Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

[zionstrat]

Weirdly for me, I've fallen in love with the neck and middle original ceramic that are standard in my 97 mim strat- They are warm and easily crunch in 3 and 5, but they are clean and quacky in 2 and 4- I usually think of ceramic as harsh and bright, but these guys are voiced very nicely.

The challenge is the bridge- as with most of my strats, I don't use the bridge because it's too clear and clean with settings that are nice for the rest of the pups- this is nothing new for me- if I like 2,3,4,5 then 1 is almost always to clear, clean and bright.

So my first thought was a tapped overwound that would tap back into clear, clean bright to pair with the middle to keep the nice 2 sound.

But then I got to thinking about a vintage hot stack and wonder if the overwound would give me warmer sound I need while the split would be quacky? I'm sure the regular hot stack would be over kill, but thinking that the classic stack would be about where I am now.

So here's a few questions-
1. What do you think of the STKS7? noise cancelling pups are usually a bit different than a true single, so what does this one sound like?
2. Am I thinking correctly that the STKS7 would be a slightly warmer, more texas bridge tone?
3. Anyone mixed the STKS7 with fender ceramics and do the balance well?
4. Does it split well for the 2 position?

I use this strat for classic rock, country and blues and open to alternatives and other ideas.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

I'm going through a similar situation with a 2006 MIM. The neck and mid sound pretty darned good to my ears and are thick enough and have enough output that they make the PG+ I swapped into the bridge sound a bit too bright.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

Yeah, I can easily imagine that a pearly gates would be too bright if you have the same pups- They are relatively thick.

Let's figure out what I need and then you can mount 2 of the same together as a superbucker

 

[Artie]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

I have the STK-S6, (paired with STK-S4's n&m), to solve that same problem. It's a bit hotter than the S7, but works great to tame the Strat bridge ice-pick character. I'd imagine the S7 would work great too, and maybe be a bit more authentic to the Strat bridge.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

I have the STK-S6, (paired with STK-S4's n&m), to solve that same problem. It's a bit hotter than the S7, but works great to tame the Strat bridge ice-pick character. I'd imagine the S7 would work great too, and maybe be a bit more authentic to the Strat bridge.

Hmm, you may have changed my thinking... I wrote off the 6 because I was afraid it would be muddy at 14dc... But if its still stratlike, just warmer than my bridge, it seems like the split with 7dc probably makes more sense for 2 position quack than the 5.5dc I would get from the stks7.







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[Artie]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

Tough call. Remember that I'm not a performing musician. More a tech. YMMV.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

Tough call. Remember that I'm not a performing musician. More a tech. YMMV.

Yeah, and you've made great recommendations that made great tones in the past, so I'm not worrying about the mileage

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[Artie]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

You're too kind. I'll dig mine out tomorrow to remind myself exactly how it sounds. I'll report back.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

Why would you want to split a stack?

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

Why would you want to split a stack?

That’s my thinking. Unless you want to hum cancel with a middle single coil.

One thing about stacks is if you flip the bottom coil in phase they get very loud and a lot darker. Duncan calls that the power boost switch. They also hum that way.

Personally I don’t use any real single coils. These days it’s all single coil sized humbuckers wound to sound like single coils (and full size humbuckers). I voice my pickups for the location and so they blend well.

There are also tapped single coils that allow you to get two output levels/tones. Schecter was well known for those.


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[jeremy]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

splitting the stks6 wont give you 7k, the bottom coil is pretty small

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

The reason to split is to try to keep the clean spanky quack 2nd position... I was afraid that the whole stack would overwhelm the middle.

But Jeremy's point that the 2nd coil in the stk is too small could make spliting a challenge...Unless the top coil happens to be correct rwrm?

Of course quack is usually better with a weaker middle...

So open to ideas!


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[Mincer]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

The S7, to me, is great with some drive to it. I don't like the clean sound as much, however.

 

[Artie]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

Ok, so I've just been playing the s**t out of my S6. I wish I could figure out how to make a YT vid. Anyway, it's just as I said. There's no mistaking it for a bridge Strat pup, but there's no "ice-pick". And there's one more thing kinda cool about this pup. Pluck around the neck position and/or upper frets of the guitar, and it could pass for a bright neck pup. Pluck around the bridge, and it sounds like a bridge. Pluck in the middle . . . you get the picture. It's very responsive to where you strike the strings. Perhaps all pups do that. I just didn't notice so much 'til I was messing with this. I need to post a clip. Even with my pathetic talent, it sounds good.

Smooth, but no mistaking it for anything other than a bridge position single coil.

Artie

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

Thanks Artie! What about 2 position tones? Did I understand you correctly, is it split in 2nd?

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[Artie]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

You can split it, but i don't. No real need to. The #2 position still has the classic quack that you expect. Last night I kept going back and forth between #1 and #2.

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

Why would you want to split a stack?

True single coil sound in notch position for a better quack, that is what I do.

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

The reason to split is to try to keep the clean spanky quack 2nd position... I was afraid that the whole stack would overwhelm the middle.

But Jeremy's point that the 2nd coil in the stk is too small could make splitting a challenge...Unless the top coil happens to be correct rwrm?

Of course quack is usually better with a weaker middle...

So open to ideas!


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As far as I know most of Stack Plus based designs like current S4, S6 and S7 are 3 conductors (not 4) plus ground wire, the third one into ground will "shutoff" the bottom coil that is just to cancel the hum and the top coil becomes a true single coil kind of sound. I think the S10 does have 4 conductors + ground wire. It is quite easy to combine these in neck and bridge along with a true single coil in the middle like the regular SSL-1 using the auto split diagram and a regular 5 way switch for better quack in notch positions that will be also noise canceling as the STK family is actually RPRW relative to a regular SSL-1.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

I split my S4 so it is hum-cancelling with a regular single coil Five Two and, alternatively, with one coil of a 59/Custom Hybrid.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Ideas for a strat bridge pup that could split- StkS7?

Thanks guys...

Good to hear about the splits and It will be easy to shunt the 2nd coil, but now the question is it RWRP with the fender middle... Seems I remember that SD and Fender chose opposite sides of the standard or am I wrong?

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