Strat Metal/Blues Best Set up

OceanTurquois

New member
I know different strokes for different folks but just tryin to get a few opininons.

I want to set up my 1995 American Standard Strat to be a versitile guitar, between Metal and Blues.

I currently have: SD SH4 in bridge, the factory fender single coil in middle and a SD Lil' Screamin Demon in the neck.
YJM 500k Volume pot and an allparts 500k Tone push pull pot with .022 tone cap. Push Pull I believe is coil tap.
470k metal film resistor on the single coil hot 5 way to ground. (so single coil sees closer to 250k pot?)

I like the HSS look which is why I got Lil Scremin Demon.

Diff Pickups? Wiring? Pots/Caps/Resistors?

Any knowledge is greatly appreciated. I love this guitar.


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What do you want from the guitar that it's not giving you right now? It looks like you've got a pretty versatile combo in there right now (albeit maybe a leaning a bit towards the heavier side).
 
Start with one pickup at a time...what do you like in a bridge pickup and what about the JB doesn't give that to you? The JB isn't a very dynamic pickup, but there are plenty of people who play metallic blues on it. If you are looking for a more traditional sound, give us some idea what tone you are looking for.

For the neck pickup, are you going for something Stratty? Or do you want to keep the humbuckery-ness of the SD?
 
Do you have a treble bleed on your guitar? It's impressive how versatile a higher output pickup can be when it doesn't lose highs as you roll down the volume - that gives you a way more dynamic feel.

The JB will split into a decent output single coil sound if you're looking for that from the bridge.
 
So I wasn't liking the configuration here. Could it be the TB6 or the resistor selections? Not sure. This is how I tried it.
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I also tried a kinman treble bleed on both these setups but it made the volume unusable.
So this is what I ended up using. I put the Seymour Duncan SH4 in the bridge and I'm really liking this setup. Now can I refine it? Is there a better treble bleed? Use it or not? Also I have a mylar .022 small green chicklet on the tone. Will oil n paper cap and or brand make a big difference? After reversing the middle fender single coil volume isn't that off but how bout the 470k resistor on single coil to make it see a 250k pot? I have the 500k pots. I like only having 2 because the volume to me is too close to the strings so I keep that space empty. This setup seems to deliver what I want. Anything I'm missing is appreciated.


HSH 1v 1T pushpull Autosplit and Coil Split.png zz0.39mgsar5fq5zz
 
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