NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

vinnie1971

vinnie1971

New member
Not a cup of tea but

As I say good bye to my Squier Standard HSH with hand wound pickups and my Squier SE with cor-tek alnico 2 classic rocker humbuckers and Wilkinson vintage voice pickups to trade for ....

Fender loan star in ocean turquoise.

Which I’m very happy about.

But the fender twin head is not as nice as the axesrus bourbon city humbuckers in my Squier Standard - they’re sort of in between pearly gates and Gibson 57s.

So my plan is:

Replace the Fender humbucker for Pearly gates STB

Then fit a Super switch

Ditch the coil split and use the S1 switch to select either middle pickup or neck and bridge instead

Then use a 250k tone pot with .047 uF cap for the Texas specials and 500k tone pot with 0.022uF for the pearly gates.

But as I’m doing the work is it worth getting a 500k S1 for the volume or stick with 250k?

Thanks in advance for advice


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Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

id stick with the 250k if it was me
 
Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

What is a PG STB? The Lonestar has a Pearly Gates + in it.

And Lonestar - Sweet! That would be my Strat of choice, if I had a Strat...
 
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NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

Aceman said:
What is a PG STB? The Lonestar has a Pearly Gates + in it.

And Lonestar - Sweet! That would be my Strat of choice, if I had a Strat...
Click to expand...

PG STB = Pearly gates fender spaced
The one I’m getting is the later MIM with fender “Twin Head”


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Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

Again - a Fender Lonestar (at least the originals) had a Fender Spaced Pearly Gates + in it....
 
Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

Yeah, the Pearly Gates Plus is a different beast. It's got more output, A5 magnet, and is slightly brighter sounding, closer to a '59 than a standard Pearly Gates.
 
NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

So my plan is replace the fender twin head humbucker which is not a pearly gates plus with a regular alnico 2 ( not PG +) pearly gates but fender spaced

But I think the PG would be happier with 500k volume? I can always use resistors so the Texas specials still see 250k

500k tone for the PG, 250k tone for the singles

Or just use the existing 250k S1 and tone pots?

I do not intend to use the S1 for coil splits, I believe there’s no need and the PG will play well with the Texas specials without splitting, so I’ll use the S1 with a superswitch to select either middle pickup or neck & bridge on the middle position on the 5 way.

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Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

For a regular Pearly Gates in a Strat's bridge position, I would try the stock 250K pots first, especially if the PG is uncovered.

The regular Pearly Gates bridge is a bright pickup. It is bright even in its original application, a Gibson-style set neck guitar. I had a regular Pearly Gates set in an HH Tele with 500K pots, and I felt the bridge pickup was too bright in that setting.
 
Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

I concur. PG is fairly bright even in a Les Paul. In a Strat I suspect you'll be happy with the stock 250K.
 
Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

Thanks for your replies. so I’ll try the existing 250 pots to start.
Now is it worth auto coil splitting on position 2, say with a 1k or 2k resistor to ground it just leave position 2 as a full fat humbucker?


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Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

Do you have much experience with Texas Specials? They're not super bright. I haven't mixed a bridge humbucker with mine yet, but I run a 250k volume, TBX tone on the neck, which is essentially 1 M when turned up all the way, no tone on the middle pickup, and a 250k tone on the bridge. Neither the neck or middle are too bright like that, and I've considered disconnecting the TBX from the neck pickup to get a little more highs out of it.

I'd try both the 500k and the 250k volume, but I bet it'll be cool either way.
 
Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

JB_From_Hell said:
Do you have much experience with Texas Specials? They're not super bright. I haven't mixed a bridge humbucker with mine yet, but I run a 250k volume, TBX tone on the neck, which is essentially 1 M when turned up all the way, no tone on the middle pickup, and a 250k tone on the bridge. Neither the neck or middle are too bright like that, and I've considered disconnecting the TBX from the neck pickup to get a little more highs out of it.

I'd try both the 500k and the 250k volume, but I bet it'll be cool either way.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply
My only experience with Texas specials was trying it when I played in the shop. I love them and as they are already are as bright as I’d want to go, brighter than my Tex Mex SSS strat.

I’ve used TBX before personally I prefer no load or 1 meg for full brightness.

In my experience with TBX and no load tone controls, a 250k volume pot does not open up there possibilities as there still a lot of treble rolled off by the volume even on 10.

A 500k volume or 1 meg volume I found is a game changer. On my SSS strat, I use 500k volume and 250k tone. That’s way bright enough with tex mex.

Another HSS I have 500k volume 250k tone for singles with 0.033 uF and humbucker with 500k tone with 0.022uF and that’s a really balanced guitar
It’s got hand wound late 50s style single coils with a dimarzio Virtual PAF

After much experiments with my existing strats I find HSS and HSH that the above is a good formula.

I did use 1 meg volume and tone pots on one HSH and that was a real success- the single coil was very dark as were the humbuckers, but it brought the humbuckers into the tonal realm of P90s. But I found it’s the 1 meg volume that’s the game changer.

But I think that set up us going to be way too bright in a lone star with a pearly gates bridge.




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Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

Remember, standard Pearly Gates are out-of-phase with modern Fender pickups. You will have to flip the hot and ground on the SD pickup.
 
Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

Mincer said:
Remember, standard Pearly Gates are out-of-phase with modern Fender pickups. You will have to flip the hot and ground on the SD pickup.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. It might make my life easier , I’ll swap the leads over and if I do auto split I’ll split to the south coil which I prefer on fat strats. I think the slug coil is too close to the middle.


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Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

I've got this current setup, w 250k pots in an American standard that is on the bright side. An old 80s pg in the bridge and the stock fat 50s in the neck and middle. It sounds really good, I don't think the 250k is too dark with the PG, by contrast a Bare knuckle VHII in the same setup was too dark and middy. I haven't messed with the autosplit in this one yet, but the full PG with the fat 50s middle is a decent sound with a little bit of quack to it.
 
Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

Perhaps a good place to start would be the fender site with the wiring diagram and parts layout for a origional (mia) lonestar strat?
 
Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

Aceman said:
Again - a Fender Lonestar (at least the originals) had a Fender Spaced Pearly Gates + in it....
Click to expand...

To the OP: What makes you think that the humbucker in that guitar is a twin head? The original Lone Star strats from the early 2000s had a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Plus and two Texas Specials in neck and middle. If you switch the magnet in the PG-plus from A5 to A2, you would essentially have a slightly overwound PG.

Is this a later model of Lonestar that had a different pickup in the bridge? Is it one where the owner called it a Lonestar? Have you popped the pickguard off and identified the humbucker as a Twin Head?

Also, I believe the original Lone Star strat already comes with a 5-way super switch.
 
Re: NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

Mark Cearlock said:
Perhaps a good place to start would be the fender site with the wiring diagram and parts layout for a origional (mia) lonestar strat?
Click to expand...

If it gives the pot values it could be.
I already know how they’re wired though


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NG for Xmas - Fender Lone Star strat - replacing the humbucker - PG tips?

jmcorey said:
To the OP: What makes you think that the humbucker in that guitar is a twin head? The original Lone Star strats from the early 2000s had a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Plus and two Texas Specials in neck and middle. If you switch the magnet in the PG-plus from A5 to A2, you would essentially have a slightly overwound PG.

Is this a later model of Lonestar that had a different pickup in the bridge? Is it one where the owner called it a Lonestar? Have you popped the pickguard off and identified the humbucker as a Twin Head?

Also, I believe the original Lone Star strat already comes with a 5-way super switch.
Click to expand...

I’m not allowed to touch it until Xmas! ( it’s still in the store until my wife pays the tiny balance left and collects it)

But I’m 100% sure it’s one of the late ones with the twin head - in the new colours ( ocean turquoise) it’s not wired like original lone star with auto split bridge and middle, it’s got regular 5 way switching plus S1 switch to split to the north coil.

I’m buying it used from a store - the vendor knows which model and pickup - plus I’ve played it - it’s not a pearly gates. It still sounds great, but I prefer the pearly gates.

It’s this very model and colour
https://youtu.be/ILhmSNQjKEs




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