Hey guys, just a few questions.

I've been looking into the idea of coil splitting a HSS Strat to have both humbucker and single coil tones available to me. I've concluded that the easiest way to do this would be to wire a switch to turn off the middle pickup, as position two is already the front coil of humbucker and the middle pickup (switching the middle off would give me just the bridge coil). Can anyone confirm this? Also, I'd be pretty nervous doing any wiring - do you think a guitar store would do it for me?

Finally, I'm wondering how close the split humbucker would sound to a regular single coil.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome.

What you are proposing can be done. You can also accomplish the coil split to where with just the one added switch, you can keep both coils of the humbucker on when teaming it with the middle pickup as an option too. This would involve a minor rewiring of your pickup selector switch.

The one coil of the split humbucker will be treblier and weaker than your other two single coils.

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You dig?

So it's only a minor piece of wiring? I'd probably still ask for someone with experience to do it.

Do many people do this to Fat Strats?

I would if I had a fat strat. Infact i would probably install the following mod dispite it altering the front of the strat (extra mini toggle switch):

I'd wire the humbucker to a DPDT switch (installed inbetween the two tone knobs) then to the 5 Way so i could choose between the following options.

1. Front coil
2. Both in series
3. Rear coil

If this is something you would be interested in getting done I am more than happy to post a diagram you could give to your tech (though if they are any good they'll know what to do).

Hope this helps

Andy

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Yes.

People do all sorts of things like this with all sorts of guitars, not just Fat Strats.

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You dig?

Thanks, I appreciate the help (Google was not friendly on the subject). Would you do this setup for the slight difference in sound between the two coils in the bucker or am I missing something here?

And don't worry about the diagram, unless it would be really easy to get hold of.

Yeah, I would and have! I found that on their own the split coils of a humbucker have a slight, but still audible sound difference. The "Slight" sound difference was enough incentive for me to carry out the mod. (I should also mention at this point that i'm a bit of a modder / Switch freak so if there is anything that will make my guitar more versitile then you can bet i've probably got a switch ready to do it! )

On coil split / tap in general...

In my opinion, the the higher the resistance rating your Humbucker has the better the coil splits will be. For example: A humbucker with a resistance of 7k probably wouldn't be worth the hassle, as the single coils sounds (on their own) would be probably be quite bright and weak. A DiMarzio Tone Zone with huge 17k will be quite warm/dark sounding as a humbucker, but should produce a decent sound once split as a single.

Hope this helps

Andy

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Pending Greatness

I don't think I'd have enough money to get new a new pickup - I'd just be modifying the stock pickup of a new Mexican HSS Strat. Would you see that as worth it?

For me it would depend on the resistance of the humbucker. Without that infomation I can't say for sure. I'd also be doing any mods myself so there is no additional costs for a tech to carry out the work and if I didn't like it i could return it to stock.

Have a chat with your tech and see what he thinks but, at the end of the day it up to you.

Hope this helps

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Okay. Thanks for the help.