Gday guys just after the voice of anyone that can steer me in a good direction. I am wiring up a HSH strat with a seymour duncan sh-1n, texas special middle and dimebucker bridge. Would you use 250k pots or 500k? Also what capacitor would be good to throw in? Just a standard.022 capacitor?

Also a nice little debate to kick up in anyones opinion what would be a better HSH pickup config, the above mentioned setup with the texas special as a middle or a hot rails pickup replacing the texas special as a middle pickup.

Thanks for ya time,
Ledgends!

_________________
"Just because a guitarist's fingers move quick, it does not make them have all the talent and skill"

"Melodic is the key"
________________________
Richie Sambora Fender Strat
Parts-o-Caster
Floyd Rose DST3
Crate 120w stack amp

You have several 'situations' here which may or may not reconcile:

You'll need a 500K pot for that 59er as they tend to be muddy in the neck position to begin with and so, a 250K just won't do as it will swell the midrange and attenuate the highs.

A Dimebucker in the bridge has an incredible amount of treble where it can be outright irritating with a 500K pot. Using a 250K will lop off some of that treble and replace it with predominantly upper midrange. Unfortunately though, all this will do is make the pickup literally sound like a buzz saw. Of note is the fact that it has a ceramic magnet coupled to stainless steel blades and so there will always be an inherent brittleness to it.

As you can see, you'll have an extremely bassy neck pickup vs. an extremely trebly bridge pickup.

With the Texas Special, if you use the 250K pot for which the pickup was intended, you'll get a 'beefier' Strat sound. If you use a 500K pot, it will thin out the midrange while enhancing the highs and lows, thus giving you a pseudo CS69 sound. Keep in mind that there will be a significant decrease in volume either way in comparison to the other two when this pickup is selected by itself.

A Hot Rails in the middle would be a better match volume wise for either of the other two. But here too, you have to consider that the Hot Rails was designed around a 250K pot and if you go to a 500K pot, similar thinning of the midrange while enhancing the highs and lows will occur. The chief difference here being that the Hot Rails uses a ceramic magnet. Using a 500K pot will give the pickup characteristics of a loud, humbucking, OEM MIM Strat pickup.

As far as the capacitor's value, it really doesn't matter one way or the other. If you have a 022uf, use it; if you have a .047uf, use that.

As always, this is merely IMO where YMMV.

_________________
You dig?

Since the Hot Rails is a stacked humbucker any HSH guitar can be converted into an HHH monster.

Hot Rails can be coil tapped and splitted.

here are some wiring diagrams i use:
https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/schematics.php

![/quote]

You have several 'situations' here which may or may not reconcile:

You'll need a 500K pot for that 59er as they tend to be muddy in the neck position to begin with and so, a 250K just won't do as it will swell the midrange and attenuate the highs.

A Dimebucker in the bridge has an incredible amount of treble where it can be outright irritating with a 500K pot. Using a 250K will lop off some of that treble and replace it with predominantly upper midrange. Unfortunately though, all this will do is make the pickup literally sound like a buzz saw. Of note is the fact that it has a ceramic magnet coupled to stainless steel blades and so there will always be an inherent brittleness to it.

As you can see, you'll have an extremely bassy neck pickup vs. an extremely trebly bridge pickup.

With the Texas Special, if you use the 250K pot for which the pickup was intended, you'll get a 'beefier' Strat sound. If you use a 500K pot, it will thin out the midrange while enhancing the highs and lows, thus giving you a pseudo CS69 sound. Keep in mind that there will be a significant decrease in volume either way in comparison to the other two when this pickup is selected by itself.

A Hot Rails in the middle would be a better match volume wise for either of the other two. But here too, you have to consider that the Hot Rails was designed around a 250K pot and if you go to a 500K pot, similar thinning of the midrange while enhancing the highs and lows will occur. The chief difference here being that the Hot Rails uses a ceramic magnet. Using a 500K pot will give the pickup characteristics of a loud, humbucking, OEM MIM Strat pickup.

As far as the capacitor's value, it really doesn't matter one way or the other. If you have a 022uf, use it; if you have a .047uf, use that.

As always, this is merely IMO where YMMV.[/quote]






Wow cheers for that mate I would have been shattered if I wired up the selection and it just started buzzing. So should I throw the dimebucker out and chuck like a jb-4 in or something how can I go bout this? Should the texas special be replaced with the hot rail?
Also with the wiring I got 1 vol 2 ton 5 way switch obv HSH How can I wire up different rated pots etc and so on to get this to work.

_________________
"Just because a guitarist's fingers move quick, it does not make them have all the talent and skill"

"Melodic is the key"
________________________
Richie Sambora Fender Strat
Parts-o-Caster
Floyd Rose DST3
Crate 120w stack amp

Cheers for the link but it doesnt have a diagram for HSH 1 vol 2 tone and 5 way switch

_________________
"Just because a guitarist's fingers move quick, it does not make them have all the talent and skill"

"Melodic is the key"
________________________
Richie Sambora Fender Strat
Parts-o-Caster
Floyd Rose DST3
Crate 120w stack amp

With a 500K pot, the JB is a lesser version of the Dimebucker. It presents that same upper midrange spike, has a grainy tonality to it and has no appreciable bass. A lot of people forget, it was designed around a 250K pot. Using a 250K pot usually tames the 'spike' and can make the JB sound like a nice, nasty pickup. So, yes to the JB and yes to the Hot Rail (use the bridge model) for output balance.

As to the neck pickup, frankly, there aren't a whole lot of them out there, variety wise. The problem is, for the last several decades, most pickup manufacturers went after the bridge pickup to make whatever versions they could come with as the, "end all of end alls". I am therefore recommending (read, "settling") on a Duncan Jazz. This pickup is very smooth and transparent. Granted, it was designed around a 500K pot but don't forget, the 'balls' of any pickup is in its midrange. Therefore, if you go with a 250K pot, it will ramp up the midrange by drawing from the pickup's highs and lows. Now if you read between the lines here, this would make it an excellent tonal match for the other two pickups. The best part of it all is that both your full sized HBs will have Alnico V magnets and therefore, you can still coax 'sweetness' out of these pickups at reduced volumes.

In a direct answer to your pots values question, leave whatever you got in there for your tone pots for as a tone pot, the resistance value is more concerned with the dynamics of the pot rather than having any dramatic effect on the pickups' tonality.

Once again, the above is merely IMO where YMMV.

_________________
You dig?

If you put a hot rail in the middle position you'll get an HHH setup. Richie opted for a 3-humbucker guitar when he got his signature Jersey Star from Kramer in the late 1980s.

He's obviously talking about slot sizes or did I miss something? Also, what does "Richie" have to do with any of this?

_________________
You dig?

Your advice is muchly appreciated! So im thinking now and please correct me if im wrong

250k pots for vol and 2 tones.
seymour duncan jazz neck pickup
Hot rails
Duncan jb sh-4
5 way switch.

With this all slapped together , if correct what sound could you say I am going to achieve?
Haha "richie" is richie sambora from jovi, obviously the bloke thought I was trying to.achieve his sound, ehich is true in a way, im not out for his exact crap I like to take his sound and layer it with my own goodness.. I do like to play with overdrive, floyd trems, hardcore bends and picking for pretty quick solos like bon jovi dry county or bed of roses, always , blood on blood.

I lookforward to awaiting your reply thanks

_________________
"Just because a guitarist's fingers move quick, it does not make them have all the talent and skill"

"Melodic is the key"
________________________
Richie Sambora Fender Strat
Parts-o-Caster
Floyd Rose DST3
Crate 120w stack amp

Also.are you saying to use a bridge model hot rail pickup but when I wire it in wire it as a middle pickup?

_________________
"Just because a guitarist's fingers move quick, it does not make them have all the talent and skill"

"Melodic is the key"
________________________
Richie Sambora Fender Strat
Parts-o-Caster
Floyd Rose DST3
Crate 120w stack amp

You're quite welcome.

Yes to your thinking about the pot value and the pickups.

I'm an old(er) geezer and truthfully, can't say I have, for lack of a better word, "studied" Sambora's style or sound one way or the other. I do know however, that from what I've heard of him, you'll easily be, "in the ballpark" with this combo. Specifically, you'll be getting predominantly a 'nasty' sounding guitar all around where lowering the volume will clean it up for shall we say, more 'subdued' passages as required. Or to put it like I like to say, "Balls and bells" on command.

_________________
You dig?

Yes because based on what I perceive to be your stylings, you are more concerned with a consistent level of volume with varying compatible tonalities as opposed to using a weaker middle pickup in combination with either of the other two for more subdued "quack" type applications. Notwithstanding, if said type "quack" is in fact, required, it can be achieved by lowering your volume.

_________________
You dig?

Two more things:

1. Depending on the string spacing of your Strat, you may have to get Duncan Trembuckers (TBs) in lieu of the SH series for your guitar. In other words, you may need a TB-2 (vice SH-2) as your Jazz pickup and a TB-4 (vice SH-4) as your JB.

2. There is a chance that the DiMarzio will be out of phase with the Duncans. If upon wiring up your guitar you find this to be the case, simply reverse the red and green wires of the DiMarzio.

_________________
You dig?

ahh ok, i am just using a floyd rose special bridge, i made it fit into my strat.
also you mean seymour duncan not dimarzio dont you or am i on another page?

ill get this wired up and ill pop back and let ya know how she sounds

ps. how will i know my string spacing is to much or to little? will not line up properly with the magnets in the pickup bobbin?

_________________
"Just because a guitarist's fingers move quick, it does not make them have all the talent and skill"

"Melodic is the key"
________________________
Richie Sambora Fender Strat
Parts-o-Caster
Floyd Rose DST3
Crate 120w stack amp