Why did I do this? (3 + 3 Strat saddles.)

[Artie]

I was just looking at one of my older Strats, and had forgotten that I had done the 3 SS + 3 Graphtech saddles. This isn't something I would have thought of myself, so I'm assuming the idea came from here. Does anyone know the reason, or benefit, of doing this?

Old pic. This Strat has different pups and controls now.

 

[Erlend_G]

What a sweet guitar!! what an awesome control panel!

...

I think the Graphtech saddles give a slightly differnent tone- and also minimizes the risk of string breakage.

If it sounds/works good- why not?

-Erl

 

[beaubrummels]

If I did something like that, it would be to reduce the frequency of breaking the plain strings, while keeping the tone and sustain of the wound strings.

 

[PFDarkside]

Yep, keep the zing on the low strings and reduce breakage/slight treble roll off of the top three strings?

 

[Artie]

What a sweet guitar!! what an awesome control panel!

That was from my "really weird" days.
The top two knobs are Vol/Tone. The bottom three are 3-way rotary, and two 4-way rotary's. Then an on-off-on switch. I still have that panel laying on a shelf, looking for a project.

If I did something like that, it would be to reduce the frequency of breaking the plain strings, while keeping the tone and sustain of the wound strings.

That's what I was reading on Graphtech's site, but it's odd, because I've never had a problem breaking strings. :scratchch

 

[Adieu]

Why not steel/zinc and brass then?

 

[Mincer]

I remember that picture, but I don't remember the thread. In the end, how does it sound? Can you hear a difference?

 

[jeremy]

id assume to keep the wound strings brighter and to warm up the unwound strings

 

[solspirit]

id assume to keep the wound strings brighter and to warm up the unwound strings

Exactly what I was thinking.



Do you still have the other six somewhere?

 

[Artie]

I remember that picture, but I don't remember the thread. In the end, how does it sound? Can you hear a difference?

Right now, the pups are out of it. As soon as I get them in, I'll report back. I probably should have waited 'til it was ready, to post.

Do you still have the other six somewhere?

I'm sure I do. I never throw anything away. It's a just a question of finding the drawer or box.

 

[idsnowdog]

You don't have to give a complete rundown of the wiring but what do the various pots do?

 

[Artie]

When I first did this, IIRC, the neck and bridge were both Cool Rails, and the middle was a Quarter Pound. (I'm trying to find the pic.) The two that are closest to the stock position, (upper two), are master vol and tone. Starting upper-right: I have a 3P3T rotary switch. I only used 2-poles to duplicate a standard 3-way for the N & B. The next two down are 2P4T rotary switches. Each one selected series/parallel/split-north/split-south for the two CR's. Then the toggle switch was middle pup off. "Up" added the middle to the 3-way mix, and "down" selected the middle by itself.

So, I basically had every coil combination possible. It was pretty sweet, but it was meant to be mostly experimental. So that I could hear for myself what the different modes sounded like. I took it out years ago. But that control panel is right in front of me, and I have two Custom Shop single-sized PG's here looking for a project.

 

[Artie]

Found the one I was looking for. The pup combo came first. Then the wacky new panel. Looks like I had the whole Graphtech set. Something must have convinced me to change the lower 3 back. More snap, maybe? And I think that's my Zhangliqun modded SSL-5.



P.S. That was a sweet combination. I still have all three pups. I should bring that one back to life.