Is the middle position SSL5 too loud for position 2/4 with the Jazz SH2 neck?

[BBB]

I'm looking to upgrade the middle position of my 7 string HSH style guitar. The output for the Custom Staggered Strat SSL5 is 15.5 K Ohm. The output for my SH2 is 8.5 K Ohm. I really like the Jazz SH2, it has a good range for different styles. What I don't like is how the volume output, of my current middle position pickup, drops-off when going from the humbucker in position 1, to splitting it for positions 2 and 4. I've tried raising and lowering the pick height, playing with the volume knob of the stock pickup. I'd like a more bluesier sound from the middle pickup when in positions 2, 3 and 4. I'm thinking that the higher output middle position would solve this volume issue and get a more bluesier sound. However, will the SSL5 middle pickup take over the sound if it has a higher output than the SH2? How do you know how to get an even transfer form position 1 to position 2.

Thanks

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I'm looking to upgrade the middle position of my 7 string HSH style guitar. The output for the Custom Staggered Strat SSL5 is 15.5 K Ohm. The output for my SH2 is 8.5 K Ohm. I really like the Jazz SH2, it has a good range for different styles. What I don't like is how the volume output, of my current middle position pickup, drops-off when going from the humbucker in position 1, to splitting it for positions 2 and 4. I've tried raising and lowering the pick height, playing with the volume knob of the stock pickup. I'd like a more bluesier sound from the middle pickup when in positions 2, 3 and 4. I'm thinking that the higher output middle position would solve this volume issue and get a more bluesier sound. However, will the SSL5 middle pickup take over the sound if it has a higher output than the SH2? How do you know how to get an even transfer form position 1 to position 2.

Thanks

It's important to remember that DCR doesn't always reflect output.
SSL5 is wound with finer gauge wire than the SH-2 and is medium output, not super hot.
It'll be quite a bit louder then a split Jazz neck though.

If you try it and find it's just too much in your positions 2 & 4, you might consider not autosplitting the humbuckers.
That'd take care of the volume drop, and the SSL5 should still add nice singlecoil character to the in-between positions.

I ran T-top neck / QuarterPound middle / 59B bridge without autosplit in an HSH Floydcaster for many years.
It didn't quack like a Strat, of course, but the in-between positions each were quite usable in their own way.

 

[Mincer]

Yes, I wouldn't auto split. That should even out the sound. You would lose hum cancellation, but gain balance.

 

[BBB]

Yes, I wouldn't auto split. That should even out the sound. You would lose hum cancellation, but gain balance.

I have no idea what you mean by auto-splitting and I've never seen a diagram for this. There seems to be different answers on the internet for this as I just looked it up. Do you mean that in the HSH style:

Option A
position 1 - full humbucker
position 2 - one coil of the humbucker and the middle
position 3 - full middle
position 4 - middle and one of the bridge coils
position 5 - full bridge humbucker

Or do you mean option B
position 1 - full humbucker
position 2 - full humbucker and the middle at the same time
position 3 - middle only
position 4 - full humbucker bridge and middle at the same time
position 5 - full bridge humbucker

I'm not sure what this is exactly... and I hate that damn strat quack sound in any position. Especially in a bridge humbucker.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I have no idea what you mean by auto-splitting and I've never seen a diagram for this. There seems to be different answers on the internet for this as I just looked it up. Do you mean that in the HSH style:

Option A
position 1 - full humbucker
position 2 - one coil of the humbucker and the middle
position 3 - full middle
position 4 - middle and one of the bridge coils
position 5 - full bridge humbucker

Or do you mean option B
position 1 - full humbucker
position 2 - full humbucker and the middle at the same time
position 3 - middle only
position 4 - full humbucker bridge and middle at the same time
position 5 - full bridge humbucker

I'm not sure what this is exactly... and I hate that damn strat quack sound in any position. Especially in a bridge humbucker.

Option "A" there is autosplit - it's called that because the humbuckers automatically split whenever you use positions 2 & 4.

Option "B" there is conventional 5-way wiring, without autosplit - just as if it were wired for three traditional Strat singlecoils.

 

[BBB]

Option "A" there is autosplit - it's called that because the humbuckers automatically split whenever you use positions 2 & 4.

Option "B" there is conventional 5-way wiring, without autosplit - just as if it were wired for three traditional Strat singlecoils.

Thank you for the help. I should be able to do this with a SH2, SSL5 and a full shred in the bridge. I'll try and find a wiring diagram online for this as the Seymour Duncan website is a bit off tonight. The website has issues with the HSH one volume and two tone knobs format.

 

[Mincer]

Yeah, I mean option A. Some guitars are wired like that...you can test if yours is by tapping on the poles of the Jazz when it is used in conjunction with the middle.

 

[BBB]

Yeah, I mean option A. Some guitars are wired like that...you can test if yours is by tapping on the poles of the Jazz when it is used in conjunction with the middle.

I did this once before and it worked, but sometimes the end results can be varied without an official OEM diagram. I originally thought that the outer coil was the one connected to the middle pickup, not the inner one. I don't know if by flipping the humbucker around it makes a huge difference in the humbucker itself. I've never tried that personally. Either way, I enjoy modding and don't mind doing it myself. Treble bleed circuits, different capacitors, other switches. It's been interesting during lockdown to try new things on an old guitar.

 

[BBB]

I thought I'd try this mod on one of my other guitars fist for practice on the good one. I just did this mod by getting the unused wires of the current 4 wire pickups and connecting them to the 5 way. This made it worse. I don't know if it was me or this diagram, but the next time I change strings this is going back to normal. Here's a pic. of what I did. I sometimes really hate the internet.

 

[Clint 55]

Oh the autosplit? You can use resistors to ground to make less of a volume drop but you'll get some hum cancellation and more cluck. It's a compromise. Out of full series, partial split, or fully split, fully split is definitely my least favorite tho.

 

[BBB]

Oh the autosplit? You can use resistors to ground to make less of a volume drop but you'll get some hum cancellation and more cluck. It's a compromise. Out of full series, partial split, or fully split, fully split is definitely my least favorite tho.

The cluck/quack sound that came out of this is unbearable. I was laughing at the first chord. What a waste of time this was... but I know from now on. I'm going to try this one more time, which is my third strike, and then I'm giving it to guitar tech. as I'm throwing in the towel on this one. My 2 humbucker Epiphone and my 3 single coil Fender were easier to mod than this HSH stuff.

 

[Clint 55]

Full series sounds fine if you don't want to hassle with it. There will be noise in positions 2-4 tho. You could always get a hot noiseless single coil and run everything series and everything would be quiet.

 

[BBB]

Full series sounds fine if you don't want to hassle with it. There will be noise in positions 2-4 tho. You could always get a hot noiseless single coil and run everything series and everything would be quiet.

Thanks for the tip. All I really want is a HSH diagram for 1 volume and 2 tone, where each humbucker has its own tone control; I never need to control the tone on the middle that much. I've got one more try and then I'm sending to a guitar tech. This quack/cluck non-sense is ruining good pickups.

 

[Clint 55]

Just take a regular strat diagram and connect the tone wires to the hot wire of the individual pickups you want. That's all there is to how a tone control works.

 

[BBB]

Just take a regular strat diagram and connect the tone wires to the hot wire of the individual pickups you want. That's all there is to how a tone control works.

You're awesome. Thanks!!!

 

[Clint 55]

No prob!