Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

[Brunopilot]

Guys i got a Fender MIM Strat.

Came with 3 seymours.

I realized the wiring was all wrong. After re doing it i discovered :

The neck pickup was a SSL1 labeled Bridge position
Middle position SSL1 (no position mentioned)
The bridge Hot Rails was actually a Neck hot rails.

There's any diference ? Putting a neck in the bride and vice versa ?

I've put the Hot rails in the neck and the SSL1 in the bridge.


What do you think ?

I'm thinking to sell the hot rails and get a proper neck pickup. Wich one...i really don't know.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

Welcome to the forum!

Well, they are just labels. You can put pickups anywhere. If I got those pickups in that guitar, I'd leave them where they are. If anything, you can swap the neck & middle to see if you like the sound. A neck Hot Rails in the bridge is a pretty great sound. What else is wrong with the wiring?

 

[Brunopilot]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

Welcome to the forum!

Well, they are just labels. You can put pickups anywhere. If I got those pickups in that guitar, I'd leave them where they are. If anything, you can swap the neck & middle to see if you like the sound. A neck Hot Rails in the bridge is a pretty great sound. What else is wrong with the wiring?

Thank you!

The 5 way switch was wrong.

My guess is the previous owner just changed the pickups position and not the wiring to the selector.

And the little toggle switch wired wrong.

Now i'm thiking to re do it all again.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

•There is no “Bridge”’ SSL-1, there is only a standard and a RWRP (middle). Yours may have come from the calibrated set with labels, but a regular SSL-1 is the same no matter the label.
•A neck Hot Rails is a lower output (than bridge) rail pickup that still has a lot of meat

The original owner chose an appropriate neck and middle pickup, then chose a bridge pickup that would fatten and raise the output (common complaint with Strat bridge pickups) yet still provide some balance with the other two. Very appropriate pickup selections.

Now you’ve got a vintage bridge/middle Strat (that’s ok) with a pretty hot neck. If that’s the tone you want, ok, but most would prefer something else.

What are you looking for out of this Strat?
Pure vintage? - Get another SSL-1
Vintage with better balance in the bridge? - put the SSL-1 back in the neck and put a SSL-5 in the bridge
Hotter Strat for rock and metal? Leave the Hot Rails in the neck and get a bridge Hot Rails

Lots of options available by either keeping what you’ve got or adding one new pickup.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

Should have left things as they were.......that was the most balanced way they could have been - and the way pickups generally get installed with a hot bridge and vintage oriented mid/neck.
Now you'll have a neck position with the strongest fattest pickup by far also enhanced by the most string energy, coupled with the least articulate position tonally. In short, thick muddy and inarticulate tone.
Then you'll have your weakest type pickup in the bridge, which is a position that makes a thinner toned pickup weaker and brighter than any other position. So a really low output bright selection.

Good point is that you can simply pull the pickguard and swap their positions

 

[Brunopilot]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

Thanks Guys!

So i put the hot rails back in the bridge...but i really prefer the SSL1 in this position.

SSL1 has more ''bite'' to it...more ''stratness"...more presence.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

Thanks Guys!

So i put the hot rails back in the bridge...but i really prefer the SSL1 in this position.

SSL1 has more ''bite'' to it...more ''stratness"...more presence.

Yes it does, that’s the classic Strat tone! Which do you prefer in the neck?

 

[Explorer84]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

I'd suggest buying a SSL-5 for the bridge. From all of the reviews I've read on the SSL-1/SSL-5 combo everyone seems to be very happy with it. The sound clips I've heard were pretty good. To me anyways.

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

You should check with a magnetic compass to find the magnetic polarity of the 2 single coil pickups are in the same orientation.

Also check if the neck/middle position produces any less 60 cycle hum than the neck position. Since its not labelled RW/RP, you may not have reverse wound middle pickup, so all position 3, 4, 5, will probably hum the same. If you are buying a new SSL-1 pickup you may have the opportunity to make set that gets hum cancelling in positions 2 and 4.

Here is a post that describes the SSL-1 calibrated set pickups.
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/sho...lifornia-set&p=4175312&viewfull=1#post4175312

 

[Brunopilot]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

Yes it does, that’s the classic Strat tone! Which do you prefer in the neck?

Now i only have 2 SSL1 and the Hot rails.

The best sound with this set is : Hot rails in paralel in the neck.

 

[Brunopilot]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

I'd suggest buying a SSL-5 for the bridge. From all of the reviews I've read on the SSL-1/SSL-5 combo everyone seems to be very happy with it. The sound clips I've heard were pretty good. To me anyways.

That's what i'm planning to do.

The SSL5 has more gain than SSL1 ?

 

[Brunopilot]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

You should check with a magnetic compass to find the magnetic polarity of the 2 single coil pickups are in the same orientation.

Also check if the neck/middle position produces any less 60 cycle hum than the neck position. Since its not labelled RW/RP, you may not have reverse wound middle pickup, so all position 3, 4, 5, will probably hum the same. If you are buying a new SSL-1 pickup you may have the opportunity to make set that gets hum cancelling in positions 2 and 4.

Here is a post that describes the SSL-1 calibrated set pickups.
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/sho...lifornia-set&p=4175312&viewfull=1#post4175312

If they we're not cancelling...i'd have that classic sound in 2 and 4 ?

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

Now i only have 2 SSL1 and the Hot rails.

The best sound with this set is : Hot rails in paralel in the neck.

But do you prefer the Hot Rails or the SSL-1 in the neck? Adding another SSL-1 to make a complete set would be a classic Strat setup. But if you prefer the Hot Rails in parallel, there’s no reason not to keep it...

 

[Brunopilot]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

But do you prefer the Hot Rails or the SSL-1 in the neck? Adding another SSL-1 to make a complete set would be a classic Strat setup. But if you prefer the Hot Rails in parallel, there’s no reason not to keep it...

Maybe a dumb question.

Could the SSL1 in the middle be ''out of phase'' and ''thinning'' the hot rails ?

I did a magnet test and both SSL have the same magnet orientation.

Maybe i should settle with the Hot rails back at the neck position. I'm really in doubt...keep or selled the HR for another pickup.

i reaaaally love SSL1 in the bridge.

*To reverse the Middle SSL1 i just have to wire black and white the opposite way ? or i must have the RWRP version ?

Thank you.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

Well, there are no rules. If you love the SSL-1 in the bridge, then keep it. To reverse the phase of the middle pickup, just flip the wires.

 

[Explorer84]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

That's what i'm planning to do.

The SSL5 has more gain than SSL1 ?

Yes. The SSL-5 is a hotter pickup than the SSL-1.

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

I did a magnet test and both SSL have the same magnet orientation.

Maybe i should settle with the Hot rails back at the neck position. I'm really in doubt...keep or selled the HR for another pickup.

i reaaaally love SSL1 in the bridge.

*To reverse the Middle SSL1 i just have to wire black and white the opposite way ? or i must have the RWRP version ?

Thank you.

RW/RP is not the same as flipping the wires. If you flip the wires the pickup will be literally "out of phase", which will give a very thin and weak tone in the 2 and 4 position. If you have heard the expression "out of phase", I just warn you that musicians don't use it in a technically correct way most of the time.

In this case there is no need to flip wires if you have three Seymour Duncan pickups. That only really comes up when people mix pickups from different brands.

Basically you have two main options that 99% of players would choose between:

1) Buy a SSL-1 pickup to use in the middle. You wire it with all the white wires to the switch (standard wiring). There is NO hum-cancellation in position 2 and 4.

2) Buy a SSL-1 RW/RP to use in the middle. Same wiring as option 1. The only significant difference is you get hum-cancellation in position 2 and 4.

In both cases you will get the classic notch position tones. Some people like to argue that there may be a subtle difference in tone between options 1 and 2. However almost all Strats are now sold with RW/RP middle pickups, so its extremely common setup. The difference in tone is not something that people are easily able to notice if it even exists at all - which IMO is a bit doubtful.

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

Maybe a dumb question.

Could the SSL1 in the middle be ''out of phase'' and ''thinning'' the hot rails ?

I assume you wired the hot rails with the Green wire to ground and black to the switch which is standard. It will operate in correct phase when the SSL-1 is wired with white wire to the switch, so no phase issue in that case.

 

[Brunopilot]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

So..

I went with SSL5 in the bridge...and used the mini toggle to conect the neck pickup as gilmour.

Gilmour is not an influence...

But i really like the sound of this guitar.

Thanks Guys!

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Would you change positions or buy a SSL5 to be part of a SSL-1 pair.

"Hey guys, I just built Gilmour's black strat but with a rosewood fretboard. Gilmour's not an influence though."