Hello all, I just picked up a 02 american series strat maple fretboard. I want to drop in a humbucker in the bridge . I put a dimarzio super distortion on hold at local shop. I like to play all 80s rock .Van Halen Randy Rhoads blizzard of oz , early Rush think working man. Whitesnake think still of night. Great white think rock me, broken love. well you get the picture. That music just influences my style Anyways Im stuck ,should I go hsh with super distortion like a single coil fender and a paf . Or go super distortion and whatever single coils so I can get some cleans. Maybe super distortion wont work . Im not a shredder. I play slow clean intros with heavy rhythm and soulful leads. Thats just what I do when Im not doing covers. Sorry this is so long.

My opinion.......you obviously have a wide range of tones you want to cover, and in this case I think you should go HSS and keep that middle and neck single coil. Also, think about adding a mini toggle switch to split the humbucker to a single coil. It is not necessary by any means, but then you will also have the ability to go back to somewhat of a stock strat tone with the flip of a switch and the pickup selector

I would scrap the Super Distortion and look at the Dually Lace Sensors for the bridge and neck positions. Silver Lace Sensor for the middle, Dually Red/Blue for the bridge with a mini toggle, Dually Gold/? for the neck with a mini toggle. That would allow you scorching lead tones, Strat single coil tones, smooth humbucker tones.....plus it's quiet,versatile and the options are dizzying.

I am partial to Dimarzio pickups. I would go with a HH configuration with a SD in the bridge and a PAF pro in the neck. Have them wired like this:

5-Position Blade: Position 1. Full Bridge Pickup, Position 2. Two Inside Single Coils, Position 3. Both Full Humbucking Pickups, Position 4. Outer Neck Single Coil, Position 5. Full Neck Pickup Also add a toggle or push-button switch to split the pickups to just single coils when in 1 and 5.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head