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Post subject: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 1:50 pm
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Hi everyone!

I am new to the forums, after reading them for quite a while, actually!
I own a 1991 American Standard Stratocaster with rosewood fretboard. Some months after buying, I had a Di Marzio DP182 installed in the bridge position, since at that time I was mainly playing heavy metal. After some years of stop, I am actually playing again in a band and I was considering changing the pickup again.
At the moment I have a push/pull 250k volume pot to split the bridge PU and another push/pull pot on the first tone to activate the neck PU at will. Bridge tone control is original Fender TBX system. I now play mainly alternative/classic rock and some 90's punk rock.
I was looking at the SD Little 59 imagining it would be a better match to the middle and neck single coils which happen to still be the original ones.
Any kind of opinion or suggestion would be really appreciated. Maybe it's good to know that my other guitar is a Gibson Les Paul Standard 1995 with 490r/498t as PU configuration.

Thanks in advance to all those willing to share a bit of their knowledge with me :)


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Post subject: Re: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 2:11 pm
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For alt/classic/punk, you could do a lot worse than SD's Little 59'er -- it's a tasty all-around pickup. I assume you'll be retaining the existing wiring configuration......?

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 6:09 pm
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I like the Lil '59 but seems like the SD JBjr would be a better match to your type of music. And still a noiseless/stacked design. My son has a set in the Mexi Strat I got him.


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Post subject: Re: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 10:00 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
For alt/classic/punk, you could do a lot worse than SD's Little 59'er -- it's a tasty all-around pickup. I assume you'll be retaining the existing wiring configuration......?

Arjay


Yes I expected to retain my pots/wiring configuration. Should I consider changing something?

fenderfan wrote:
I like the Lil '59 but seems like the SD JBjr would be a better match to your type of music. And still a noiseless/stacked design. My son has a set in the Mexi Strat I got him.


Would you mind to elaborate further? Thanks.


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Post subject: Re: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 10:18 pm
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Emopunk wrote:
Retroverbial wrote:
For alt/classic/punk, you could do a lot worse than SD's Little 59'er -- it's a tasty all-around pickup. I assume you'll be retaining the existing wiring configuration......?

Arjay


Yes I expected to retain my pots/wiring configuration. Should I consider changing something?


Personally, I don't think so. If you're happy with the options that your present wiring provides, by all means keep it. You may wish to experiment later on but that's the beauty of the Strat design -- the ease at which it can be modded to suit individual requirements.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 10:20 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
Emopunk wrote:
Retroverbial wrote:
For alt/classic/punk, you could do a lot worse than SD's Little 59'er -- it's a tasty all-around pickup. I assume you'll be retaining the existing wiring configuration......?

Arjay


Yes I expected to retain my pots/wiring configuration. Should I consider changing something?


Personally, I don't think so. If you're happy with the options that your present wiring provides, by all means keep it. You may wish to experiment later on but that's the beauty of the Strat design -- the ease at which it can be modded to suit individual requirements.

Arjay


One little thing I was considering was to put neck and middle PU on the same tone control, leaving the TBX for bridge PU alone. Am I wrong in this idea? I thought that it could be useful to control the hotter pickup on its own somehow.


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Post subject: Re: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 10:36 pm
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There might be a payoff for that alteration -- try it and see what happens.

Personally, I prefer using the two tone pots to control my bridge and neck pickups, leaving the middle coil wide open. I like to roll my neck pickup's tone control all the way back for serious "woman tones" while having the other pickups instantly available for more traditional Strat sounds. But tying your middle and neck pickups together might yield some interesting possibilities. What value is your tone cap?

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sat Aug 29, 2015 11:52 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
There might be a payoff for that alteration -- try it and see what happens.

Personally, I prefer using the two tone pots to control my bridge and neck pickups, leaving the middle coil wide open. I like to roll my neck pickup's tone control all the way back for serious "woman tones" while having the other pickups instantly available for more traditional Strat sounds. But tying your middle and neck pickups together might yield some interesting possibilities. What value is your tone cap?

Arjay


Thanks for all the replies Arjay, I am really enjoying the conversation! :wink:
My caps are 250k. What would be the payoff? I ask it because I pay a luthier everytime I have to do such things so it's quite difficult to do a trial and error approach :P
Moreover, what is the advantage of simply disconnecting the mid PU from the bridge tone control?

Cheers!


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Post subject: Re: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 1:27 am
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Your pots are 250K -- the tone capacitor is a different component altogether. Most modern Fenders are equipped with a .047 mfd ceramic-disc or axial cap. I find better results with a paper-in-oil type with a value of .022 or .033 mfd. The payoff is a smoother, more linear roll-off of the highs when it's necessary to take some "bite" out of the pickups, especially the bridge.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 1:39 am
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Retroverbial wrote:
Your pots are 250K -- the tone capacitor is a different component altogether. Most modern Fenders are equipped with a .047 mfd ceramic-disc or axial cap. I find better results with a paper-in-oil type with a value of .022 or .033 mfd. The payoff is a smoother, more linear roll-off of the highs when it's necessary to take some "bite" out of the pickups, especially the bridge.

Arjay


Whoops! Sorry for misunderstanding, I probably read too fast. Well, I'm not sure what cap I have at the moment; I understand that the TBX has its own caps system, and that I could only eventually change the middle tone one, right? The payoff you're talking about is the one I would get by switching caps? What about the one of joining neck and middle PUs? Thanks.


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Post subject: Re: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 2:10 am
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Emopunk wrote:
Retroverbial wrote:
For alt/classic/punk, you could do a lot worse than SD's Little 59'er -- it's a tasty all-around pickup. I assume you'll be retaining the existing wiring configuration......?

Arjay


Yes I expected to retain my pots/wiring configuration. Should I consider changing something?

fenderfan wrote:
I like the Lil '59 but seems like the SD JBjr would be a better match to your type of music. And still a noiseless/stacked design. My son has a set in the Mexi Strat I got him.


Would you mind to elaborate further? Thanks.

The '59 is great for country and some light rock but the JBjr seems to have a better tone for classic and heavier rock. Same wiring options though.


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Post subject: Re: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 2:17 am
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fenderfan wrote:
Emopunk wrote:
Retroverbial wrote:
For alt/classic/punk, you could do a lot worse than SD's Little 59'er -- it's a tasty all-around pickup. I assume you'll be retaining the existing wiring configuration......?

Arjay


Yes I expected to retain my pots/wiring configuration. Should I consider changing something?

fenderfan wrote:
I like the Lil '59 but seems like the SD JBjr would be a better match to your type of music. And still a noiseless/stacked design. My son has a set in the Mexi Strat I got him.


Would you mind to elaborate further? Thanks.

The '59 is great for country and some light rock but the JBjr seems to have a better tone for classic and heavier rock. Same wiring options though.


How about them balancing with the two single coils? Wouldn't I be back to where I am with my Fast Track II?
DC resistance:
Fast Track II: 18.07 Kohm
JB Jr.: 16.09
Little '59: 11.78


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Post subject: Re: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 6:00 am
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Well there's always the ultimate improvement, you won't want for more, ever (well, in a logical world, that I don't live in). I've done this to 2 of my Strats, with different pickups. It leads to fun and inspiring playing with some totally new and cool tones.
First give yourself a head start with a full set of Fender Hot Noiseless (Jeff Beck uses these) or a set of noiseless Duncan Classic Stack Plus STK-S4 (Carl Verheyen & Nuno Bettencourt use these)

Then order a Deaf-Eddie Chromacaster switch http://www.deaf-eddie.net/chromie.html
This will give you SIXTEEN different pickup combinations, when used with your regular 5-way selector!
You and your trusty Strat will be propelled into an orbit that only all 3 pickups blasting in series will get you back into re-entry.
It's a nice little project you can do yourself with the instructions.

The Chromacaster is a six way rotary taking the place of one Tone pot. Just put your original Tone knob on it. Your lower Tone becomes your "master" tone (like a Telecaster)
Each of the 6 notches usualy changes only 2 of the 5-way Selector, the other 3 are the usual Strat pickup positions unaffected.
The first notch is for your regular Strat, pickups are in standard Factory Strat mode using the usual 5-way selector.
The other 5 notches are for some very interesting pickup combos for any tone you possibly want...parallel, series, out-of-phase, in series but out of phase

Here is the Chromacaster Tone Chart:
http://www.deaf-eddie.net/c-chart.html

To give you an example of Chromacaster rotary notch at #5:
When the 5-way is at (5), you will hear the Bridge and Neck in series, but out of phase. This tone is actually a very Gibson-y out of phase, not as thin as you'd expect... think of the '70's!
When the 5-way is at (4) it's same as the above, PLUS the Middle pup parallel, which fattens it back up a bit.
When the 5-way is at (1), (2), and (3) are unaffected "stock" tones.

Let us know how you go. You won't need another Strat...but I can't help myself, there's always another color :D

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Post subject: Re: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 6:42 am
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Johnny Soniq wrote:
Well there's always the ultimate improvement, you won't want for more, ever (well, in a logical world, that I don't live in). I've done this to 2 of my Strats, with different pickups. It leads to fun and inspiring playing with some totally new and cool tones.
First give yourself a head start with a full set of Fender Hot Noiseless (Jeff Beck uses these) or a set of noiseless Duncan Classic Stack Plus STK-S4 (Carl Verheyen & Nuno Bettencourt use these)

Then order a Deaf-Eddie Chromacaster switch http://www.deaf-eddie.net/chromie.html
This will give you SIXTEEN different pickup combinations, when used with your regular 5-way selector!
You and your trusty Strat will be propelled into an orbit that only all 3 pickups blasting in series will get you back into re-entry.
It's a nice little project you can do yourself with the instructions.

The Chromacaster is a six way rotary taking the place of one Tone pot. Just put your original Tone knob on it. Your lower Tone becomes your "master" tone (like a Telecaster)
Each of the 6 notches usualy changes only 2 of the 5-way Selector, the other 3 are the usual Strat pickup positions unaffected.
The first notch is for your regular Strat, pickups are in standard Factory Strat mode using the usual 5-way selector.
The other 5 notches are for some very interesting pickup combos for any tone you possibly want...parallel, series, out-of-phase, in series but out of phase

Here is the Chromacaster Tone Chart:
http://www.deaf-eddie.net/c-chart.html

To give you an example of Chromacaster rotary notch at #5:
When the 5-way is at (5), you will hear the Bridge and Neck in series, but out of phase. This tone is actually a very Gibson-y out of phase, not as thin as you'd expect... think of the '70's!
When the 5-way is at (4) it's same as the above, PLUS the Middle pup parallel, which fattens it back up a bit.
When the 5-way is at (1), (2), and (3) are unaffected "stock" tones.

Let us know how you go. You won't need another Strat...but I can't help myself, there's always another color :D


Fender Hot Noiseless would be actually another candidate for my upgrade! I just was cooled down by some mixed opinions I read around.. I now am aware of the STK-S4 kit, thanks!
Do you think it has any meaning to use a p/p pot to split these PUPs, I mean both the hot noiseless and the S4?
The Chromacaster is something completely new to my ear. I'll have to read about it :oops:


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Post subject: Re: Would you help me to improve my '91 Strat?
Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 7:48 am
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Emopunk wrote:
Do you think it has any meaning to use a p/p pot to split these PUPs, I mean both the hot noiseless and the S4?
The Chromacaster is something completely new to my ear. I'll have to read about it :oops:


No push/pull split needed or advised. Both STK-S4 and Hot Noiseless (can't split this) are about 10K, they are performance output single coil tone Strat pickups, best working as they are. Those you have a premium noiseless single coil sound. When you use them with a Chromocaster, that's when they gets funky mojo.
Personally I would want at least 6.3K on a split, that means a minimum 12.6K pickup, and then you're messing with it's fundamental design to perform harmonically as a stacked pickup. Splitting a pickup is a trick option on most, as it was designed for the tone as a whole un-split. A few good full size Humbuckers would split into a nice single coil tone, one I'm happy with it's split tone is the Dimarzio Tone Zone DP155

That's a good point... anyone know of any other full sized humbuckers they are happy as a great single coil tone with it split in their Strat?

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