S-S-H build recommendations

[jpage]

OK, I've wanted to do this for awhile and I'm going for it. I'm building a strat with a mahogany body/poly finish (alpine white!) and a 24 3/4" conversion neck (CBS headstock!). I've never dealt with a guitar with both singles and a bucker and realize that there are inherent problems with mixing the two. Any recommendations? I know that by using 500k pots, my single coils will be unusually bright, but I am hoping (rightly?) that the mahogany/short scale will tame them.

That being said, any recommendations for pickups? I wouldn't mind trying noiseless singles as long as they sound like strat pickups and look like strat pickups (NO blades/anything unusual). I obviously am trying to get more of a Les Paul vibe from this strat but with this configuration I believe anything overwound will not be "open" enough. How about a alnico 2 mag (aren't they brighter?) with a more "classic PAF" (8-9.5k) wind?

And what do you think of the idea? Jimi looking strat with a big black bucker in the bridge that (hopefully) sounds HUGE.

 

[Xeromus]

Re: S-S-H build recommendations

Two classic stack plus' and a Distortion, Custom, or JB in the bridge. I would recommend cool rails for the neck and middle because they sound good with 500k pots and balance nicely with a bridge hb but you didn't want anything rails based.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: S-S-H build recommendations

Two classic stack plus' and a Distortion, Custom, or JB in the bridge. I would recommend cool rails for the neck and middle because they sound good with 500k pots and balance nicely with a bridge hb but you didn't want anything rails based.

I'll be installing the Classic Stack Plus pickups with a JB into a Tom Anderson guitar wednesday morning for a customer...I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

I'm expecting it to sound awesome!

 

[jpage]

Re: S-S-H build recommendations

I like JBs (have 'em in a Les Paul Studio) but was thinking it might not be open enough. I usually like more "vintage" (less output, more high end) humbucker tones. I was leaning more towards the Alnico Pro/PGs/59s.

I will be watching Lew--I'm worried JBs will be muddy in a mahog strat.

 

[walt]

Re: S-S-H build recommendations

I had a pair of Rio Grandes Tall Boys in the neck and middle and a JB in the bridge and that set up was killer back then. The Rios were very open sounding true singles that had a piano type vibe to them, the JB well, was a JB with that infamous mid spike.

 

[Brow]

Re: S-S-H build recommendations

In my HSS Strat I have a Bareknuckle Crawler in the bridge with 2 Bareknuckle Irish Tours in the middle and neck.

The Crawler is a PAF Style pickup with an output of around 15K, and the Irish Tours are 'Hot Vintage' Single coils with an Hendrix/Rory Gallagher'vibe' to them.

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: S-S-H build recommendations

I have a JB paired with two older classic stacks in my Jackson superstrat. I think that the EQs of the pups suit each other quite well, but the output difference is too big in my opinion. I'd be wary about combining classic stacks with high-output bridge humbuckers. I don't personally mind the 500k pot with the singles, I like them bright.

 

[zimmer]

Re: S-S-H build recommendations

FWIW, Scott Miller at Seymour Duncan Q&A suggested a Custom Custom for the humbucker, when I asked about a Stack Plus pair in an S-S-H setup.

 

[Corbic]

Re: S-S-H build recommendations

From what I can tell, Alnico II magnets aren't brighter, but more focused on the mids with smoother highs. Alnico 5 is brighter, so an Alnico 5 PAF style like the '59 should work well with Duncan Classic Stack Plus'.

 

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: S-S-H build recommendations

... I know that by using 500k pots, my single coils will be unusually bright, but I am hoping (rightly?) that the mahogany/short scale will tame them.

..........

Iv'e used both 250K and 500K pots in strats that mixed singles and humbuckers. The use of 500K pots doesn't really hurt, because the singles are in the neck and middle positions. I've done it with both Seymour 's Antiquity singles and Dimarzio Blue Velvets, and I didn't find either excessively bright. One guitar was mahogony, with a Pearly Gates in the bridge. The neck and middle postions were just about perfect in that case.

I've also used 250K pots with a bridge humbucker with some of the brighter woods combonations, and that works fine too.

You don't absolutely have to use 500K with a humbucker, or 250K with singles. That's just a general recomendation.

 

[Christobevii3]

Re: S-S-H build recommendations

I've got a pearly gates, cool rail, lil 59er i'm setting up in my HSS jackson pretty soon, like a week or so once the pearly gates gets in.

 

[Fresh_Start]

Re: S-S-H build recommendations

I've also used 250K pots with a bridge humbucker with some of the brighter woods combonations, and that works fine too.

You don't absolutely have to use 500K with a humbucker, or 250K with singles. That's just a general recomendation.

+1 on that

I've got a 250k volume & 500k master tone w/ APS/SSL/Custom 5 in an alder strat that's none too bright acoustically. Wouldn't want a 500k volume pot in that guitar. Of course, you can change the tone pot by turning it Also, a 250k tone for the neck pup - and maybe the middle too - and 500k tone for the bridge (assuming you want a tone control there) is a good compromise to start with.

Remember, you can always "increase" the resistance of a pot by putting a resistor between the pot & ground (i.e. 250k pot plus 100k resistor => 350k). Won't go to "0" volume/tone then, but much cheaper and easier to dial in than swapping out different pots.

Chip

 

[jpage]

Re: S-S-H build recommendations

In my HSS Strat I have a Bareknuckle Crawler in the bridge with 2 Bareknuckle Irish Tours in the middle and neck.

The Crawler is a PAF Style pickup with an output of around 15K, and the Irish Tours are 'Hot Vintage' Single coils with an Hendrix/Rory Gallagher'vibe' to them.

Now that's a combo I'd like to try but I'm trying to keep my pickup budget under $275 or so...

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: S-S-H build recommendations

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=65607

 

[Brow]

Re: S-S-H build recommendations

Now that's a combo I'd like to try but I'm trying to keep my pickup budget under $275 or so...

Yeah, they're not cheap but they do beat pretty much anything else I've ever tried