Hi SD People. New to this forum. I am about to upgrade my HSS strat with SD replacement pickups and looking for suggestions on matching up pickup configurations. I love the clean strat sounds but the original factory pickups just don’t cut it. Suggestions? Thank you in advance.
HSS Strat mod
- Thread starter Flyman55
- Start date
Clint 55
OH THE DOUBLE THICK GLAZE!
Welcome to the forum!
The most standard, clean, vintage, stratty Duncan set up for an HSS Strat is a Pearly Gates bridge and 2 SSL2s (vintage strats). You could also decide if you'd prefer to have the single coils be noiseless, which changes the sound slightly but is also nice. Those would be the classic stacks.
The most standard, clean, vintage, stratty Duncan set up for an HSS Strat is a Pearly Gates bridge and 2 SSL2s (vintage strats). You could also decide if you'd prefer to have the single coils be noiseless, which changes the sound slightly but is also nice. Those would be the classic stacks.
Before recommending particular pickups, I have to ask what music you like, and what you want out of your new pickups. More/less power? More modern tone? Identifying the things you don't like really helps narrow it down..think of a much better description than 'better', as that is so subjective.
Mincer, you're not being very fun with these legitimate questions.
Screamin' Demon and 2 SSL1's is my two cents.Flyman55, All Kidding aside, what is your amp/rig? What kind of sounds are you looking for? Avenged Sevenfold, Baxter-era Steely dan, something in between?
Mincer, you're not being very fun with these legitimate questions.
Flyman55, All Kidding aside, what is your amp/rig? What kind of sounds are you looking for? Avenged Sevenfold, Baxter-era Steely dan, something in between?
Yeah, I know. But HSS is a little more difficult, as there is always a tradeoff between tone and balance.
For the influences you sited I would suggest also looking into the 59/custom hybrid for the bridge. I had that in my HSS and thought it was great. The pickup splits very well. I found it to be fairly bright and clear. It also handles gain very well and matched well tone wise and volume wise with the single coils. I was using SSL-52 in the middle and neck. However, I bet the hybrid would match well with most of the duncan single coil line up.
