like an SSL-1 or APS-2 as I expected at first, I'd go with a 250K to take off some of the bright glassiness.
Pot value will again depend on what pup you decide to use in the neck.


The thing to remember is: you can't do anything "wrong". Whatever you do will or won't suit your personal tastes - if it's not right, just modify it. That's half the fun.

 

[bluesbend]

Re: Good single-coil to go with a JB on a strat?

I'd stick an SSL-5 in there.

 

[bonscottmkii]

Re: Good single-coil to go with a JB on a strat?

thanks a lot for the input guys!

another quesion: could someone explain to me the difference between the flat and the staggered pickups?

 

[mrturtle_91]

Re: Good single-coil to go with a JB on a strat?

If I were you I'd go with SSL-5/6, or I'd go with the Quarter Pound SSL-4/7

 

[Dirtbagg]

Re: Good single-coil to go with a JB on a strat?

I love the JB in the bridge, one guitar with one single in the neck I put a LIL'59, sounds great. On my Mahogany fat strat I'm going to put Antiquity Texas Hot . I think that will be rockin.

 

[Diocletian]

Re: Good single-coil to go with a JB on a strat?

another quesion: could someone explain to me the difference between the flat and the staggered pickups?

If you look for my recent thread on the "SSL-5 vs SSL-6" you should find some info on that in there.