Novice Question

M

mjcolucci701

New member
I'm sure this has been asked before, and I've searched the web without finding the answer I'm looking for, someone please help me out.

I'm going to mod my Fender American Special HSS, does the middle or neck pup need to be RW/RP? Or, does the HB negate the need? Thanks in advance.
 
Re: Novice Question

The middle pickup needs to be RWRP if you are following the standard American Special wiring.
 
Re: Novice Question

I thought that was the case, just wanted to be sure.... looking for a good HB to replace the stock one with, recommendations?
 
Re: Novice Question

What type of music do you play and what is the rest of your rig like?
 
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Suhr Thornbucker in the bridge. Like an old school PAF, but cleaner. Sounds amazing.
 
Re: Novice Question

My choice for a humbucker would be something in the 'hot PAF' camp. Whole Lotta Humbucker, Saturday Night Special, or even the 59/Custom Hybrid. These will retain dynamics and still blend well with the single coils. Remember that most Duncan and stock Fender pickups are out-of-phase with each other, so you'd likely have to swap the green and black wires on the Duncan.
 
Re: Novice Question

mjcolucci701 said:
I'm sure this has been asked before, and I've searched the web without finding the answer I'm looking for, someone please help me out.

I'm going to mod my Fender American Special HSS, does the middle or neck pup need to be RW/RP? Or, does the HB negate the need? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Middle OR neck, depending on:

1) which brands of pickups you use
2) which wiring scheme you go with --- Fender-style full H+S in position 2, or Ibanez-style split H+S in position 2


Seymour Duncan HBs with Fender singles = reverse hot and ground wires for EITHER the singles OR the humbucker

Magnet polarity = make sure the top of the middle pickup (if that's where you go RWRP) attracts to the tops of the bridge and the neck pickup
 
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Re: Novice Question

Thanks for the input everyone... I was thinking about a Pearly Gates, Antiquity Surfer, and Antiquity Texas Hot, or maybe one of the vintage models. I was checking out the Whole Lotta and 59, don't know enough about Suhr, or Fralins to invest in.

But, like I said, I'm a (non-gigging) novice and most of this research has been based on forums.

Thanks again!
 
Re: Novice Question

mjcolucci701 said:
Thanks for the input everyone... I was thinking about a Pearly Gates, Antiquity Surfer, and Antiquity Texas Hot, or maybe one of the vintage models. I was checking out the Whole Lotta and 59, don't know enough about Suhr, or Fralins to invest in.

But, like I said, I'm a (non-gigging) novice and most of this research has been based on forums.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Well that is a great set, right there. Remember that the Antiquity Texas Hot is one of the only pickups Duncan makes that is out of phase with all other Duncan pickups. So you'd have to reverse the hot and ground on that one. From a Seymour Duncan blog:

The most common scenario in which the above comes to bear is when combining Seymour Duncan single coils and Fender single coils. It all started when Seymour decided to base his single coils on the original Fender single coils from the 1950’s, which were south, top going. At some point in the 60’s, Fender decided to change their single coils to be north, top coming. The end result is that Seymour’s regular pickups are equivalent to Fender’s RWRP, and vise versa. The only exception to this is the Antiquity Texas Hot; that’s because it’s an accurate re-creation of the “new” style of Fender pickup.
 
Re: Novice Question

I'd say Whole Lotta Humbucker bridge, STK-S4m for the middle and STK-S7n for the neck. Completely noiseless and covers a lot of musical bases from classic rock to blues.
 
Re: Novice Question

Mincer said:
Well that is a great set, right there. Remember that the Antiquity Texas Hot is one of the only pickups Duncan makes that is out of phase with all other Duncan pickups. So you'd have to reverse the hot and ground on that one. From a Seymour Duncan blog:

The most common scenario in which the above comes to bear is when combining Seymour Duncan single coils and Fender single coils. It all started when Seymour decided to base his single coils on the original Fender single coils from the 1950’s, which were south, top going. At some point in the 60’s, Fender decided to change their single coils to be north, top coming. The end result is that Seymour’s regular pickups are equivalent to Fender’s RWRP, and vise versa. The only exception to this is the Antiquity Texas Hot; that’s because it’s an accurate re-creation of the “new” style of Fender pickup.
Click to expand...

And then there's that
 
Re: Novice Question

Adieu said:
It's an HSS, so it depends on what you want -- a stratty split tone, a fat PAF humbucker tone, a P90 sound, a hot hard rock and metal bridge tone, or some combination of the above?
Click to expand...

You can get all of that with a 59/C hybrid and a spin-a-split.
 
Re: Novice Question

I'm looking for something that has a clear low end, but doesn't get lost in the mud... and if I understand this right, you'd want a balance of pickups that will give you that low end, but when switched in the right position will give you a good clear high. So placement of the "high-end" tone and "low-end" tone pickups isn't as critical the pups themselves? Kind of why Gilmour has the DiMarzio (or SSL5, or SSL1) at the bridge, CS 69 in middle and CS Fat50 at the neck?

Side question, when you refer to splitting the HB what does that mean exactly?

Thanks for indulging me.
 
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