Maaaaybe a Strat?

[tugboat]

So I have 4 guitar hangers on my wall. One with a Taylor acoustic, one with a Warmoth Tele, one with a Korina doublecut Les Paul Special that I built from scratch, and a Korina Singlecut PRS SE with Zhangbucker PAF’s. Problem is that I can do any Gibson sound I want with my Special and the PRS never gets played. Sure there’s a slight difference in the quality of the overdrive but most of that can get mitigated by using the tone control and adjusting pick attack. So I have a hole on the wall that I need filled. Options to fill it:

1. Drywall mud and paint. Honestly I think I can cover pretty much everything I’d want with a P90 equipped Gibson (style) guitar and a Tele. Why overcomplicate it? I even like the Tele neck pickup.
2. Another Humbucker guitar. This was my original plan, to build a carve top guitar. Why expend the effort though to get a guitar that sounds mostly like one I already have and love? Feels like a wasted effort. If I do this I’ll probably sell the hunk of Korina I have though and do a Paul in mahogany/maple.
3. Something with a trem.

The obvious answer to the “something with a trem” is a strat. I’m not putting a bigsby on anything. I’m not a huge fan of the #2 and #4 positions on a Strat (most of the time I prefer the middle position of a Tele), neck pickup is amazing though, middle pickup sounds cool too. Maybe I can learn to love and use #2 and #4 though? Enough of the guys I really love to listen to played Strats. But…the bridge pickup. Hendrix sounded good on the bridge but everyone else I come away thinking they would sound better on a Tele. A trem I do think I would use.

So…if I get a Strat, what for the bridge? Thinking a coil tapped humbucker, a mini humbucker, or get a 60’s style Strat set with a hotter bridge pickup and wire the bridge to a tone control. It’ll be a blues/rock guitar.

[blackonblack]

My preferred Strat setup is 1 tone for all pickups, and the 3rd knob as a blender that allows you use neck and bridge pups.

[Offshore Angler]

An HSS with a splitter and a 5-way is a pretty darned handy guitar. I've made a lot of money with one.

Chuck

[tugboat]

An HSS with a splitter and a 5-way is a pretty darned handy guitar. I've made a lot of money with one.

Chuck

Is any ‘ol humbucker with 4 conductor wiring good or do you need one that’s “designed to” be split? This is the way I’m leaning TBH. Think the #2 position would sound “Strattier” with a split humbucker than a mini humbucker.

[phantomman]

I prefer DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage humbuckers in all three positions.......plenty of "strattitude", ample output, and quiet as a church mouse. As well, they're right at home with standard Strat wiring and 250K volume/tone pots. No muss, no fuss, just solder 'em in and rawk on.

[Offshore Angler]

Is any ‘ol humbucker with 4 conductor wiring good or do you need one that’s “designed to” be split? This is the way I’m leaning TBH. Think the #2 position would sound “Strattier” with a split humbucker than a mini humbucker.

Funny thing is- for me at least - all humbuckers seem to sound good split down to about 3.5 or so kOhms. The only issue I run into is on low output humbuckers. I'm big fan of Duncans but the main thing is, if you're performing you want good balance and not a huge volume jump when go to the bridge pickup, and not too much fall off when you split it. I'd call Duncan and ask them for a suggestion to meet your needs.

If you get a HB, don't get a single coil-sized one like a Little 59. The magnetic aperture is only half that of a PAF style and they won't have the grunt and complexity of a PAF-sized one. I used Hot Rails briefly in my career and never got that complexity of a PAF-style. (IMHO they sucked.)

But whatever you choose, your main goals are that it sounds good and plays OK with the other pickups. Might take a few tries, or just buy a Fender Strat bridge pickup.

Better yet, just find a HSS guitar you like and buy it. That simplifies things tremendously.

Chuck

[tugboat]

Funny thing is- for me at least - all humbuckers seem to sound good split down to about 3.5 or so kOhms. The only issue I run into is on low output humbuckers. I'm big fan of Duncans but the main thing is, if you're performing you want good balance and not a huge volume jump when go to the bridge pickup, and not too much fall off when you split it. I'd call Duncan and ask them for a suggestion to meet your needs.

If you get a HB, don't get a single coil-sized one like a Little 59. The magnetic aperture is only half that of a PAF style and they won't have the grunt and complexity of a PAF-sized one. I used Hot Rails briefly in my career and never got that complexity of a PAF-style. (IMHO they sucked.)

But whatever you choose, your main goals are that it sounds good and plays OK with the other pickups. Might take a few tries, or just buy a Fender Strat bridge pickup.

Better yet, just find a HSS guitar you like and buy it. That simplifies things tremendously.

Chuck

Thanks for the feedback Chuck and phantom man! After experiencing phase issues between my older Duff pickups and some Lollars (Lollars sounded good but preferred the original Duff pickups in my Tele) I think I’d get pickups from the same outfit. Lollar sells a humbucker he advertises specifically for coil splitting so if I go this route I’m toying around with getting those plus some of his 64’s for the middle and neck.

If I do do this I’d either build from scratch because I’m an idiot or go Warmoth again. Enjoyed doing my Warmoth Tele.