Just can't get into single coils

  • Thread starter Thread starter peckhart
  • Start date Start date
This is one thing I swear by PIO caps. TBH. I have the old green Russian caps in mine with bournes pots, and it totally gets things right for me.
 
blackba":2vpyvvma said:
swamptrashstompboxes":2vpyvvma said:
nevusofota":2vpyvvma said:

Strat tones primarily come from the neck and middle pickup anyway. Go back to an HSS Strat and have the best of both world
s.

Also, single coil
  • players
put a lot of emphasis on the tone knob. Most of these players seem to have a common thread of running the bridge tone knob about half way.

That is the truth.

+2 The strat neck tone is dynamite, the bright SC on a strat is okay once you add the tone knob. That is why I am a fan of fat strats. I still want to try a plate under the bridge SC on a strat.

By contrast the Tele bridge is where its at. If you put in a 4 way switch you get both pickups in series as a option, which is pretty cool.
Put in a strat 5 way Smart or Mega switch and you can add another sound in there.
 
PAULYC2":29knydqu said:
blackba":29knydqu said:
swamptrashstompboxes":29knydqu said:
nevusofota":29knydqu said:

Strat tones primarily come from the neck and middle pickup anyway. Go back to an HSS Strat and have the best of both world
s.

Also, single coil
  • players
put a lot of emphasis on the tone knob. Most of these players seem to have a common thread of running the bridge tone knob about half way.

That is the truth.

+2 The strat neck tone is dynamite, the bright SC on a strat is okay once you add the tone knob. That is why I am a fan of fat strats. I still want to try a plate under the bridge SC on a strat.

By contrast the Tele bridge is where its at. If you put in a 4 way switch you get both pickups in series as a option, which is pretty cool.
Put in a strat 5 way Smart or Mega switch and you can add another sound in there.

I have a mega switch in one fat strat, it has all 500k pots and when the SC positions are selected, a 500k resistor is put in parallel.

I have read about having the middle tone pot to twirl between series and parallel when 2 pickups are selected, but haven't looked up that wiring yet. What wiring are you talking about?
 
Craig Anderton’s book Electronic Projects For Musicians had a 5 way strat switch Telecaster wiring schematic that replaced the tone pot with a toggle switch so you could do phase flip with the toggle, and the 5 way combined with a center tapped overwound bridge pickup for 5 sounds... I forget which positions were what it was so long ago.
 
I've had HSS for years. Duncan C8 in the bridge and Van Zandt Blues going in Neck and Middle, all on 500k volume. They sound GREAT, but I sometimes want a bit more 'push, drive, gain' from the single coils. I'm now looking at something like the Duncan Hot Stack or some other higher output single coil.

Lots of great insight and suggestions here.
 
I struggle with single coils so I usually drop in some Duncan quarter pounders or dimarzio SDS 1 .. they kinda of fall into the single/p 90 zone so sound great especially with Alder
 
I am playing a 97 Ash Tele, and I swear this things bridge pickup can get brutal as shit. I usually play on the neck lipstick for most of my stuff though.
 
I’m currently building an HSS Strat partscaster and am putting in a Suhr clone wiring harness made by 920D. When the switch is in the bridge position a resistor is engaged to make the volume pot 500k and 250k resistor is utilizes when it’s switched to the SC’s. It also incorporates Suhr’s proprietary silencing circuit.

Pics of the harness and the guitar I’m copying (I’m making a 2 knob version)



 
They're good for clean tones. I have a coil split on mine just for that.

In fact now I can't bear using the humbuckers on full for clean sounds. They sound too boomy for me.
 
Great setup! Haven't heard of 920D until now. Post up a pic once the guitar is complete!
 
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