I have a Fender, American Standard, Limited Edition, Natural strat. Say that ten times. And I just tried a new mod on it (my third). I wanted a strat which I could use more onstage with the diversity of music that my band plays. In other words, my three single coils weren't cutting it. By the way, before I get hate mail, I have another traditional strat with single coils just for that task. So, I went with a preloaded pickguard from DiMarzio - that is a H.S.H. pup configuration. It has an Air Classic - Humbucker (neck), an Evolution - Single Coil (middle), and a Tone Zone - Humbucker (bridge). I immediately disliked the Evo, middle single coil. It is limited for my needs. For those who like it, I understand why, with gain or overdrive behind it - it sounds cool. But clean, or outside that style, it is thin, ice picky and too country quaky. Not what you would expect from a Via wired H.S.H. So, I picked up a DP217 YJM (yngwie malmsteen sig) pup to replace it. As soon as the treble bleed kit arrives I will be soldering and getting it up and running.

After typing all of that, I have a tech question. The bridge pickup "the Air Classic" is a bit muddy for my taste. I can live with it, but is there a capacitor or resistor that can bring out a little more high end out of it? Any recommendations would be appreciated! Just a tad would make me happy. After all this is said and done, I think I will have arrived to a point where my mods have come to fruition.

Abako66

Howdy!

Just wondering... what value are your pots?

Andy

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Pending Greatness

The pots are 500k.

Ok cool,

In that case I'd try lowering the pickup height first.

If that doesn't do the trick, it maybe worth considering replacing one of the tone controls with a TBX pot.

I can't think of anything else that would brighten things up, but maybe some of the other more experienced forum uses will chip in.

Hope this helps!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

I'm not surprised you find that pickup muddy, it's not known for its trebly qualities even by DiMarzio themselves..!

If you want to spend more, try the PAF Joe. If you want to try something different, maybe try a 1meg tone pot in the middle. It's a bit of an extreme measure, which you may love or hate. It'll take less of the treble off when you decide you want to roll back whatever pot of your choice.

I use 250k vol/1meg tone x2 in my Deluxe Strat, and I couldn't be happier. The humbucker at the bridge sings like a drunken jailbird but without being overly harsh, the neck & middle singlecoils sound beautifully smooth. The taper is a little sharp on it, but for the brightness you get, it's worth it.

Unless you're running your tone at anywhere below 10 most of the time, you're not going to hear much difference from changing caps... if you really want to, then grab a .022mfd capacitor (typical on humbucker-equipped guitars) and slam it in. They leave 'more' of the high frequencies in when you roll back the tone control. Strats typically will use .05mfd, as it removes more of the 'brightness' people associate with such guitars...

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'01 American Deluxe HSS Strat.
'87 Japan HSS Strat.
'11 Custom Shop FMT HSS Strat.

"Without music, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines and dates by which bills must be paid."

Thanks Andy for your reply. I will research your recommendation!

Appreciate your response. I talked to two music stores who told me simply to buy a new pup ...doughhhhhh~

Cheers~
abako66

Thanks for the pointers "Aspiring Musician" I will also look into your recommendations. Certainly gives a guy hope!

abako66

You're welcome. Call me Vlad.

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'01 American Deluxe HSS Strat.
'87 Japan HSS Strat.
'11 Custom Shop FMT HSS Strat.

"Without music, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines and dates by which bills must be paid."

I'd try Andy's suggestion of playing with the pup height first.

The TBX addition is an interesting idea. Though not being able to "add" anything to your existing setup it might brighten the pup. Here's some info:

http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/I ... rt_1.aspx/

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

Great suggestions so far. I would also consider a "passing lane" type switch, to bypass the tone and/or volume control for the bridge pup. With the pots and caps bypassed, that would be as bright as that pup can be. I like this option on the Deluxe HSS.

BTW, is it the bridge or the neck?

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

"bridge" Shimi as posted in the first entry.

Isn't what you suggest done in the TBX in the indent position at 5? Or am I confused? very possible...

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

OK, not the neck as in the title, got it.

Not really like the TBX at detent (5), more like the delta-tone at detent (10). In the delta-tone control, the detent position, completely removes the tone pot from the circuit. The passing lane switch on the Deluxe completely removes/bypasses the tone and volume pots from the circuit. Special pots required for TBX or Delta, and only a simple switch required for the passing lane.

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

Ah, OK. Got it now...
Thanks for clarifying it for me.

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield