Pickup Questions About My Custom Built Super Strat H-S-S

[Charvel1975]

Hey guys been a while since I've been on here but I had some pickup questions/recommendations about my custom built super strat, I attached some pics of it.

The guitar I just got a set of 6 inline Grover mini rotomatics for it and it's setup with GHS GBZW .010-.060 to Drop B what our band plays in and we play modern metal. The pickguard is a Strat- HSS-Diamond Plate prewired from Dragonfire Guitars and the specs are 3 full size 500k pots and 5 way switch, matched Set of 1 Dragonfire Screamer and 2 Single Coils, the Screamer is wound around ceramic magnets to 16.9K on the bridge, 2 Dragonfire Single Coils-middle pickup is RWRP(reverse wound, reverse polarity) for hum cancelling, both neck and middle are at 5.6K output. 5 way switching works like this: Position 1- Full Bridge Humbucker, Position 2- Humbucker is split so you have the top coil of the hum and the middle pickup combined ( Hum Cancelling) Position 3- Middle Pickup Only, Position 4- Middle and Neck Pickups (Hum Cancelling) Position 5- Neck Pickup Only.

The pickups sound ok but my other guitar I use in drop B is a Epiphone les paul custom with the seymour duncan hot rod pickup set (JB-Bridge/Jazz-Neck) and I was thinking of for now maybe just getting a JB bridge pickup (don't know if I get the regular or F-Spaced?) for the super strat and getting the single coils later, the thing is though I don't know what kind of wood the body is made of? I was also gonna have my tech change it to 1 volume and 1 tone instead of the 1 volume and 2 tone controls because the volume control gets in the way of my picking and I don't use the tone controls at all and was probably gonna have him put the Orange Drop caps in too. I've heard of other guys using different seymour duncan humbuckers in the bridge like the Pearly Gates, 59, Custom 5 for example, just wanted some input, thanks!

 

[snowdog]

I like the looks of that guitar. Not sure how you had it built and don't know the wood What I would do in that case is take the pickguard off and look for a spot that may not be painted or sand a small spot down and see what it is.


From DiMarzio : F-spaced humbuckers should be used in the bridge position on all guitars with string spacing at the bridge of 2.1" (53 mm) or greater. On these guitars, if the nut width is 1-11/16” (43 mm) or greater, F-spaced pickups can be used in the neck position as well.

 

[Charvel1975]

I like the looks of that guitar. Not sure how you had it built and don't know the wood What I would do in that case is take the pickguard off and look for a spot that may not be painted or sand a small spot down and see what it is.


From DiMarzio : F-spaced humbuckers should be used in the bridge position on all guitars with string spacing at the bridge of 2.1" (53 mm) or greater. On these guitars, if the nut width is 1-11/16” (43 mm) or greater, F-spaced pickups can be used in the neck position as well.

Yea I asked my tech that built the guitar for me and he said the same thing, didn't know what kind of wood the body was made of, he thinks it's either Alder or Basswood.

I bought the fender tremolo bridge off a guy on Ebay and he took it off a made in mexico fender strat but I had my tech that built my super strat make it so the tremolo won't move cause I really don't use tremolos that much and I didn't know about the bridge humbucker if it had to be F-spaced or not? My tech still has the strat because I bought brand new black 6 inline Grover tuning machines for it, he had to touch up the clearcoat on the headstock and kind of mess with the action because I'm having him put the Zakk wylde GHS .010-.060 set on it tuned to Drop B. I had him do a setup and new pickup install on my older, heavier Epiphone les paul custom and I went with his recommendation of Seymour Duncan's Hot Rodded pickup set with the Orange drop cap (JB-bridge, Jazz-neck) and he was thinking a JB in the bridge of the super strat with 2 different values of Orange drop caps would probably sound really good.

 

[Charvel1975]

Originally I was trying to find an identical diamond plate pickguard that was just H-H and just 1 volume, 1 tone and 3-way but couldn't find any? I was telling my tech instead of having the 1 volume, 2 tone controls setup how it is now removing the volume pot that is right below the humbucker cause it gets in my way and moving it down just using 1 tone control with the 1 volume, lower the middle single coil pickup all the way down cause it gets in the way of my picking.

He also mentioned something about maybe trying the Steve Vai wiring on the pickguard?

 

[racerevlon]

For modern metal:

Dimarzio Super 3 in the bridge
Dimarzio RWRP True Velvet Middle, or Injector Middle
Dimarzio Fast Track 2 Neck

 

[Charvel1975]

Hey guys been a while since I've been on here but I had some pickup questions/recommendations about my custom built super strat, I attached some pics of it.

The guitar I just got a set of 6 inline Grover mini rotomatics for it and it's setup with GHS GBZW .010-.060 to Drop B what our band plays in and we play modern metal. The pickguard is a Strat- HSS-Diamond Plate prewired from Dragonfire Guitars and the specs are 3 full size 500k pots and 5 way switch, matched Set of 1 Dragonfire Screamer and 2 Single Coils, the Screamer is wound around ceramic magnets to 16.9K on the bridge, 2 Dragonfire Single Coils-middle pickup is RWRP(reverse wound, reverse polarity) for hum cancelling, both neck and middle are at 5.6K output. 5 way switching works like this: Position 1- Full Bridge Humbucker, Position 2- Humbucker is split so you have the top coil of the hum and the middle pickup combined ( Hum Cancelling) Position 3- Middle Pickup Only, Position 4- Middle and Neck Pickups (Hum Cancelling) Position 5- Neck Pickup Only.

The pickups sound ok but my other guitar I use in drop B is a Epiphone les paul custom with the seymour duncan hot rod pickup set (JB-Bridge/Jazz-Neck) and I was thinking of for now maybe just getting a JB bridge pickup (don't know if I get the regular or F-Spaced?) for the super strat and getting the single coils later, the thing is though I don't know what kind of wood the body is made of? I was also gonna have my tech change it to 1 volume and 1 tone instead of the 1 volume and 2 tone controls because the volume control gets in the way of my picking and I don't use the tone controls at all and was probably gonna have him put the Orange Drop caps in too. I've heard of other guys using different seymour duncan humbuckers in the bridge like the Pearly Gates, 59, Custom 5 for example, just wanted some input, thanks!

I'm going to go all Seymour Duncan for my custom super-strat, here is what I'm going to get: Bridge: Seymour Duncan TB-4 JB, Middle: SSL-4 Quarter-Pound Flat, and Neck: SCR-1 Cool Rails. Hopefully it will be kick ass and be what I am looking for

 

[Charvel1975]

Just took a new Seymour Duncan TB-4 JB down to my tech last night @ KB Custom Guitars to put in the bridge position of my super-strat and he's also eliminating the volume control closest to the bridge pickup cause it gets in my way and just going to 1 volume and 1 tone control and he's putting on a new 6-inline set of black Grover mini-rotomatics and then stringing it up with GHS zakk wylde boomers .010-.060 tuned to Drop B, can't wait to hear how it sounds!!

 

[ConcreteVampire]

My super strat mega pickup salad is on my Mockingbird.
Full JB bridge, lil 59 middle, cool rails neck.
3 mini toggles, I think 15 combinations?!
It's stupid fun to play...

 

[Charvel1975]

Just took a new Seymour Duncan TB-4 JB down to my tech last night @ KB Custom Guitars to put in the bridge position of my super-strat and he's also eliminating the volume control closest to the bridge pickup cause it gets in my way and just going to 1 volume and 1 tone control and he's putting on a new 6-inline set of black Grover mini-rotomatics and then stringing it up with GHS zakk wylde boomers .010-.060 tuned to Drop B, can't wait to hear how it sounds!!

Well used the super-strat with the new SD TB-4 JB in the bridge yesterday at practice sounded pretty good. Still wondering if I want to just go with a single humbucker or 2 humbucker diamond plate pickguard instead of the hum, single, single that I got on it right now? I was trying to see if there was a manufacturer that made the Tom Delonge style single humbucker diamond plate pickguard that had the 1 volume knob that was postioned lower away from the bridge pickup?

 

[Charvel1975]

Hey guys been a while since I've been on here but I had some pickup questions/recommendations about my custom built super strat, I attached some pics of it.

The guitar I just got a set of 6 inline Grover mini rotomatics for it and it's setup with GHS GBZW .010-.060 to Drop B what our band plays in and we play modern metal. The pickguard is a Strat- HSS-Diamond Plate prewired from Dragonfire Guitars and the specs are 3 full size 500k pots and 5 way switch, matched Set of 1 Dragonfire Screamer and 2 Single Coils, the Screamer is wound around ceramic magnets to 16.9K on the bridge, 2 Dragonfire Single Coils-middle pickup is RWRP(reverse wound, reverse polarity) for hum cancelling, both neck and middle are at 5.6K output. 5 way switching works like this: Position 1- Full Bridge Humbucker, Position 2- Humbucker is split so you have the top coil of the hum and the middle pickup combined ( Hum Cancelling) Position 3- Middle Pickup Only, Position 4- Middle and Neck Pickups (Hum Cancelling) Position 5- Neck Pickup Only.

The pickups sound ok but my other guitar I use in drop B is a Epiphone les paul custom with the seymour duncan hot rod pickup set (JB-Bridge/Jazz-Neck) and I was thinking of for now maybe just getting a JB bridge pickup (don't know if I get the regular or F-Spaced?) for the super strat and getting the single coils later, the thing is though I don't know what kind of wood the body is made of? I was also gonna have my tech change it to 1 volume and 1 tone instead of the 1 volume and 2 tone controls because the volume control gets in the way of my picking and I don't use the tone controls at all and was probably gonna have him put the Orange Drop caps in too. I've heard of other guys using different seymour duncan humbuckers in the bridge like the Pearly Gates, 59, Custom 5 for example, just wanted some input, thanks!

Sorry to bump an old thread but I've switched pickguards on the super strat and I still don't know what type of wood the body is made of but because it isn't all that heavy I'm leaning towards it being made of Basswood. I had my luthier switch out the diamond plate pickguard for this: http://www.guitarfetish.com/Single-Humb ... p_675.html

I just had him use the same seymour duncan JB wired to a alpha push/pull 500K volume pot and had hime string it with the ernie ball beefy slinkys. The sound definitely changed, seems like it's really high endy? I don't know if it had to do with the pickguard or the beefy slinkys, before he swapped the pickguards I had the ghs zakk wylde .010-.060's on it. I now see what a lot of guys are saying about the high strings on the beefy slinkys especially that .022 on the G, I don't like it! I still have the ernie ball LT/HB .010-.052's on my Charvel 5fx tuned to drop B but even though those strings on it are kinda rubber-bandy they feel a lot better than the beefy slinky's. Any string recommendations?

 

[TIBrent]

Being that you do tune down a bit, I would personally recommend the Dunlop strings quite a bit. I've tried a lot of strings, ernie balls included, but recently I picked up a few sets of dunlops just to try them out & well...I am sold. It seems to sort of taper the brittle/harshness of the high end a bit. I know several other people who have tried them as well who are sold. They're pretty darn cheap too, might be worth a shot to just throw on another set of 10-52 dunlops. They seem to hold up pretty darn good for me & I definitely tuned lower, they don't seem to have that tension sag as bad as other models I have seen either when tuning down lower.
-Brent

 

[Charvel1975]

Being that you do tune down a bit, I would personally recommend the Dunlop strings quite a bit. I've tried a lot of strings, ernie balls included, but recently I picked up a few sets of dunlops just to try them out & well...I am sold. It seems to sort of taper the brittle/harshness of the high end a bit. I know several other people who have tried them as well who are sold. They're pretty darn cheap too, might be worth a shot to just throw on another set of 10-52 dunlops. They seem to hold up pretty darn good for me & I definitely tuned lower, they don't seem to have that tension sag as bad as other models I have seen either when tuning down lower.
-Brent

I'd probably have to have my luthier re-adjust the truss rod again, he had to do that when he switched out the ghs .010-.060 to the beefy slinky's. So on my super strat are you saying to try the Dunlop .010-.052 guage strings like the guage I have on my Charvel 5fx?

 

[Charvel1975]

I ssen the dunlop kerry king set has an extra .052 in the set, anyone try those?