Middle pickup for notch position 4 in HSH ? I need more mids

[IMENATOR]

Last year found a great strat like sound with Jazz neck humbucker split (using the slug coil) and an SSL-6 in the middle, better than the one when I tried the SSL-1 years ago, because the SSL-6 has less treble and a tiny touch more mids. But then I installed an Alnico ii Pro neck HB and the extra mids it has really made it improve, and that really helps when rolling down the volume knob. IMHO it really competes with a real Strat quack but more mids and louder.

So now I have another HH strat with 59 neck and bridge, the inbetween sound by spliting both in the middle position has clarity but still a bit thin, specially when rolling back the voluIme knob, lack of mids makes it get lost really quickly. I would like to turn it into an HSH and have more mids in notch position 4 and probably less treble, that criteria helped me with the other guitar.

Being that said: What middle single coil would you suggest for a great split sound in position 4 with SD 59 neck? The SSL-6 will reduce the treble but it does not have a push in the mids. What about the SSL-4 Warter Pound or the Alnico ii Pro for Strat? Which one has the most mids? I have the impression SSL-4 is the one with most mids but the alnico ii can add it too.

 

[Mincer]

The QP has tons of mids, more than the Alnico II, but also a lot more output. It will balance better with humbuckers. You will still get hum, as it is a single coil, though.

 

[IMENATOR]

More output is good. I can lower it so it stays away from my pick.

 

[Teleplayer]

I would try a stacked single coil and don’t split the neck humbucker. Then you can have hum-cancelling in positions 3, 4, 5. You need to choose a stacked single coil with good brightness and output. I use Dimarzio ones, but the Duncan STK-S4(m) may be suitable as well.

 

[Ascension]

The QP has tons of mids, more than the Alnico II, but also a lot more output. It will balance better with humbuckers. You will still get hum, as it is a single coil, though.

If you are splitting the humbuckers with the single, you will not get hum if you run a standard wind true single in the middle and split the humbucker as you normally would. Many humbuckers split are quite weak and thin so you will normally have some volume drop something like a quarter ponder will really overwhelm the split humbucker if you run this way. Alnico II will be warmer an SSL 5 would be louder and fatter, but I have always preferred a more traditional type single in the middle to a high output.
I have run a H/S/H set up many times and also a S/S/H with a 5 way that auto splits the bridge humbucker. One of the best singles I have found to run with a Split humbucker is the old Carvin AP11.
Clean country running a split Perpetual Burn with a Carvin AP11.
https://youtu.be/cVOT7dUyEFo?si=gF-APGzunwsg7DK3
More semi clean with the same set-up
https://youtu.be/ovwKkcrbD3w?si=_xytfVA-d_6pm4qm

 

[ErikH]

A '59 in the neck and bridge? I would leave it HH with no splitting and rock it just like that. The middle position of two '59's is sweet. Great for a clean to clean-ish tone.

 

[GuitarStv]

The quarter pounder is a single that is right on the edge of sounding like a humbucker. Lots of mids, tons of output. It won't feel wimpy at all compared to the '59s. My only concern with it is that it might overwhelm the '59s unless you're planning on screwing it way down into the body.

 

[Mincer]

Yeah, I think a QP with 1/2 of a 59 might overpower the coil on the 59, unless it is screwed down a bit, but you won't have a lack of mids at all.

 

[jeremy]

the ssl3 hot strat has more mids than the qp by far

 

[freefrog]

An obvious solution would be to use a single coil with the highest possible inductance, as illustrated by the reference to the SSL6. A QP has it... but as typically, big poles are more powerfully magnetized, the sound might finally seem less "mid centric" than wanted.

That said: in the early 80's, I played an Ibanez strat copy with cheap "Super 6" single coils (QP / Schecter F500T clones with big steel poles and a ceramic bar underneath). Their inductance was in the 6H range, just like with a SSL5 or SSL6 (a QP measuring around 7H, for the record). Positions 2 and 4 were certainly full of mids.

Nowadays, I can emulate their resonant peak almost perfectly... by putting a regular single coil in parallel with a capacitor to ground, in the PRS or Bill Lawrence fashion. it won't give it the power of overwound SC's but certainly makes the tone more middy. If it increases the Q factor too much and makes the sound too nasal, I decrease the resistive load by adding resistance to ground in parallel with the PU+cap (which is doable by lowering the mid PU tone pot of a few notches, simply).

Should be an easy reversible fast cheap mod to try, in parallel with a standard RWRP mid single coil. 1nF or 1.5nF should be a good starting point for the cap but I'd experiment with various values if it was for me - from 680pF to 2.2nF or something like that. Adjust to taste.

Good luck in your quest, whatever is your choice...

 

[IMENATOR]

the ssl3 hot strat has more mids than the qp by far

This one looks very promising.