MIM HSS Set-up?

[deolexrex]

Here's what I'm thinking...

I want a versatile set-up since I only have one guitar at this point. I play mostly English/Texas blues rock with a side of southern rock and "hot" country. Oh, and I'm running a Tweaker 15 head and cabinet.

Bridge - Pearly Gates
Middle - Duckbucker
Neck - Little 59

Does that get me where I'm going or am I missing something?


Thank you for you time.

 

[njstoehr]

Re: MIM HSS Set-up?

If you are looking to go the all humbucker route than the above should work pretty well. It seems a lot of folks really like the Pearly Gates in the bridge of a strat. I can't speak for the Duckbucker as I have never tried one, but I found the Little '59 a tad muddy in the bridge of a telle I tried it in. Just keep in mind that you are planning on all humbuckers so you may want to change out the Volume pot to a 500k if you don't already have one in the guitar.

I went through the same upgrade about a year ago. Converted a SSS MIM Strat to HSS. I ended up with a JB in the bridge, and SSL-5s in the Neck and Middle position. I wanted a good "rockin" humbucker in the bridge but still wanted to retain the single coil tone in the neck and middle. The SSL-5s (being high output single coils) balance very well with the JB (after a little height adjustment). To me, this is the best of both worlds.

 

[chadd]

Re: MIM HSS Set-up?

The ducbucker is very low output and doesn't match up well with a lot of hotter bridge pickups. You might want to look at something with a little more output, like a cool rail. I have one between two lil demons and it's a very drastic change in output levels.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: MIM HSS Set-up?

You'll miss the "regular" Strat neck pickup for sure, I'd think...and/or the "regular" Strat middle. I'd keep at least one of those two pickups as a fairly standard single coil, either normal or a bit hot.

A PG in the bridge will be nice. Or a Seth, AIIP, Slash, or Antiquity. I'd wire it up so I could put the coils in parallel with a switch.

 

[deolexrex]

Re: MIM HSS Set-up?

You'll miss the "regular" Strat neck pickup for sure, I'd think...and/or the "regular" Strat middle. I'd keep at least one of those two pickups as a fairly standard single coil, either normal or a bit hot.

A PG in the bridge will be nice. Or a Seth, AIIP, Slash, or Antiquity. I'd wire it up so I could put the coils in parallel with a switch.

Which "regular" pickups would you recommend with the Pearly Gates?

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: MIM HSS Set-up?

Which "regular" pickups would you recommend with the Pearly Gates?

If going with a Duncan product, I would lean toward an SSL 5 or 6, or a 1/4 Lb., and I would definitely wire it up for coil tapping – possibly even running it normally tapped. If Di'Marzio, Red Velvet or FS-1.

 

[baritone]

Re: MIM HSS Set-up?

The ducbucker is very low output and doesn't match up well with a lot of hotter bridge pickups. You might want to look at something with a little more output, like a cool rail. I have one between two lil demons and it's a very drastic change in output levels.

That can be fixed by adjusting the pickup heights.

 

[elelpe]

Re: MIM HSS Set-up?

I'd go with STK-S4 in the middle and neck with Pearly Gates.

 

[chadd]

Re: MIM HSS Set-up?

That can be fixed by adjusting the pickup heights.

Not in this case, there was simply far too much difference in output. While the differences could be minimized somewhat, they could get close enough for me. Lowering the lil Demons until they were remotely close in volume also resulted in changes to the tone that were less than pleasing.

 

[jimijames]

Re: MIM HSS Set-up?

If you want a guitar that will do every sound you're looking for, I would go for a HSH strat instead of a SSH, with a 5 way superswitch and two volumes (one for neck/middle, one for bridge).

Maybe some push-pulls too.

Do you use an overdrive or anything? If yes, vintage-output pickups are not only fine but probably better for your application.

Part of me wants to say something like "all you need to do is get a soldering iron and an A3 magnet... etc etc" but for stock pickups in a HSH in a strat, I'd go for something like a pearly gates neck, ssl-1 middle, and a 59/Custom bridge. I'd also flip the neck pickup too so the slug coil is closest to the neck so that way when you split it it's closer to a true strat single. It'll be nearly the same position anyway so you'll still get good quack when it's used with the middle pickup.

For the styles you play you aren't going to use the middle pickup by itself very often, maybe ever, so the superswitch I'd wire to where you get:

5. Neck Humbucker
4. Neck Split + Middle
3. Neck + Bridge Humbuckers
2. Bridge Split + Middle
1. Bridge Humbucker

If you want telecaster-esque sounds, you can add a series/parallel switch with the push-pull. I'm still trying to think about how you might go about getting just neck single coil and the bridge single coils by themselves. Maybe wire the first volume as a master volume and the second volume as kind of a pseudo-volume for the middle pickup? I'm working on it.

 

[deolexrex]

Re: MIM HSS Set-up?

Anyone like the SVR-1?

 

[panderson61]

Re: MIM HSS Set-up?

Anyone like the SVR-1?

I've got the Vintage Rails in the middle position of my HSS. I love it for rhythm sounds. Clear, bright highs like the duckbucker, but with a little scoop in the midrange. To me, it balances well with 59 Bridge and SSL-1 Neck.