Cardinal sin? I added a humbucker to my strat

axisus

So after faffing around with various SCs and not finding what I wanted, I decided to stick a humbucker in my strat. I had a Bare Knuckle crawler in my spares box, but it was uncovered and I knew I wanted a cover. I picked up a cheap cover on eBay, but the holes were fractionally off. A careful bit of drilling and it went on fine. As the rest of the guitar is aged I attacked the chrome with acid, and in the morning it was much more to my liking. I realise that it won't be to everyones taste but that's fine, we can all like different things. I thought that I would have trouble soldering the cover on, but I bought a really good soldering iron last year with variable heat, and it was no problem at all. I thought that I might as well go the whole hog so I attempted wax potting for the first time. I found a run through on YouTube and it was pretty easy. 

When I made this body I used a template for SSS, so I had to pull the whole guitar apart for some routing. The upshot of this is that, although it has been my no 1 guitar since I built it (last summer?) the setup was never ideal. When I reassembled I took the time to do some better tweaking. It is better for sure, but I may have slightly overdone the low E nut slot. Not 100% sure but the guitar definitely plays better than it did so happy for now.

I like the trad look of SSS but I also like HSS on a strat. I'm definitely happier with the sound right now, but I kept my old scratchplate so I can return to the old look at a later date should I wish to. 

Musicwolf

One more of us, one less of them.

ICBM

Not wrong in my opinion. One of the best live guitar sounds I've ever heard was on Belinda Carlisle's Heaven On Earth tour, with (I think) Rick Boston on guitar - he had what must at the time probably have been an original 2-tone burst Strat with an old-looking black humbucker slightly crudely chiselled into the bridge position, through a Chandler Tube Driver and a 100W Marshall. I was right up at the front against the stage, close enough to not only see it all in detail but hear the sound of the amp directly rather than just through the PA. Amazing tone.

PhilKing

I'm a big fan of it, I have a few, here's a couple:

here's the red one again:

Zoolooter

Nice aged pickguard. Did you do that yourself?

axisus

Zoolooter said:

Nice aged pickguard. Did you do that yourself?

Yeah, all attempted ageing is done by me

JD50

Always thought Wayne Kramers Srat looked cool, his has the humbucker in the middle.

normula1

I love a bridge humbucker in a Strat. In fact I'm really having to fight myself to not put one in my fave SSS

pintspiller

Always like the look of Kramer's Strat.

Never really liked a Strat in SSS. Haven't tried one with a humbucker though. Those Epiphone Coronets and the like (Wiltshire? Can't remember other names) are what I always thought a Strat should be like. Maybe I've seen too much Radio Birdman.

TTBZ

I'm a fan of HSS strats, opens them up to way more stuff I think. Mine is currently just H with 1vol and I love that. When we end up getting out of lockdown I'm gonna get mine back off my mate I've lent it to - quite fancy doing it H-S. Want them neck single tones again but not into middle pickups or the plinky out of phase crap. 

prowla

It's not a problem - even Fender do them (and with a Floyd!).

I've got a couple of partscasters:

Both have SD JB humbuckers; the 2nd one is still in progress.

Keefy

axisus said:

So after faffing around with various SCs and not finding what I wanted, I decided to stick a humbucker in my strat. I had a Bare Knuckle crawler in my spares box, but it was uncovered and I knew I wanted a cover. I picked up a cheap cover on eBay, but the holes were fractionally off. A careful bit of drilling and it went on fine. As the rest of the guitar is aged I attacked the chrome with acid, and in the morning it was much more to my liking. I realise that it won't be to everyones taste but that's fine, we can all like different things. I thought that I would have trouble soldering the cover on, but I bought a really good soldering iron last year with variable heat, and it was no problem at all. I thought that I might as well go the whole hog so I attempted wax potting for the first time. I found a run through on YouTube and it was pretty easy. 

When I made this body I used a template for SSS, so I had to pull the whole guitar apart for some routing. The upshot of this is that, although it has been my no 1 guitar since I built it (last summer?) the setup was never ideal. When I reassembled I took the time to do some better tweaking. It is better for sure, but I may have slightly overdone the low E nut slot. Not 100% sure but the guitar definitely plays better than it did so happy for now.

I like the trad look of SSS but I also like HSS on a strat. I'm definitely happier with the sound right now, but I kept my old scratchplate so I can return to the old look at a later date should I wish to. 

I like the look of that, particularly with the HB being covered. If I was Strat shopping I would definitely take that down off the wall to try. It puts me in mind of one of those ESP George Lynch models, albeit with a nicer finish!

Have you got any coil splitting going on eg when bridge selected along with the middle pickup?

axisus

Keefy said:

Have you got any coil splitting going on eg when bridge selected along with the middle pickup?

Yeah, the middle tone has a push-pull that splits the HB, and the end knob is a blend pot to bring the bridge pickup in with the neck.

I much prefer push-push but I don't have one right now.

BigMonka

@axisus ; that looks amazing! Have you got a full guitar photo?

Keefy

axisus said:

Keefy said:

Have you got any coil splitting going on eg when bridge selected along with the middle pickup?

Yeah, the middle tone has a push-pull that splits the HB, and the end knob is a blend pot to bring the bridge pickup in with the neck.

I much prefer push-push but I don't have one right now.

Cool!

sgosden

Awesome. 
How do you find the output levels between single coils and the crawler ? 

axisus

sgosden said:

Awesome. 
How do you find the output levels between single coils and the crawler ? 

Well, I'm just playing at home low level sound, but seems fine to me. The SCs are Suhr V70s.

axisus

BigMonka said:

@axisus ; that looks amazing! Have you got a full guitar photo?

I do now. Just snapped.

normula1

I also have had a Crawler in a HSS guitar and IIRC it's not a massive output but is quite dark vs the single coils so gives a good contrast, and it splits well.

normula1

Nice full pic, I like the dirty used look rather than the typical  abused look

jaymenon

Do the single coil sized humbuckers (DiMarzio / Duncan Cruiser, Rails, Lil '59) do just as good a job tonally?

Jay