Re: New pickups for a hss strat
Ok thnx for this other suggestion....I mean the only one sure of the 3 is the slash at the bridge, I'm taking my time to undestand what's really the best possible combination for the most versatility on one side and the most powerful, rich, deep, full sounds on the other.
I've got this idea, after one of you suggested me to put a ssl1 at he mid, to put a ssl 3 or a ssl 5 to get out some vintage warm sounds. At the neck I'm gonna put a single coil/humbucker or a humbucker as you suggested.....lil demon, lil 59, jb junior, cool rails or vintage rails? Not decided yet
Hi guys, I ended up with changing completely my guitars.
Here is what i recommend for the strat:
ok slash bridge - thats an a2 pickup.
Match it with another slash in the neck (neck version) - again an a2 pickup. Having a full humbucker will get you closer to that "deep jazz" sound and the slash is part of a calibrated set. A calibrated set (or at least a pair of pickups that balance pretty well output wise) are always a good plan because they will both sound good using the same amp settings. Going for one extreme to another in pickups might seem like a great idea, but if the changes are too drastic you need to fiddle with your amp/pedal knobs to get a sound that lets the pickup do what it does best - so in the quest for maximum versatility, you can end up with a guitar that just causes a lot of messing around when you could be focusing on playing - especially important in a live situation.
ok - so so far we have a pair of nicely matched humbuckers. What to put in the middle?
Another a2 based pickup will retain some of the feel and eq characteristics of the humbuckers, so you can again flick to the new pickup and not have to worry about resetting your amp's eq. Something along the lines of the APS-2 should be a good match.
Add some coil tap switches and you have a lot of tone options from an axe like that.
However, i want to add my 2c worth and recommend that you make things simple and just go for an HH setup. The reasons are these:
1. humbuckers and single coil pickups rarely combine well due to drastic tonal and output changes requiring a lot of amp fiddling.
2. HUmbuckers and single coils require different value potentiometers for the volume and tone functions to sound their best. So what do you choose? 500k for the buckers, or 250 for the single? In the end, the quest for versatility can be counterproductive.
3. Will you choose a single to match the tones coming from your buckers, or do you want one that matches the sound of your buckers when they are split?
4. With a standard strat 5 way switch, you will lose the useful "neck and bridge together" sound.
All of this stuff might be overcome with superswitches and complicated load resistor wiring, but you wont get all of it sorted out. So, here is my recommendation:
you want the slash bridge sound. great, use that.
you want the deep warm jazzy neck sound. great. install the matching slash humbucker there too.
you want versatility:
use a simple 3 way switch, but wire in a separate 500k volume for each pickup so you can dial in an endless variety of blends between the two pickups. if you want to take things further use push/pull volume pots so you can coil split each pickup for even more sounds. Add a single tone pot. You will be amazed how many tones you can get with this fairly simple setup.
IN my experience, trying to create a guitar that can do all things perfectly is pretty much futile. Even the most cleverly designed switching systems and pickups will still only allow a few good sounds, and plenty of not so good ones. Guitars that try to sound like both les pauls and stratocasters generally fall short in one or other or both goals due to some basic compatibility issues.
Work out which sounds are absolutely the most important to you, and get your guitar to do them rather than trying to get it to do everything. Its kinda like finding the best pair of hiking shoes you can, but hoping that you can slide around the dancefloor like fred Astaire. Or getting a pair of waterproof waders, then hoping to run a marathon. Just like shoes, no guitars can do everything well. Just work out what you most need and go from there.
