Strat mods

[9unslin9er]

Haven't modded a strat in a while, but have missed some of those 90's fusion sounds lately.

This is a personal preference poll. Between these two sets (and only these two sets please - I know there are other great options out there), to cover some Jimi, some Holdsworth, some grunge, some pop-punk, some instrumental, which would you go for?

Option 1: Lil 59 - Duckbucker - JB Jr.
Option 2: Cool Rails - Vintage Rails - Hot Rails

Will be going into an alder 3 single pup strat.

[jtougas]

Is that neck to bridge, or bridge to neck?

[ArtieToo]

I had to vote for the Cool Rails. Sweet pup.

[darthphineas]

TB4 bridge, Hot Rails in neck and middle. with a variation of this wiring ( http://www.seymourduncan.com/support..._2t_5w_3splits )... the variation being that there is only a single push/pull volume.

[jtougas]

Okay, now that's just crafty...

Dammit, now I wanna try it out.

[9unslin9er]

Is that neck to bridge, or bridge to neck?

Just your typical "Everything Axe" neck to bridge.

@Darthphineas
I love how the JB sounds in a strat, but it's an American Plus vintage strat and I'm not going to destroy its resale value by doing an Eddie Van Halen route on it.

Also, I too dig that single push pull. I've always hated the vol/tone wiring on a strat. If I had it my way, it would just be 3 separate volume controls. One for each pickup.

[Stratman]

Just your typical "Everything Axe" neck to bridge.

@Darthphineas
I love how the JB sounds in a strat, but it's an American Plus vintage strat and I'm not going to destroy its resale value by doing an Eddie Van Halen route on it.

Also, I too dig that single push pull. I've always hated the vol/tone wiring on a strat. If I had it my way, it would just be 3 separate volume controls. One for each pickup.

I have not tried this, but I have a friend who wired his stratocaster using dual ganged 250K puts to do exactly that with tone controls for each pup.

He wired each pup separately to the dual ganged 250K pots with tone on the bottom and volume on the top of the dual pots and then from the pots to a 5-way switch.

He got fantastic tone and volume control with his guitar.

[darthphineas]

you asked which would I go for, not which should you do. lol! I was fortunate on my American Standard that I didn't have to tear anything up for the pickups... just some routing for the Floyd.

that push/pull is great for a nice variation to give all types of sounds. about the only thing that might have more options is to turn every knob into a push/pull so that every pup will have it's own. or install 3-mini toggles. but the other 2 knobs always wasted my time, so I just got a pickguard from warmoth without any pot holes and put the single one where I wanted it - as the volume always felt a bit crowded and the delunge was too far away.

but back to the options you suggested, I'd go with that top option.

[The Tone Ranger]

That's a tough choice as both will sound nice. I prefer the sound of bluesy singles in the neck, but...based on those 2 choices...

Everything Axe set - Lil 59, Duckbucker, JB Jr; killer versatile set. Plus, you could always later install a tap for the Lil 59 right?

[9unslin9er]

Yeah, this thing came with lace sensors. Which...are good...but I'm mainly a les paul player, so I get all out of my element when I move to single coils.

But there's this tone that permeates in my head from old 90's jazz/fusion that you can only get with a strat.

You'll laugh, but it's from all those years playing Sega Genesis games like Sonic the Hedgehog. They had some killer tracks.



But, this is pretty much what I'm talking about, and he's using a freaking Squier!

[stratobastard]

Option 1

[stevie_bees]

I have the Everything Axe Set in my G&L Legacy and it's a great setup that covers an awful lot of ground.

[Grindspine]

...too bad the hot rails & cool rails don't have a humbucker version. Those two pickups have piqued my interest several times...

[darthphineas]

...too bad the hot rails & cool rails don't have a humbucker version. Those two pickups have piqued my interest several times...

SD tech support told me that Hot Rails are voiced to be like Invaders. which is weird, as I dig the HRs but didn't care for the Invader.

[Grindspine]

SD tech support told me that Hot Rails are voiced to be like Invaders. which is weird, as I dig the HRs but didn't care for the Invader.

I wouldn't doubt that the ceramic mags and windings are similar. I think I just like the idea of a full-sized blade humbucker that covers the territory between the Invader and Dimebucker. I guess it'd be more similar to a Distortion, but still, blades would be asthetically cool. I would definitely dig a Hot Rails + Cool Rails humbucker set. I really don't want to buy a telecaster just to play those pups.

[jtougas]

SD tech support told me that Hot Rails are voiced to be like Invaders. which is weird, as I dig the HRs but didn't care for the Invader.

It's probably the difference in the 'window' the pickup senses... being an SC sized HB, it's clearer than it's HB sized brother.

[Jeff5]

I mentioned this in another thread but I had a vintage in the middle with a hot in the bridge (and a JB Jr. in the neck) for awhile. I loved the overall tone of the vintage rails, but the output drop off was huge between it and the Hot. If used in tandem, they were okay, by itself there was a big difference. However, it's all in how you want to use it. Maybe you want that drop in output for other applications then switch back to the Hot for face melt. That's what I did, it worked okay, but just be aware.

[lazyfinger]

I know it's not what you asked, but I run SSL-6 in the bridge. To me, it blurs the line between a strat and p90/bright humbucker. The low three has that single coil pop, and the high three strings are smooth and can sing like a bucker. It's versatile for me in a strat.

[hareek]

I have a modified version of Option 1 in my Strat. I put another Lil '59 in the bridge instead of the Jb. Jr., and I absolutely love it. I achieved everything I wanted out of the strat which was crisp and clear cleans, heavy overdrive, and a thick fat tone overall. It's a very versatile guitar and if I crank the tone knob, I can still get some signature Strat twang out of it. At some point I will coil split the bridge and neck pickups but I'm fine without it right now. So anyway, I voted Option 1. Jb Jr or Lil '59 in the bridge...either way you will be satisfied.

Edit: I will add that I hardly ever find myself using the duckbucker or the in-between pickup selections. It's either strictly neck or strictly bridge pickup 99% of the time. Probably just my style of playing, but I find the duckbucker to be thin and weak and prefer the Lil '59's much more. I've thought about replacing the DB with another Lil '59 and just having a consistent pickup across the board.

[KRKBAB]

I LOVE Cool Rails in the neck- they're also real nice in the middle but you'll miss the quack in the notch positions (if that concerns you).