Mahogany Super Strat H-S-H Wiring ------- What would you do?

M

Monsta-Tone

New member
I have a 2008 Fender American Strat Deluxe with mahogany body.
It currently has an H-S-S pickguard with DiMarzio Areas and an AT-1 in the bridge.
I want to put these pickups in an alder American Deluxe Strat that I have.


I have a new Warmoth pickguard set up for H-S-H.
I have a new set of Parallel Axis humbuckers (PATB-1n & PATB-1b) and a Duncan STK-S4m pickup.

I'm planning on 5-way Super Switch & 500K pots, Volume, Tone for middle, Tone for bridge.
The neck pickup is usually too dark for me unless I take the tone pot out of the circuit for it.

What kind of switching would you guys do?
I also have an STK-S4n if that would work better for the notch positions.
And.....I have a PATB-3 as well, but I only like them in the bridge position.

I'm really not dead set on trying to get legendary Strat sounds out of this guitar. It is more of a rock machine.
 
Re: Mahogany Super Strat H-S-H Wiring ------- What would you do?

I would actually recommend the Custom!

I don't mean to bash your guitar, but personally I own 2 bolt-on guitars with mahogany and maple neck and I haven't had much luck with them tonally when I first got them, but the problems were different on each one

RG3120: I found the stock Tone Zone (which is usually a phenomenal pickup) to sound really scooped and muddy (from being super bassy) for some strange reason. Makes no sense because the Tone Zone typically has strong mids. The guitar has a Lo-Pro Edge which usually gives damn good tones on my other Ibanez axes too. Ended up dropping in an EJ Custom in the bridge and now it's wonderful. Of course now it's also a bit funny because for such a pointy looking super strat it's not so much a rock machine but more of an indie rock twanger, teehee. Take that you Tele-wielding indie hipsters!

Fernandes MG-145X: Sounds really glassy when strummed unplugged, and sounds really harsh and bright with the stock pickup. Put in a Duncan Custom and now it gives an incredibly balanced tone with a very pleasant and clear high end, strong meaty mids, and a deep but tight bass response! The output is high but the EQ of the pickup also prevents it from sounding too congested in the mids, so it's now a formidable hard rock machine. Tune it to Eb for every heavier and chunkier tones that will melt your face. It has tune-o-matic bridge so it might behave just a bit different from your Strat but it'll still have similar tonal qualities.

Since you're looking for some serious rock sounds, put in a Duncan Custom and be amazed! :D
 
Re: Mahogany Super Strat H-S-H Wiring ------- What would you do?

On my HSH strat I have this set up:
Regular 5 way switch
3 x push - push:
500k Volume push-push - down = neck humbucker, up = neck single coil
500k Tone 1 - tone control for both humbuckers, down = bridge humbucker, up = bridge coil split

250k Tone 2 - middle single coil tone control - down = no effect, up = jumper across neck and bridge - so whichever is selected from positions 1, 2, 4 or 5 the other is also selected.

Coil splits use 4.7 k resistor to ground instead of a wire to retain a small amount of signal from the cut coil. This stops the coil split sounding like thin scratchy coil split and more like a real single coil. It also retains a bit more volume and reduces hum when split. Which is helpful when balancing HSH pickups for volume.
.022 uF cap on both tone controls. 500k pots on the humbuckers, when split with 4.7k resistors they are not quite as bright as a regular single coil but still pretty bright. Rather have bright coil split than muddy humbuckers.






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Re: Mahogany Super Strat H-S-H Wiring ------- What would you do?

daenius said:
I would actually recommend the Custom!


Since you're looking for some serious rock sounds, put in a Duncan Custom and be amazed! :D
Click to expand...

Thanks. I have a Custom and a Custom 5 (going in a PRS S2 Standard 24 this week). I've had a few Strats with a Custom and it just seems like more power than I want for a Strat, but you never know......I do have other Strats that can be lower output.



On my HSH strat I have this set up:
Regular 5 way switch
3 x push - push:
500k Volume push-push - down = neck humbucker, up = neck single coil
500k Tone 1 - tone control for both humbuckers, down = bridge humbucker, up = bridge coil split

250k Tone 2 - middle single coil tone control - down = no effect, up = jumper across neck and bridge - so whichever is selected from positions 1, 2, 4 or 5 the other is also selected.

Coil splits use 4.7 k resistor to ground instead of a wire to retain a small amount of signal from the cut coil. This stops the coil split sounding like thin scratchy coil split and more like a real single coil. It also retains a bit more volume and reduces hum when split. Which is helpful when balancing HSH pickups for volume.
.022 uF cap on both tone controls. 500k pots on the humbuckers, when split with 4.7k resistors they are not quite as bright as a regular single coil but still pretty bright. Rather have bright coil split than muddy humbuckers.
Click to expand...

I like the 4.7k resistor idea! Have to try that.
 
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