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Thread: Best Humbucker for Strat!

  1. #1
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    Best Humbucker for Strat!

    I am looking to put a humbucker in my Strat! And different single coils in middle and neck positions. I was curious as to what pickups to get!

    I was thinking about Duncan Pearly Gates for the bridge and texas specials for the middle and neck! The strats body is ash and the neck is maple with a rosewood fret board. So any help would be greatly appriciated. I am looking for a sort of ZZtop kinda crunch for the bridge and a nice overdriven blues tone for the other pickups. I primarily play classic rock and hard rock and blues.

    Amp is a Mesa Boogie Mark IV combo with a 1x12 Thiele cabinet underneath the combo! I use no effects. occassionally a wah wah, or a delay pedal. Otherwise just the amp and the amps reverb!

    Thanks for ay help!

  2. #2
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    I once put a Pearly Gates bridge p/u into the neck position of my Tele and had a bit of trouble getting a balance between the volume of the PG and the Single coil which was a SD vintage staggered.
    The PG was very low in the body to get a reasonable balance,Don't get me wrong it was a great sounding tele,just took a lot of adjusting to get right.
    I since found that Fender has a Pearly Gates that is a lot better balanced to mix with single coils,But as Texas specials are a little hotter then the difference in the volumes might not be apparent.

    I recomend the Fender 5 way super switch/or a push,pull pot so you can split the humbucker if you like that kind of thing,

    Watto
    Reynolds Valve-art ,The best amps ever made.

  3. #3
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    Pot values.

    I'm not going to pretend I fully understand how exactly to do this, but you want to have someone tweak the wiring to have the right values for the pickups. Your single coils need 250k pots and the humbucker needs a 500k. I'll try to find some links for you, but find someone in your area that knows what I'm talking about before you dismiss this important factor.

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    Okay, this isn't as exhaustive as I'd like it to be but I can't really find a lot of people that know what they're talking about online. Alas...

    http://www.kinman.com/html/FAQ.htm#20

    http://www.kinman.com/html/toneWorks....htm#potValues

    Hope this helps.

  5. #5
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    I changed pickups to single coil sized humbuckers last year in a 94 American Standard. I put in Duncans - Cool rails neck, Li'l 59 middle, Hot rails bridge.

    Cool rails- to me sounds single coil-ish and strat-ish until overdrive, at which point it becomes humbucker-ish. Tough to describe, but definitely thumbs up for blues.

    Li'l 59- hollow squawk like a PAF! I almost can't believe it's not butter, if you know what I mean...

    Hot rails - If you've heard a Nirvana song without effects you have a decent idea. Harsh. Not recommended for clean tone.

    I went with single coil sized pickups because I am attached to my pickguard. I also did not want to mix humbuckers and singles on the same volume pot.
    Your mileage may vary. These pickups did a world of good for this guitar. The 2 and 4 positions are much more fun than they used to be.

    Hey I just realized-- isn't a Richie Sambora Strat 2 Texas Specials and a Duncan 59 bridge?!?

  6. #6
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    Re: Pot values.

    Originally posted by kottkewannabe
    I'm not going to pretend I fully understand how exactly to do this, but you want to have someone tweak the wiring to have the right values for the pickups. Your single coils need 250k pots and the humbucker needs a 500k. I'll try to find some links for you, but find someone in your area that knows what I'm talking about before you dismiss this important factor.
    Check out 'Resistors Across output' in the Strat section. With one of the 5-way super-type switches you could pick and choose what positions have what load.

    Another option if you have a way, is to measure a bunch of pots - CTS 250s vary all over the place. In my neck bucker Tele, I used one that measured 280K for the volume control and a 275K for the tone control. That's right up there in the range of a Gibson 300K but the CTS pots are much better than Gibby's and I prefer audio taper to linear anyway. I've run across CTS 250s that measure as low as 200K so the difference between one of those and a 280K is pretty significant. Still not 500K, but if the bridge PUP and guitar are fairly bright it might work out fine.

    In the 60s, Rickenbacker used to wire a .0047uF cap in series with the bridge PUPs for a brighter sound. This trick will work with a full-sized hummer too - the result isn't quite as bright as tapped, but there's less drop in volume and it remains humbucking. Use a good quality cap if you try this one - probably a quality silver mica or metalized poly would be best.
    Last edited by Teleologist; 12-11-2002 at 09:38 AM.

  7. #7
    Forum Member kuntikin's Avatar
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    Re: Best Humbucker for Strat!

    Originally posted by STRATMAN
    I am looking to put a humbucker in my Strat! And different single coils in middle and neck positions. I was curious as to what pickups to get!

    I was thinking about Duncan Pearly Gates for the bridge and texas specials for the middle and neck! The strats body is ash and the neck is maple with a rosewood fret board. So any help would be greatly appriciated. I am looking for a sort of ZZtop kinda crunch for the bridge and a nice overdriven blues tone for the other pickups. I primarily play classic rock and hard rock and blues.

    Amp is a Mesa Boogie Mark IV combo with a 1x12 Thiele cabinet underneath the combo! I use no effects. occassionally a wah wah, or a delay pedal. Otherwise just the amp and the amps reverb!

    Thanks for ay help!
    It's not pearly gates that you want, but pearly gates +. Both seymour's but the former one is an alnico II paf hb, whereas the latter (sold under fender name!) is an alnico V specially desinged for a fat strat texas special. I have them, and I like them both.

    + is a little more trebly, and lower output. But the damn thing (though low output (remember you are gonna use a 250K pot, thus standard PG will sound much more bassy, and with more output which could kill the neck and middle) pg+ is not thin at all. That damn 498T in my 95 LP standard is much thinner than this one.)

    You can get a PG+ from guitar trader, here is the link sorry guitar heaven!!!

    http://www.gtrheaven.com/pickups/pic...ups&m=hum-----
    barlo the kuentikin (=holder of power)

  8. #8
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    I have nothin' but good to say about the Texas Special/Pearly Gates combo in an Ash Strat. I love it!

    I'm sure Kuntikin is right about the model name, but I don't know as mine came together in the Texas Special Fat Strat.

    Didn't care for the hummer they put in the American Deluxe Strats (to say nothing of the VN single coils) nearly as much, which is the Fender DH1.

    Also tried a Strat with a SD "custom custom" in the bridge, and while I love that pup in another guitar I have, I didn't feel it worked as well in a Strat.

  9. #9
    Forum Member kuntikin's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Jack w/his radar
    I have nothin' but good to say about the Texas Special/Pearly Gates combo in an Ash Strat. I love it!

    I'm sure Kuntikin is right about the model name, but I don't know as mine came together in the Texas Special Fat Strat.

    Didn't care for the hummer they put in the American Deluxe Strats (to say nothing of the VN single coils) nearly as much, which is the Fender DH1.

    Also tried a Strat with a SD "custom custom" in the bridge, and while I love that pup in another guitar I have, I didn't feel it worked as well in a Strat.
    If yours is a stock US texas special fat strat then it should be a pearly gates +, as the one I have in my 01 sienna sunburst fat strat tx special.
    barlo the kuentikin (=holder of power)

  10. #10
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    If yours is a stock US texas special fat strat then it should be a pearly gates +, as the one I have in my 01 sienna sunburst fat strat tx special.
    Mine is that very guitar too. Thanks for the info--I hadn't realized there was a difference.

  11. #11
    Forum Member kuntikin's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Jack w/his radar
    Mine is that very guitar too. Thanks for the info--I hadn't realized there was a difference.
    Don't mention it! :)
    barlo the kuentikin (=holder of power)

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