Some Advice Please

[James Davidson]

Hi. I am new to the whole replacing the pickups in my guitar thing and I would really appreciate some help. I know you folks are the ones to ask.

So I have a Mexican Strat which I would like to upgrade to get a better sound from it since it sounds weak. It would be great to be able to get a good range of tones from the guitar from clear chiming bell sounds to harsh metal sounds. I really like playing post-rock shoegazey space stuff with plenty of effects though.

This is the configuration I have in mind or something similar:

Bridge: SHR-1 Hot Rails or SSL-3
Middle: SSL-3 Hot
Neck: SSL-6 Custom Flat

Some advice would be great. For example, can you forsee any problems with this type of configuration?I hear lots of stuff about 'out of phase'. What does this mean? Is it necessary to have a reverse wound pickup in the middle for noise cancellation? Are there issues with having humbuckers and single coils together or high output and low output pickups together? Might I need to change my volume or tone pots?

I know these are a lot of questions but any help is appreciated.

 

[cakire82]

Re: Some Advice Please

Hi James. Welcome to the forum! You are in the right palce to get these questions answered but couple questions first.

What kind of woods is you guitar made of?
What kind of amp do you have? Dark or bright?

As for the polarity and the wound direction of the middle pup. They are usually RP/RW in order to be hum canceling in positions 2 and 4 of a regular 5 way strat wiring.

There are no issues with HBs and SCs together. HSH is a pretty combination for guitars. If you are looking to get SC sized HB you don't have to change the pots. If they sound too dark you can always throw in 500K pots brighten them up.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Some Advice Please

a hot rails in the bridge is a fine choice for harder styles. it handles distortion really well but doesnt have the best clean tone.

ive never heard an ssl3 in the middle but it might be fine. very thick for a single coil

the ssl6 in the neck will be a fine match for the hot rails in the bridge. it will be nice a clear while still keeping up with such a hot pup in the bridge.

 

[James Davidson]

Re: Some Advice Please

Hi. Thanks for a quick response. I think the guitar body is alder and the neck is maple with a rosewood fretboord. I think the wood is good quality because it's very heavy, but I could be wrong.

My amp is a Laney TF200. I don't know if it's bright or not. I never thought about it. Now I think about it, it probably is bright. I think it's decent.