I was pondering a wider neck for my Strat copy & decided instead to go whole hog & build exactly what I want, leaving off what I don't want. Found this sight & now I'm reading & learning. Basically what I plan on is a hard tail Strat with a single coil neck p'up & a P-90 in the middle. No bridge p'up. Compound radius 1 7/8" neck (got big mitts) natural wood finish w/ a light stain & clear pick guard. Switch positions for: each pickup, both in series, both in parallel & a maybe a "kill switch" in case of feedback. My 12 string acoustics have 1 7/8" necks & are very comfortable to play. Haven't totally decided against using a Tele body. No tone or volume controls. I don't gig, I just sit 5 feet in front of a low power tube amp in the bedroom. Really looking forward to this project, it's fun researching woods, hardware bits & wiring diagrams. Anyone done one like this? Any red flags I'm not seeing yet? Sort of an unusual design.
Newbie planning my first build
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Cagey
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I can't imagine not having a bridge pickup, but you wouldn't be the first to not use them.
I'd skip the "kill" switch. If you use a 5 position Strat switch, you can have the 4 pickup combinations you want, and make the 5th the killer. Or, much better still, install a volume control. I can see dumping the tone control, but there are good reasons to be able to attenuate your output a bit sometimes, and knocking it back to zero is essentially a "kill" switch.
I'd skip the "kill" switch. If you use a 5 position Strat switch, you can have the 4 pickup combinations you want, and make the 5th the killer. Or, much better still, install a volume control. I can see dumping the tone control, but there are good reasons to be able to attenuate your output a bit sometimes, and knocking it back to zero is essentially a "kill" switch.
drewfx
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I would definitely go rear route and skip the pickguard. And on a top routed strat, a clear PG wouldn't cover up the control route anyway; IMHO clear PG's are for instruments with a separate control plate, like a tele or J-bass.
And if you want go with a strat with just a switch and no knobs, make sure you get a side jack.
And if you want go with a strat with just a switch and no knobs, make sure you get a side jack.
reluctant-builder
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Cagey said:
Neither can I.
Why do you want to exclude the bridge pickup? I'm just curious as to your reasoning.
Steve St.Laurent
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I agree on the bridge pup - if you just want two pickups I'd go neck/bridge and skip the middle.
Strat Avenger
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Cagey said:
+1
Cagey
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A buddy of mine is a jazz player who rarely ever uses the bridge pickup. But, he installs them anyway. Better to have one and not need it than need one and not have it. As time goes on, I find myself using them less and less, but every once in a while you want that "take no prisoners" kind of raunch that you can really only get out of a hot bridge position humbucker. So, Seymour Duncan developed the Hot Rails pickup. Then everybody who makes pickups copied them. Then Seymour came out with some that weren't quite so overbearing, and called them "Cool Rails".
They're both pretty snazzy pickups, as are their competitor's versions.
They're both pretty snazzy pickups, as are their competitor's versions.
reluctant-builder
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JoeBub said:
What kind of guitars were they? Did you have single-coils or humbuckers in the bridge spot, or something else? I think the best option is a humbucker with a coil tap or any kind of pup you could tap to switch between a double- and single-coil sound. It seems to me like a lack of versatility is what you don't like, not the bridge position itself.
Jusatele
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I have a cool rails in my strat, sweet pickup and does not drive an amp,Cagey said:A buddy of mine is a jazz player who rarely ever uses the bridge pickup. But, he installs them anyway. Better to have one and not need it than need one and not have it. As time goes on, I find myself using them less and less, but every once in a while you want that "take no prisoners" kind of raunch that you can really only get out of a hot bridge position humbucker. So, Seymour Duncan developed the Hot Rails pickup. Then everybody who makes pickups copied them. Then Seymour came out with some that weren't quite so overbearing, and called them "Cool Rails".
They're both pretty snazzy pickups, as are their competitor's versions.
Had maybe a dozen cheapies over the years; Yamaha, Epiphone, B.C. Rich, Squier & some I've forgotten. Some with humbuckers, some w/ singles. Until now I've spent more on acoustic guitars. Got the electric bug again recently but nobody sells what I want off the rack. (string spacing for fingerpicking) so I'm planning to make it piece by piece. Anyway I'm thinking about a bridge single now. With a setting to tie it in with the neck single, like the S1 switch/button on a Strat Deluxe. Found an adjustable Schaller bridge that adjusts out to 2.25" E to E. (bookmarked, not bought) Thinking about all Bubinga. Heavy but I need the weight. If the guitar's moving around I miss notes. Still learning about finishes. Learned there's a million ways to finish a guitar & they're all "the best", especially the 34 step 3 month plans. :icon_biggrin: But it's going to be fun. I'll learn enough to probably do a second or third one down the road; "New & Improved"reluctant-builder said:
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