HotRails bridge pup for '93 Strat Plus Deluxe

[Chimera]

Greetings all,

I have a '93 Strat Plus Deluxe currently outfitted with the stock blue/silver/red Fender Lace sensors.

I intend to pull the bridge (red) pickup and replace with a Seymour Duncan HotRails pickup.

Here's the question:

The Strat (I believe from searching online) has a 250k volume pot with a TBX tone pot for the bridge, which I understand is the only pickup wired to the pot..

What changes do I need to make to the guitar to get the best sound out of it? Obviously with the HotRails I am going for a thick, driving higher output tone compared to the rather hot & thinner sounding red Lace sensor.

Can I just leave the TBX & volume pot and switch out the pup? I'm concerned that wiring it in straight will leave the hotrails dark and flat sounding, but the balance is I don't want ruin the nice bluesy/jazzy/funk tones from positions 1 (neck) -> 3 (middle) with a 500k volume pot.

If anyone has any experience, I am open to hearing your thoughts & guidance.

I appreciate you taking the time.

-C

 

[Mincer]

Re: HotRails bridge pup for '93 Strat Plus Deluxe

Welcome to the forum!

The Hot Rails was designed to drop right in a Strat with 250k pots. So I'd start there. I am not sure if Hot Rails will be in phase with the Lace pickups, but if you get a thin, hollow tone when both are on, swap the hot and ground on the Hot Rails.

 

[jeremy]

Re: HotRails bridge pup for '93 Strat Plus Deluxe

try it with the stock pots and see what you think. with the tbx, you can get more high end than a typical 250k tone pot so you may be fine with the way things are. if not, there are a few other things to try

 

[DMyers77]

Re: HotRails bridge pup for '93 Strat Plus Deluxe

IIRC, the TBX control is wired to both the middle and bridge pickups.

Yes, you can leave the TBX and volume pots in place and just swap out the existing bridge pickup. The TBX is actually a stacked 250K/1M pot (the center detent is the same as turning a 250K pot all the way up) and should allow to you brighten up the hot rails without having to use a 500k volume.

With the TBX all the way up, the pickup will see a 200K load (250K vol + 1M tone) which is very close the having no tone control at all.

Here is some more info about the TBX control and simple mods to improve the sound of it when using passive pickups.
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/The_Fender_TBX_Tone_Control_Part_1
https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/The_Fender_TBX_Tone_Control_Mod_Part_2

Greetings all,

I have a '93 Strat Plus Deluxe currently outfitted with the stock blue/silver/red Fender Lace sensors.

I intend to pull the bridge (red) pickup and replace with a Seymour Duncan HotRails pickup.

Here's the question:

The Strat (I believe from searching online) has a 250k volume pot with a TBX tone pot for the bridge, which I understand is the only pickup wired to the pot..

What changes do I need to make to the guitar to get the best sound out of it? Obviously with the HotRails I am going for a thick, driving higher output tone compared to the rather hot & thinner sounding red Lace sensor.

Can I just leave the TBX & volume pot and switch out the pup? I'm concerned that wiring it in straight will leave the hotrails dark and flat sounding, but the balance is I don't want ruin the nice bluesy/jazzy/funk tones from positions 1 (neck) -> 3 (middle) with a 500k volume pot.

If anyone has any experience, I am open to hearing your thoughts & guidance.

I appreciate you taking the time.

-C

 

[Chimera]

Re: HotRails bridge pup for '93 Strat Plus Deluxe

Thanks to each of you- very impressed by the knowledge base here.

I found this wiring diagram online... maybe I was reading it wrong and the TBX pot doesn't handle the bridge?

Either way going stock definitely makes sense, stepwise is prudent when making so many changes that each could affect the tone.

I asked because I thought perhaps someone had already gone through this particular pickup switch.

Again thanks for the welcome & sharing your experiences gentlemen ... I'll definitely check out those links.

if you see anything useful from the wiring diagram please don't hesitate to speak up- I've been playing for 30 years, but my bench skills & wiring are definitely lacking.

-C

 

[jeremy]

Re: HotRails bridge pup for '93 Strat Plus Deluxe

that diagram is not a stock wiring. once you get the hot rails in, let us know what ya think and we can take it from there