Long time lurker but wanted to share my experience in building my guitar since it involves a few things I see get asked repeatedly.
Pickup Configuration:
Neck - SSL-2
Middle - SSL-2 RWRP
Bridge - Custom Custom (TB-11) auto-split w/ screw coil active.
Initially I wired the strat using Seymour Duncan's wiring diagram. However, it didn't explain what to do with the RWRP. Since the auto-split in the diagram uses the slug coil (North), the SSL-2 RWRP (North) goes in the neck and the SSL-2 (South) goes in the middle to keep the hum canceling at 2 and 4. I also moved the tone control to the bridge by moving the wire from the middle to the bridge on the switch (leaving the middle pickup with no tone control ala Eric Johnson strat). After closing it all up, I was OK with the 250k tone control on the bridge humbucker but I didn't like the sound of the 2nd position. It didn't sound at all like an SSS strat in the 2nd position. It sounded more like a less ballsy humbucker since they are so close together. A good sound but not the strat sound I wanted. So I decided to open it back up and rewire everything.
Based on the distance of a bridge pickup to the bridge and the distance to the middle pickup on an SSS strat, I decided the auto-split should use the screw coil and not the slug. I swapped the Neck and Middle pickups on the pickguard (to keep the hum canceling) and rewired their switch locations. While inside, I moved the tone back to the middle pickup. The bridge is now running wide open (no tone control).
Other upgrades are upgraded switch and pots (all 250k), orange drop cap, that fancy cloth covered wire, brass block and titanium inserts for the floyd, and shielded everything under the pickguard with copper shielding.
Results are exactly what I had hoped. Great strat tone in positions 2 thru 5 with a great sounding humbucker in the bridge. And yes, position 2 sounds exactly like a position 2 on an SSS should sound. Thanks to Wolf5150 - I used his single coil height measurements of 4/32 on the bass and 3/32 on the treble side for the single coils and went with the same for the humbucker for the benefit of the split screw coil.
Things to do in the future: install trem stop to keep Floyd from floating, install 500k no-load tone pot and move the humbucker back to it. Anyway, thanks to everybody for the assistance.
-Mc
Pickup Configuration:
Neck - SSL-2
Middle - SSL-2 RWRP
Bridge - Custom Custom (TB-11) auto-split w/ screw coil active.
Initially I wired the strat using Seymour Duncan's wiring diagram. However, it didn't explain what to do with the RWRP. Since the auto-split in the diagram uses the slug coil (North), the SSL-2 RWRP (North) goes in the neck and the SSL-2 (South) goes in the middle to keep the hum canceling at 2 and 4. I also moved the tone control to the bridge by moving the wire from the middle to the bridge on the switch (leaving the middle pickup with no tone control ala Eric Johnson strat). After closing it all up, I was OK with the 250k tone control on the bridge humbucker but I didn't like the sound of the 2nd position. It didn't sound at all like an SSS strat in the 2nd position. It sounded more like a less ballsy humbucker since they are so close together. A good sound but not the strat sound I wanted. So I decided to open it back up and rewire everything.
Based on the distance of a bridge pickup to the bridge and the distance to the middle pickup on an SSS strat, I decided the auto-split should use the screw coil and not the slug. I swapped the Neck and Middle pickups on the pickguard (to keep the hum canceling) and rewired their switch locations. While inside, I moved the tone back to the middle pickup. The bridge is now running wide open (no tone control).
Other upgrades are upgraded switch and pots (all 250k), orange drop cap, that fancy cloth covered wire, brass block and titanium inserts for the floyd, and shielded everything under the pickguard with copper shielding.
Results are exactly what I had hoped. Great strat tone in positions 2 thru 5 with a great sounding humbucker in the bridge. And yes, position 2 sounds exactly like a position 2 on an SSS should sound. Thanks to Wolf5150 - I used his single coil height measurements of 4/32 on the bass and 3/32 on the treble side for the single coils and went with the same for the humbucker for the benefit of the split screw coil.
Things to do in the future: install trem stop to keep Floyd from floating, install 500k no-load tone pot and move the humbucker back to it. Anyway, thanks to everybody for the assistance.
-Mc
