HHH Strat #1 dialed

[Clint 55]

I got my #1 dialed. This guitar first started when I joined the forum. I was asking for help about what PAFs to put in my Epi LP. Eventually decided to just shove all my favorite PAFs into a Strat. Been tweaking it since then and it's all done. It's a Warmoth hardtail alder body with a custom neck, maple, rosewood, and 6100 jumbo stainless steel frets, 10" radius. I leveled and crowned the frets, put fallaway in, and rounded the ends. The pickups are an A3 Seth/Ant hybrid, A5 Phat Cat, and an A4 JB with A2 spacers. Controls are 500k linear volume, 250k audio no load tone with 18nf PIO cap, and a neck bridge blender. Strings are custom 10,13.5,17,28,38,52 XLs with NYXL 4th and 5th string in D standard. I used a 20k resistor to auto split in positions 2 and 4 so there's cluck and hum cancellation but no volume drop.






Quick demo of positions 5,3,1.

 

[stratguy23]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

Bravo on one of the most customized guitars I've ever seen. Holy moly. You thought of everything.

I'm a sucker for the Richie Sambora-style HHH Strat setup, though in practice I don't think I'd run one because usually my pick hits a middle position humbucker.

The demo sounded nice, but given all the pickup customizations, I'm curious what the results are with dirt. A5 Phat Cat? JB with mixed A4 and A2 formulation? Seth/Ant hybrid PLUS A3 mod? Let us know what the differences are from the stock versions.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

Hey, sounds great..no mistaking the tone of a quality guitar with high quality hardware and pickups..not to put others down with their cobbled together bargain basement stuff if thats all you can swing.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

Thx MetalManiac.

Thx stratguy23. It took a year and a half. When I had the pickups stock A2 Seth in the neck etc, they sounded good. Really nice and warm. Took some experimentation to find my voice. My main styles are rock, blues, and jazz. So this setup is tailored to blend my love of fat sounds with crisp bluesy tones, and can also handle tight rock sounds. The A3 in the Seth/Ant is really nice because it has some sweetness like A2 but crisp articulation too. The covered A2 Seth put me too much in jazz mode all the time. Also the hybrid coils and screws facing in give it great complexity and spank. It's pretty much as spanky as a friggin ssl1 in the neck. But it has the right amount of body to where if I roll the tone back I can get my authentic jazz tones. A5s in the Phat Cat make it really bright especially in middle position. Good for articulate cleans and also tight rock sounds. For the JB, I started with just an A4 in it just for the heck of it and was really surprised at how it smoothed out the JBs crinkyness and sweetend it up while still retaining the crispness that you need in a bridge pup. Thought I could use some more fullness and output in it and maybe a tad more bass so I put the A2 spacers in there and it worked great. So it's nice and fat for my bluesin but still tight enough for rock sounds if I turn down the bass on the amp.

 

[TVFV]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

I'm always astounded how much detail some you guys go into when it comes to pickups. It seems unnecessary alot of the time. Whatever works I guess...

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[Clint 55]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

I'm not into whatever works. My instrument has to be perfect.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

I've given thought to why magnet swapping (or coil-swapping) don't appeal to me. I view those two alterations as particularly unpredictable, and I have no willingness or time to experiment. It's one thing to solve for the unknown of whether a JB works in a mahogany Strat, it's another thing for me to think about whether a roughcast a2 and a hybridized coil double screws would help things, especially when off the shelf pickups work just fine for me.

Im not saying there's zero probability I'd enjoy my Strat more if I swapped magnets; but if I can't get a good tone out of the Demon in the bridge, I will do any of the following before I swap magnets:

-Tweak knobs (usually solves it)
-Blame myself rather than my equipment and practice more (great music has been made with much worse gear)
-Learn to appreciate the uniqueness of this guitar (I don't own ten guitars in the hope that they all sound alike, so I can always pick up another for that riff)
-Go whole hog and swap pickups if I can find no use for the sounds it produces

That said- I get some people want one guitar to sound exactly one way with the knobs sey just so, and I'm glad if anyone finds inspiration from the 100% experimentation approach.

 

[stratguy23]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

I totally get all the customizations OP made here. They're similar to dialing in a rig, except that instead of turning knobs in pedals or amps, they're at the coil and magnet level.

An overly warm A2 neck humbucker is a common problem I've encountered. To some extent, the Pearly Gates and Slash neck pickups buck that trend but neither is voiced in the way you describe, which almost seems like a A2 Screamin Demon with less output. I also totally get wanting to mod the JB. There are probably dozens of threads in this forum devoted to that.

A5 Phat Cat - you don't get boomy low end in middle position? I'm a little averse to A5 neck humbuckers, especially in mahogany, because the scoop tends to yield boomy low end.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

What other magnet combos did you try in the Phat Cat before settling on A5s?

 

[Clint 55]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

I've only tried A5. Would be down for UOA5s but I don't feel like taking the bonesaw to the solder on the cover. I like it cuz it's really snappy. The scoop is a nice contrast from my middy neck and bridge. And no it's not boomy since it's in middle position. I ain't mad at people who aren't into magnet swapping. I just like to fiddle. I fiddled on this guitar for a friggin year and half.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

-Blame myself rather than my equipment and practice more (great music has been made with much worse gear)

Lol. Once in my guitar lesson, before I knew anything about guitar repair, my teacher said he should do a fret level. And I said something about the crappy stuff Cobain probably played. Then he yelled at me and I felt dumb haha and realized there's no point in choosing not to improve my guitar.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

Oh, for sure I won't put up with functional issues. But there are too many times I've had pie on my face getting blown away by someone who can really rock a stock off-the-rack Squier too.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

Haha

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

Clint, I think you did a great job on that first of all! Secondly, the fact that you were able to extract everything you wanted out of such a basic guitar design is impressive to say the least. As you stated it didnt come over night and its been a work in progress for a while now. I will say that its way over my head musically and tonally, however I do admire what you did and I can respect that.
One of the reasons I always liked picking your brain when it comes to the dumbass ideas I come up with sometimes.

May I ask why a Linear volume and audio tone pot? Did you prefer its taper going that route? (Generally its accepted that Audio taper are for volume.)

 

[Chistopher]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

May I ask why a Linear volume and audio tone pot? Did you prefer its taper going that route? (Generally its accepted that Audio taper are for volume.)

Well, ackshually...

I think more common manufacturers (the ones that would show up at Guitar Center) use linear volume than audio. As far as modders, I still find it's about 50/50.

And then there are those "vintage" 30% taper fellas.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

Thx Joe! It ain't over your head. The mods weren't something that I knew the results beforehand. I just tried them once out of curiosity and knew they were $$ so stuck with them. For example, the Seth and Ant are my favorite neck hbs so thought why not put em together! After the 1st demo I knew it was a step in the right direction because it eliminated the one dimensional bassy sound of a neck hb. About the pots: I like a long taper so I actually wire the volume backwards which draws out the taper even longer so it's usable down to 2. I also like how the 250k no load takes effect quickly. Going from 10 down to 9 and 8 is a suble but noticeable difference, then it gets dark from 7 on down. About the design: really like the feel and resonance of strats. With the hardtail it's $$. In a perfect world, I could live without the jangles at times but it's for sure the best mix of positives for me.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: HHH Strat #1 dialed

I totally get all the customizations OP made here. They're similar to dialing in a rig, except that instead of turning knobs in pedals or amps, they're at the coil and magnet level.

Yes yes yes. Exactly, because I always play clean without pedals.