Need some advice on a HSS setup

[edsdds]

So I am going to end up with just one electric. I found what I had been looking for a while, a Tom Delonge strat. I don't use a trem and i love rosewood so this is perfect.

So I can do with the pickups I have :

Texas Specials Neck and Middle and Pearly Gates bridge. Very commone setup in various Strat models.

or I can do

Duncan SSL-1 Neck and Middle and a 59 bridge (still need the 59) for a more vintage tone?

The thing is I do not want 5 different guitars. And if you ask what kind of sound I want well.............I like Sublime, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, 311, Dirty Heads, ACDC, Miley Cyrus, Latin Jazz, .............well you get the pic. I like anything and everything.

Which way would you go? The hotter pickups and tone it done for a more vintage tone or the vintage pickups and crank them up?

Anyway....any tips would be great.

[IanBallard]

My experience is that the '59 bridge works perfectly with Strat pickups. Just enough scoop to blend, but more mids than the singles to cut through doing rock riffs. It might be cheaper to acquire the '59 used than the stock PG+ pickup. A Custom Custom is also great in an HSS Strat, but it's much thicker in the mid-section and might contrast wildly with your single coils.

[SFW]

I'd go with the Texas Specials and the PG+. I think that's about as fine a Strat setup as I have hears. Very versatile.

[edsdds]

thanks for the tips. I have a custom custom and the pearly gates too

Do you think texas specials have a good enough vintage tone when clean?

Anyone ever wire up a 6th position on a strat to have the neck and bridge on at once in
a HSS setup? I have had that in a SSS setup and the neck and bridge sounded pretty good together.

Or I guess I can go all out and make it a HSH setup with coil splitting ? That would be like a zillion sounds.

[o.p-i.v]

i'd go with the vintage setup. Anything can get crunchy with an ocd or something, but that sound from the "vintage" pickups is hard to replicate.

[ganzosrevenge]

I like the TS / PG+ combo, as that would effectively give you a seafoam green lone star strat. Just be sure to get the right switch for it "the double super-5 way" so that you can get the auto-split while having full bridge pickup in series for position 1 (bottom position). I did what you set out to do "vintage superstrat" build, and I must say that to be able to play nice clean 50s riff, and then dump it to a bridge pup (PG+ or '59 or Brobucker will do fine here) and get a nice signal boost, is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Remember, you can always overdrive a vintage PAF-style bucker and it will give you organic OD, but once you start going into Customs, Ali 8s, etc., you begin to lose some definition and tonal range due to high output and skinny wire. A 11k Brobucker has as much wire thickness as about a 18 to 20k invader on a bobbin, but because it's 42AWG and not 44AWG, you can get more of that high-output sound without losing a lot of high-end clarity.

However, if the CS route isn't for you, I would try to get a '59 that's been slightly overwound and see if SD will do it as a shopfloor custom. with 2 SSL-1s, a 9k to 9.5k '59 in the bridge should provide enough oomph to make a noticeable difference between the SSL-1s and the HB in the bridge. What you're setting out to do with the "vintage superstrat", is going to make the strat have that strattiness, yet be able to drive itself out in front of rhythm with much of the crunch (but not the exact sound) of a gibson. Go for it, and build it right to bring out the best of that strat. If ya need help with finding the electronics and other sundry items, me and others on here are good for helping.

ENJOY!

Jason

[Funkfingers]

The TS/TS/PG+ set will give a nice overall balance. It will come across as a beefy Stratocaster with a little bit more push from the bridge PU but not so much as to overpower the single coils.

With roughly equal output neck and bridge single coils, the parallel combination is pleasant/inoffensive. Even with a Twangbanger single coil bridge PU, it is no substitute for a Telecaster middle position.

Amongst the Support/Wiring Diagrams section of the main Seymour Duncan website, you will find a schematic diagram for the bridge PU switch modification. By rejigging diagram this to make the neck PU the one that switches, AND using the second pole of a DPDT push-pull pot as a coil-tap, it becomes possible to combine the neck single coil with one coil of your chosen humbucker. This could sound interesting. IMO, it also makes the tone controls easier to keep track of.

[edsdds]

Thanks for all the feedback. Currently I a Delonge strat, A squier Tele, MIA Strat body, and a Squier II. Plus a whole mess of custom shop fender and duncan pickups.

I am not ever going to play an electric like used to so I am basically looking for something I can put together and wire up with some really nice pickups and tuners which I have then I can take it to get a nice setup. I am just looking for one guitar that can almost do it all.

My Telecaster is a squier special?? or custom? its the one with no pickguard and a humbucker in the bridge.

Another option was to find a Squier 51 and upgrade that but man I am not going to pay $200 for a guitar that was going for $75 new in a cardboard box. The other neat guitar to trick out I think is a Squier Thinline.

The strat vs tele dilemma comes in to play because if I go the Tele route I give up the funky 2/4 strat position sounds. And if I go the strat way I give up that sweet sound of the middle position on a tele. If I were to pick I think I would choose Tele.

I am probably going to go nuts sooner or later but again thanks for all the info and help guys.

[Lewguitar]

Well, the bad news is that you probably DO need more than one electric guitar: One with dual humbuckers & one with three Strat pickups. They could both be Strats and they could both be inexpensive Strats as long as you're going to replace the pickups anyway.

Because they've never worked for me, my advice would be: don't bother with HSS guitars. IMO, 500K volume pots work best with humbuckers and 250K volume pots work best with Strat and Tele single coils. Since a Strat has only one volume control you'll have to compromise with the value of the volume and tone pots and it'll sound mediocre.

Of course, I'm super fussy about my tone. Maybe you're not.

[STRATDELUXER97]

Well, the bad news is that you probably DO need more than one electric guitar: One with dual humbuckers & one with three Strat pickups. They could both be Strats and they could both be inexpensive Strats as long as you're going to replace the pickups anyway.

Because they've never worked for me, my advice would be: don't bother with HSS guitars. IMO, 500K volume pots work best with humbuckers and 250K volume pots work best with Strat and Tele single coils. Since a Strat has only one volume control you'll have to compromise with the value of the volume and tone pots and it'll sound mediocre.

Of course, I'm super fussy about my tone. Maybe you're not.

Yep and I'm from the same school on this Lew....I have several strats...All have the 3 single coils,but one does have a fullsized bridge bucker(Fred) and 2 Duncans in the neck and middle....If you want real strat bridge tones,you pretty much need the single coils there...Everytime I've tryed splitting a fullsized humbucker or the stacked types,it's a compromise at best..

Actually one of my strats still has a way cool Fralin SP 43 that I bought from you buddy..

[Benjy_26]

Well, the bad news is that you probably DO need more than one electric guitar: One with dual humbuckers & one with three Strat pickups. They could both be Strats and they could both be inexpensive Strats as long as you're going to replace the pickups anyway.

Because they've never worked for me, my advice would be: don't bother with HSS guitars. IMO, 500K volume pots work best with humbuckers and 250K volume pots work best with Strat and Tele single coils. Since a Strat has only one volume control you'll have to compromise with the value of the volume and tone pots and it'll sound mediocre.

Of course, I'm super fussy about my tone. Maybe you're not.

I agree with Lew. A single coil guitar and a humbucker guitar is the way to go. With that said, the most versatile HSS set I've played isn't really HSS. I put a pair of Fender 57/62's in the neck and mid along with a Phat Cat in the bridge in my brother's Alvarez strat. It's a set that blends well as long as the heights are adjusted properly. Then again, it's not as thick as your average PAF. It's more of a beefed up strat tone than anything.

[Sanford]

Another option:
Use the pickups you have. Wire the neck and middle to a 4-way switch with a master volume and master tone. Use a separate volume for the bridge humbucker, or concentric pot for bridge vol/tone if you still need a tone control on the humbucker. Plenty of ways to mix and match pickups.

[edsdds]

Thanks for all the input. Man I just got back from GC and tried out a bunch of guitars and fell in love with a Classic Vibe Telecaster Custom. I really have ignored Teles my whole life but the small headstock and plain jane body approach is so cool. It gave me a sweet neck sound, nice middle position and the bridge has a nice enough crunch since I don't play metal. Plus I would swap out the pickups anyway. And I can always throw in a little JB or 59 if I want too. And it looks so nice for the price and will look for a used one too

Again thanks for the tips and now its to the trading post to sell a whole mess of junk LOL

Sold one of my acoustics today too, a Blueridge BR-40 and now just keeping my 000 Blueridge.

So I will end up with with acoustic and one electric and I am done. I might finally be down to a lean and mean setup. Thanks again and wish me luck.