ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

[seymourdancan]

hi all,

quick bit of background. i have a '57 reissue fender strat that i fitted a full set of ssl1's to when i bought it about 10 years ago. a few weeks back i stripped the ssl1 out of the bridge position and replaced it with an ssl5. this left me with a spare ssl1.

last week i picked up a 2009 edition fender strat highway one. this is the guitar: (click here to view spec). from the factory it comes fitted with "3 Hot Single-Coil Strat® Pickups with Alnico 3 Magnets and Reverse Wound/Reverse Polarity Middle Pickup".

as i have this spare ssl1 i was considering stripping the stock alnico out of the bridge on the new strat and sticking the ssl1 in. what do you think? a worthwhile exercise or not really going to see much difference?

thanks, look forward to hearing your thoughts on the pros and cons... :1::thanks:

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

If anywhere, I'd put the SSL-1 in the neck. By the description I'd guess the stocks are hotter than the SSL-1, so you'd get a noticable volume drop in the bridge if you put it there. In the neck you'd get more treble and less mids along with less output I'd guess.

 

[Curly]

Re: ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

first of all, you should be aware that Fender and Duncan pickups are wound differently, and often don't "play nice" with each other, as far as just sticking them in and expecting the wiring to work as expected. you will likely end up with phasing issues

there is likely more info on this on the main site in the support area, although it's often come up on the forum too

that said, if all things were equal, I'd put a meter on the pickups, and put the hottest one in the bridge. sorry, I just don't know what the specs are on the hwy 1 pickups

 

[Razix]

Re: ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

There should be a noticeable difference between the current pickup and the ssl 1. If you install the ssl 1 in the bridge, you will probably have to lower the other pickups and keep the ssl 1 relatively high in order to balance the volume.

To avoid phase issues, I believe you have to hook up the wires on the ssl 1 opposite of what the diagram tells you and leave the stock Fender pickups as is.

 

[RockStarNick]

Re: ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

How "hot" is hot, is the question. Gotta hook up the existing pickups to a multimeter and find out.

 

[seymourdancan]

Re: ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

ah ok so the consensus is that the change won't probably be of much benefit? hmmn... seems a shame to have a spare ssl1 knocking around...

 

[kjrocks]

Re: ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

ah ok so the consensus is that the change won't probably be of much benefit? hmmn... seems a shame to have a spare ssl1 knocking around...

Throw it in the neck slot. I think you'd get a lot more enjoyment out of it there and most would agree that its better there and in the middle than as a bridge choice.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

welcome to the seymour duncan user group forum, seymour duncan!.... wait a sec,:dunce:

 

[seymourdancan]

Re: ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

welcome to the seymour duncan user group forum, seymour duncan!.... wait a sec,:dunce:

no it's seymour DANcan... hehehe subtle difference...

seymour DUNcan probably knows a thing or two more about pickups than i do... i hope...

 

[seymourdancan]

Re: ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

Throw it in the neck slot. I think you'd get a lot more enjoyment out of it there and most would agree that its better there and in the middle than as a bridge choice.

aye but i cant just chuck it in can i? others here are saying the fender pups wont sit well with the seymours?

ssl5 in the bridge of my other strat, but thats running ssl1's in neck and mid anyway...

 

[jeremy]

Re: ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

i think it will work fine in the middle of that guitar and i think you will notice a difference.

check to make sure the top of the ssl1 is attracted to the top of the neck and bridge pups (or that it repels the middle pup). by having the ssl1 in the middle i think you will get better notch position tones

 

[seymourdancan]

Re: ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

check to make sure the top of the ssl1 is attracted to the top of the neck and bridge pups (or that it repels the middle pup).

sorry to be a total philestine but can you explain in layman's terms what that equates to? bit of a novice on the mod front y'see...

 

[jeremy]

Re: ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

no problem. take the guitar and place it on a table with the pups facing the ceiling.

take the ssl1 and hold it so the bottom of the pup is facing the ceiling. move the ssl1 in this orientation so the polepieces of the ssl1 are almost touching the polepieces of a pup in the guitar. the polepieces are magnets. if the pole pieces repel they are the same polarity, if they attract they are opposite polarity. you want the middle pup to be opposite polarity of the neck and bridge pups.

the middle pup has alot to do with the tones you get in the 2nd and 4th positions of the switch. i find a staggered pole pieces alnico 5 vintage type strat pup gets me the best tones in those positions

 

[seymourdancan]

Re: ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

ok thanks for the heads up, i'll have a look in the morning (UK time) and give you a report back!

 

[seymourdancan]

Re: ssl1 in the bridge position?! thoughts?

ok so i couldnt wait...

the ssl1 is attracted to the middle pickup but is repelled by the neck and bridge. is this because it was removed from the bridge position of my '57? and if so what advice can you give me re fitting?