Single coil shaped humbucker for Strat

[Baby Evil]

Hi,

I just bought a MIM Strat, and I'd like to make it more versatile, especially with distortion.
My fave sounds from it are the pos 2 quack, pos 3 and pos 5. Pos 1 sounds to thin, so I'm thinking of putting a Hotrails or something like that in there.

But, the main issue : the pos 2 has to remain that typical quack.

What pup would you recommend?

And, is it possible to wire it so that you have the humbucker sound in pos 1, but only a single coil when you switch it to pos 2?

Oh yeah, the reason I bought a Strat (my first love years ago) again, was hearing Towshend and Gilmour at Live8.

thanks,

Jan

 

[Jester700]

Re: Single coil shaped humbucker for Strat

You may lose a lot of the quack. A hot bucker wold be best; I'd say try a JB Jr. bridge, but the rails will work. If you can go to a full size bucker, your choices open up and your results will be a little better. I LOVE the pos. 2 sound to the point where I replaced the poles on one side of a full size bridge bucker with alnico5 rods. I think it sounds better now in that position. Quacks like a duck.

You'd need a "megaswitch" to wire it as you want; a normal 5 way won't work. But you COULD just use a push-pull pot as a coil splitter for the bucker.

 

[Artie]

Re: Single coil shaped humbucker for Strat

If you're refering to pos #1 as the bridge position, you can replace the bridge with a humbucker, (single-sized or not), and split it to retain the #2 position quack, using the standard 5-way.

You'ld just wire it like this:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/website/support/schematics/hum_2sing_vol_2tone_-w-spl.html

It doesn't matter whether the bridge pup you use is full-sized or not. The wiring will be the same.

 

[Baby Evil]

Re: Single coil shaped humbucker for Strat

I want to have a humbucker for a fuller sound, and less noise on the bridge (#1) position. So, I think, if I split the humbucker on that postion, I'd miss the original goal.
Or am I wrong?

Jan

 

[Artie]

Re: Single coil shaped humbucker for Strat

Using that diagram, the humbucker would only be split in the #2 position, mimicking a single-coil with the middle pup. In the #1 position it will still be full-humbucking.

 

[Baby Evil]

Re: Single coil shaped humbucker for Strat

So, that's exactly what I want! Thanks very much.

Jan

 

[Artie]

Re: Single coil shaped humbucker for Strat

Yeah, if you close at that diagram, you can see that one side of the 5-way selects the pups as normal, and the "other" side splits the 'bucker in the #2 notch position. Its a cool setup, and cheap and easy.

 

[flank]

Re: Single coil shaped humbucker for Strat

i have tried this...the quack remains fairly well!.... to be completely honest though, since the Lil Bucker split does not sound alot like a real single coil, the quack is not exactly like it would be with 2 real single coils...but its still good enough

 

[Baby Evil]

Re: Single coil shaped humbucker for Strat

I've been going through the samples, and it's hard to find the right pup : the one that sounds great dirty, the Hot Rails, is really too hot clean. The Cool rails seem a good alternative, or the duckbucker....

I want a sweeter, and less noisy pos1, but not too hot. Maybe there's a single coil that can do that? All suggestions welcome

thanks,


Jan

 

[flank]

Re: Single coil shaped humbucker for Strat

i dont know about the rails pickups......but the Lil 59 would be a good choice for Floyd and The Who, cause its the vintage humbucker sound....nothing too over the top

 

[Artie]

Re: Single coil shaped humbucker for Strat

I've just recently installed, and fallen in love with, the Cool Rails. I have it in both the neck and bridge positions. But, to be honest, I haven't tried it split or parallel yet. Hopefully, soon.

It does, however, do a respectable job of "quack" in the notch positions, when combined with a Vintage Rails.