After this weekend and the Huddersfield Birthday Party Jam I will be removing my loaded scratchplate from my Strat and selling it to fund a whole new Scratchplate build in HSH format.
If you don't buy it from me at the Jam session (which people can if they want to, I'll just unscrew it and disconnect it before I go home) it'll be in the classifieds next Monday.
They're a set of Seymour Duncan 'Classic' Stack humbuckers in black and the black Fender plate and all the parts were bought new for it too, about a year ago. All CTS pots and a Fender switch.
It cost £340 in parts to build and there's only light playing marks on it so I reckon £190 is fair.
Here it is for reference...
Assuming I can get £190 for my current set up, my total budget for the new one is £250.
That has to include a new switch and three pots which is roughly £35 and a new plate to start from is roughly £30 so £185 on actual pickups.
I've so far looked at the EMG Steve Lukather fully loaded plate (85/SLV/SLV) and making one up out of Seymour Duncan JB, J and JBjr.
I've also looked at just having an HH format and using Oil City pickups which I can just about afford in HH format and would ultimately love to just go and buy for the HSH set up but money won't allow it.
One idea I quite liked is to buy an HSH plate anyway (Same price as HH) but only fit it up as HH for now, fitting the single coil in the middle at a later date. That would mean I could afford Oil City and that's what I'd like more than anything. For me they're the best pickups on earth. I've had the single coils before but never humbuckers.
I play mainly Rock (Iron Maiden would be a good benchmark in terms of what sound I'd like) and I'd like to play more Rock and Metal on the Strat but I'd like to still be able to cover other genres and also split at least the neck pickup to get somewhere back to a single coil sound when I need to.
Who's put humbuckers in Strats before and which ones did you like and dislike, particularly those who installed 'Hot Rails' to keep the SSS format. How were they in reality compared to a full size humbucker.
Any help, opinions or experience are much appreciated.
Comments
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
I have a G&L S500 and, whilst the MFD pickups were punchier than most s/c's, the bridge still lacked power so I changed it for an Oil City Masterwound Hot Rails s/c sized humbucker. I have to say it's definitely the best pickup of its type I've ever tried. The guitar sounds amazing now and has gone from being a bit of a case queen to a regular gigging machine.
As for "when am I ready?" You'll never be ready. It works in reverse, you become ready by doing it. - pmbomb
As for "when am I ready?" You'll never be ready. It works in reverse, you become ready by doing it. - pmbomb
Ive got a shawbucker strat - its got a dual pot - 250k for singles / 500k for HB - wired to std five way .. so you can get round any of the pot value dilemma ..
re I've also got an old squire with fender s/c from a modern in neck / middle with a lil'59 in bridge - its a nicely balanced set and the '59 is voiced nicely to give a darker fatter more compressed HB style - meaty enough for maiden not sure .. but others ie hot rails maybe worth a punt - try one s/h that you can flip if it doesnt work ..
re your loaded scratchplate sale - not sure about your pricing - might be worth breaking into component parts to get a faster sale - otherwise you're looking for someone who wants exactly that config - could take a while ..
If you're desperate for a HH strat - you could get a Charvel San Dimas type from around £350 - I think that would cover your Maiden requirements
I use a Seymour Duncan Little '59 in the bridge of one of my HSS Strats and it has the fullness and thickness of a HB but it also imparts some pleasing Strattiness in there, which could be down to its physicality and mine is one of the older ones with tape wrapped around it rather than a full plastic casing. There was a stark difference between it and a full-sized SD 59 I had in another guitar and I preferred it.
I've just got a Suhr Alt T Pro and the low output Suhr Thornbuckers (voiced to be like vintage PAFs) are very good in full and split mode and I'd imagine they would work very well in a HSH or SSH set up. I like them a lot!
As you talk about 'making one up' out of Seymour Duncan pickups, are you aware of the 'Everything Axe Loaded' with the Little '59 in the neck, Duckbucker in the middle and JB Jr in the bridge?