Newbie needs advice for HSS Strat

[Jamal]

Hi everyone,

As the post title suggests, I'm a newbie here on these forums, and need some advice regarding a humbucker for a HSS Strat.

The Strat itself is a MIM Fender Standard Strat from the mid-90s - rosewood fretboard, poplar (I think) body. It's not particularly fashionable, but the neck is surprisingly nice. So I've had some surgery performed on it - had a Callaham trem block installed, along with Fender Custom '69 Strat pickups in the neck and middle positions.

I'm looking for suggestions for a full-sized humbucker for the bridge position. The standard Fender one is extremely nasal. I was looking for something with a bit more sparkle and dimension to it. The '69 single coils have a fairly low output, so I'm looking for something that won't completely overpower them.

Currently, I'm considering at the JB and '59 humbuckers. I just wanted to get some advice to help me decide one way or the other.

Also - just wondering about the Strat's volume pot. It's currently a 250k pot. When I get a new humbucker, should I change it to a 500k pot? Any recommendations or advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Jamal

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Newbie needs advice for HSS Strat

I'm going against the grain here a bit,but my favorite bridge humbucker for a strat,has been the Dimarzio Fred...It cleans up very well,it retains note articulation,has amazing harmonic content,and it's not a crazy overwound/overbearing pickup,plus I have mine with a 3 way mini switch for series/split/parallel...I use 250k pots in all of my strats because normally the pickups don't need more highend,especially in the bridge position...

Another pickup that I used for awhile,was the fullsized Pearly Gates Plus that was used in the strat...This pickup is also nice,retains a cleaner tone in the PAF vein,but has that extra "sizzle".....The PG+ is A5..I think?

When I used the PG,I increased the bridge tone cap up to a .033....I use a .02 with the Fred...

The other pickup similar to these other 2 then,would be the Scremon Demon...Get your hands on any of the 3 and try it out...

I Only have one strat that is H/S/S and it's had a Dimarzio Fred in that spot since the early 90s....I had pulled it and tryed the PG and the SD,but went back to it....Just an overall great pickup...I've never used the JB,but it's a very popular bridge pickup and you couldn't go wrong with it also

 

[ponch]

Re: Newbie needs advice for HSS Strat

I have the same pick ups same everything you have but in an alvarez SSh, I have 500k pots, and a PGP and it is very well rounded.

 

[ganzosrevenge]

Re: Newbie needs advice for HSS Strat

First, a good HB needs a good 500k pot. Get one of those, or a HB will probably sound like mud. If you really want to go vintage, I'm almost inclined to recommend a PG in the bridge (PG = pearly gates) and wire them up for 5-way with auto-split. Because the PG is about 8.5k, it should balance nicely with the 5.8k or so that the '69s put out. You'll get a bit of a boost and a bit more low-end, but you won't have so much change that your entire EQ needs to be rearranged every time you go to the bridge pickup.

Jason

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Newbie needs advice for HSS Strat

First, a good HB needs a good 500k pot. Get one of those, or a HB will probably sound like mud. If you really want to go vintage, I'm almost inclined to recommend a PG in the bridge (PG = pearly gates) and wire them up for 5-way with auto-split. Because the PG is about 8.5k, it should balance nicely with the 5.8k or so that the '69s put out. You'll get a bit of a boost and a bit more low-end, but you won't have so much change that your entire EQ needs to be rearranged every time you go to the bridge pickup.

Jason

I've experimented alot with pot and cap values in my guitars....I always find that single coils sound too bright,spikey,and almost harsh with the 500k pot...I found fullsized humbuckers that have worked for me in the bridge spot of a strat with keeping the 250k value pots...I normally stay with pickups in the PAF style resistance readings of say 8 to 9K and so the 250k pots help dial out some of the peaky highend stuff in the bridge spot...Even things as simple as strings,magnet type,pickup height and what pick you use,is enough to either darken or brighten up the tone though and I usually can dial in a guitar doing things this way...I've found that I can trust my ears,experiment,and stick with what works for me..In my SG or my LP,I only will use the 500k pot values though and the 250k value just doesn't work.

Normally it's 500k for fullsized humbuckers or 300k and 250k for single coils,but it still boils down to whatever sounds good to one's ear....

 

[ganzosrevenge]

Re: Newbie needs advice for HSS Strat

I've experimented alot with pot and cap values in my guitars....I always find that single coils sound too bright,spikey,and almost harsh with the 500k pot...I found fullsized humbuckers that have worked for me in the bridge spot of a strat with keeping the 250k value pots...I normally stay with pickups in the PAF style resistance readings of say 8 to 9K and so the 250k pots help dial out some of the peaky highend stuff in the bridge spot...Even things as simple as strings,magnet type,pickup height and what pick you use,is enough to either darken or brighten up the tone though and I usually can dial in a guitar doing things this way...I've found that I can trust my ears,experiment,and stick with what works for me..In my SG or my LP,I only will use the 500k pot values though and the 250k value just doesn't work.

Normally it's 500k for fullsized humbuckers or 300k and 250k for single coils,but it still boils down to whatever sounds good to one's ear....

Right, what i do is this: the neck and middle Singles to a 250K tone control, and the bridge HB to a 500k tone control. I like to keep it this way so that the different pickup types have autonomous controls. What this does is simple: I can isolate the 2 matched singlecoils to their own tone controls so that they are controlled without interference from the bridge hb and its 500k pot, and the bridge gets its own 500k pot so that it has more space to "breathe". Obviously one should experiment, but at least for me, I like to keep separation between single coils and HBs on the tone controls. Hence, the "Lone Star" Wiring configuration, it provides this configuration, and an autosplit in position 2 (middle pup + inside coil of HB in parallel), and the full HB in series in position 1.

Jason

 

[El CHupacabra]

Re: Newbie needs advice for HSS Strat

In all the HSS strats I've found, nothing sounds better than a Pearly Gates or a Pearly Gates +. They work well with the woods and get a great amount of crunch, dirt and distortion without going over the top (Like Steve Vai's Evolutions... those are just insane).

 

[Jamal]

Re: Newbie needs advice for HSS Strat

Wow. Thanks for the advice, everyone. It looks like the consensus is that the Pearly Gates is the best bet, so I'm going to grab one of those.

Just wanted to check one thing - I need the trembucker version, right?

Thanks,
Jamal

 

[ganzosrevenge]

Re: Newbie needs advice for HSS Strat

Wow. Thanks for the advice, everyone. It looks like the consensus is that the Pearly Gates is the best bet, so I'm going to grab one of those.

Just wanted to check one thing - I need the trembucker version, right?

Thanks,
Jamal

if you want your strat's polepieces to line up, then yes.