Strat Overhaul

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kmk108

New member
I took apart my 08 mim strat yesterday to do some sanding on the body, which turned out great. I have a nice satin finish on it instead of the wet finish. Anyway, I noticed that the bridge pocket look about the size of a humbucker. I know that some strat bodies are routed so that they can fit a humbucker in it, but i was just wanting to make sure.

My second question is about what to put in the bridge. I am going to replace all the pickups. I was wanting to change the neck and middle for either Antiquities or Van Zandt Blues pickups. I know SD makes the JB jr. and little 59's and the other strat sized humbuckers, but my real question is do they sound different from a true humbucker? I'm going to be replacing the pickguard anyway, so having to buy a new pickguard for a full size is a no-problem.

My last question is about the wiring. I want to put two push pulls on the controls. One to activate the bridge when the switch is in either the neck or neck/middle position. The second will coil-tap the humbucker so I can get the single coil sound from the bridge when I want. Will both of those switches work?
 
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Re: Strat Overhaul

1. yes. The bridge pockets on some are routed just for the versatile musician that knows about pickups. I got a dual humbucker strat, and they fit my bridge pocket just fine (neck had to have a tiny cutoff). Check my profile to see it.

2. They do sound sorta different. I prefer to have a full sized humbucker. You don't necessarily need the mini-buckers, just route the body correctly and get a Humbucker pickguard from Stewart McDonald.com. That's what I did.
If you go w/ full sized 'buckers, you'll have more options to choose from, a greater pool to get your perfect sound.

3. Just wire your humbuckers like traditional strat wiring (assuming you're doing 2 humbuckers?). THis is mine:
1. neck
2. neck split
3. both
4. bridge split
5. bridge

And welcome aboard!
 
Re: Strat Overhaul

Thanks, I've been sneaking around this forum for a little and decided to join recently.

I was planning on having it HSS, because I really love the single coil, blues sound from the neck and middle, but I don't like the brightness of my single coil in the bridge. I've seen the wiring diagram for being able to turn the bridge on, and the diagram to split a humbucker, but haven't seen one for both. I have a gibson to get the humbucker sound so I was thinking about just getting three single coils, but ended up thinking the bucker in the bridge would be the best choice for me.
 
Re: Strat Overhaul

Well here's the thing: There are too many factors between the strat and any Gibson that will make the pickup sound different than what you may be thinking.
And it would be a real slap to Fender's face to put a Gibbo humbucker in THEIR guitar (lol).

I'd advise researching different humbuckers and how they work with strats, and to also ask the experienced guitar modders/builders around here for their 2cents.

I know for one that MasterKtulu, an H/H strat person like me, uses an Alnico 2 Pro bridge humbucker and can't get enough of it. Generally, the Alnico 2 Pro works well with brighter guitars, because it doesn't emphasize high end as much as it does low-midrange. I use it for the neck position in mine, and I love it.
 
Re: Strat Overhaul

I know that an HH strat would sound different due to woods, construction, and other factors, but my main point is that I love the neck and mid single coil pickups, but don't care for the strat bridge pickup, and was wanting that alone to be switched out.
 
Re: Strat Overhaul

Do you want it to be similar to your singles? Get an Alnico 2 Pro Bridge. That's my thing. Check the pickup page and look for pickups with Alnico 2 magnets. Those tend to work well with brighter instruments. If you're not afraid of using a tone knob, a Pearly Gates bridge might work. It gets really trelby at full blast, but you can get some nice sounds out of it if you turn the tone knob down.
 
Re: Strat Overhaul

The little humbuckers sound different. To my ears the little demon is very close to the big one, while there is a larger difference with the two '59 models (didn't like the Strat-sized one).

The Antiquities for Strat are wort it, IMHO, if you want to stay with singles.

Another great upgrade is a steel block for the tremolo. And a fret level and dress.
 
Re: Strat Overhaul

what kind of sound do you want from the bridge, exactly? do you want classic rock, brown sound, metal, etc. personally i'd probably go with a custom custom just because i love VH, you know? also what amp are you playing through, and what's your playing style?
 
Re: Strat Overhaul

super rad stuff said:
what kind of sound do you want from the bridge, exactly? do you want classic rock, brown sound, metal, etc. personally i'd probably go with a custom custom just because i love VH, you know? also what amp are you playing through, and what's your playing style?
Click to expand...

I like to play zeppelin, blues, and the occasional modern rock. Sadly, right now, my amp is a small Marshall MG10, but it does fine through headphones for me until I can get a nice tube amp.

Something I never though of...would it be possible to put a p-90 in the bridge? I completely forgot about those and i've listened to a couple clips, and thats the sound I want.
 
Re: Strat Overhaul

kmk108 said:
I like to play zeppelin, blues, and the occasional modern rock. Sadly, right now, my amp is a small Marshall MG10, but it does fine through headphones for me until I can get a nice tube amp.

Something I never though of...would it be possible to put a p-90 in the bridge? I completely forgot about those and i've listened to a couple clips, and thats the sound I want.
Click to expand...

With a Strabro90 you can use the Strat sized pickguard and you can switch between Strattish and P90ish sounds. It isn't too close to a real P90, but definitely the same usage.

Or the Phat Cat if you get a pickguard with a humbucker route in the bridge.
 
Re: Strat Overhaul

I'd recommend the Phat-Cat in our humbucker pickguard. I've only heard good things about the PHat-Cat. Apparently you can switch between the rail, the p-90 or use both at once. That sounds epic.
 
Re: Strat Overhaul

The first few replies in the thread are a little perplexing...

Yes, the little humbuckers are sonically different than their full sized brethren. There are similarities, for sure, however the full sized humbuckers tend to have a warmer and fatter tone to my ears. Like you, I generally find the bridge single coil in a strat to be too bright and prefer bridge humbuckers, and for that reason I stick with full size humbuckers. The bonus is that there are FAR more choices with full humbuckers, so a HSS guard will allow for experimentation.

As for your wiring request... yes it's possible to have both a bridge-on switch and a bridge split switch. There are several ways to do it depending on how you want it to function.

If you like the P90 tones, the P-Rails should be a fine choice as well. There are many switching options with them, too, if you want the versatility.
 
Re: Strat Overhaul

kmk108 said:
I like to play zeppelin, blues, and the occasional modern rock. Sadly, right now, my amp is a small Marshall MG10, but it does fine through headphones for me until I can get a nice tube amp.

Something I never though of...would it be possible to put a p-90 in the bridge? I completely forgot about those and i've listened to a couple clips, and thats the sound I want.
Click to expand...

hmn..... well then honestly if i were you i wouldn't even be considering upgrading the guitar yet, other than switching the middle pickup's tone pot to the bridge pickup to warm it up.

either way, i think a '59 would suit you pretty well then since it's not crazy in output and you can get zeppelin/blues tones out of it pretty easily, or you could go c5 if you want more output.
 
Re: Strat Overhaul

super rad stuff said:
hmn..... well then honestly if i were you i wouldn't even be considering upgrading the guitar yet, other than switching the middle pickup's tone pot to the bridge pickup to warm it up.

either way, i think a '59 would suit you pretty well then since it's not crazy in output and you can get zeppelin/blues tones out of it pretty easily, or you could go c5 if you want more output.
Click to expand...

I'm working on getting a better amp. Too bad I can't just get a tube amp for christmas (it's still too expensive). I'll be saving up a little to get something, and by christmas, I'll be all ready to play.

I've pretty much it narrowed down to 4 choices.
1. SD Alnico II pro
2. SD 59
3. SD lil 59
4. Some kind of p-90
 
Re: Strat Overhaul

The APH is a little thin for a tremolo guitar, I'd put the Pearly Gator into the selection instead.
 
Re: Strat Overhaul

I know for one that MasterKtulu, an H/H strat person like me, uses an Alnico 2 Pro bridge humbucker and can't get enough of it. Generally, the Alnico 2 Pro works well with brighter guitars, because it doesn't emphasize high end as much as it does low-midrange. I use it for the neck position in mine, and I love it.
Click to expand...

Yeah I loved the Alnico II Pro in the bridge of my Strat until I tried the '59 I had bought for my Epiphone Les Paul Custom just to see what it would sound like in my Strat... Well long story short, that '59 has yet to leave my Strat after a week of playing and I think it will stay there for good...


I've pretty much it narrowed down to 4 choices.
1. SD Alnico II pro
2. SD 59
3. SD lil 59
4. Some kind of p-90
Click to expand...

For the kind of music you play, you can't go wrong with either of those four. I'd suggest the '59 personally (If you don't mind slightly scooped mids), a Pearly Gates (If you don't mind some bright sizzle), a Alnico II Pro (for modern versatile tones with plenty of mids but lacks bass) or a Phat Cat for those vintage P-90 sounds that fits in a Humbucker spacing (As finding S/S/P90 pickguard is almost impossible, but finding a S/S/H pickuguard is very easy). Hope that helps.
 
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