Someone with an HH Strat!

[line6man]

...Whip out your rulers or calipers and tell me how far the center of each humbucker is from the bottom of the neck pocket, or the 12th fret, or the nut. :blob7:

I can't seem to find any info on pickup placement, and I know it varies a lot. I figure I'll route my guitar for whatever spacing Warmoth uses, if I can figure out what that spacing is.

 

[GearBoxTy]

Alright...

On "Felix The Strat", my 1987 Fender American Standard Stratocaster that has a Seymour Duncan Jazz humbucker in the neck and Seymour Duncan Custom humbucker in the bridge using a Warmoth pickguard that is routed for H-x-H, I got the following measurements from the edge of the 21st fret using my digital calipers:

1.760" - outside edge of the 21st fret to the gap between the coils of the Seymour Duncan Jazz (SH-2) humbucker
5.768" - outside edge of the 21st fret to the gap between the coils of the Seymour Duncan Custom  (SH-5) humbucker

Here is a fairly crappy picture of the guitar:

 

[Corey P.]

If you had access to an H X H pickguard that'd make for a handy template...

 

[MikeW]

... bridge using a Warmoth pickguard that is routed for H-x-H ...

Just out of curiousity, what routs did you get for the pickguard? Did you use Fat Humbucker for the neck and Trembucker for the bridge positions? I'm considering doing a similar strat, but can't figure out whether I need a trembucker for the neck position or the regular humbucker rout.

Thx!

 

[line6man]

I haven't checked the bridge pickup measurement yet, but Ty's neck pickup measurement seems really far from the neck pocket. The showcase bodies appear to have neck pickups closer to the neck pockets.

 

[stubhead]

As an aside from someone who doesn't have a HH Strat, I do remember there are periodic to-dos about Warmoth spacing their bridge pickups a little further from the bridge than is... ordinary? Customary? If you have some calipers, you could just hit the local music shop... carry a clipboard and wear a uniform, you can get away with anything.

 

[line6man]

I checked out the proportions of an image from the showcase, and if I apply them to the width of my humbucker template, I get 0.43" from the neck pocket to the top of the neck humbucker. (Plus or minus, for the pixels I was off, trying to measure the image.) That sounds about right.

 

[GearBoxTy]

... bridge using a Warmoth pickguard that is routed for H-x-H ...

Just out of curiousity, what routs did you get for the pickguard? Did you use Fat Humbucker for the neck and Trembucker for the bridge positions? I'm considering doing a similar strat, but can't figure out whether I need a trembucker for the neck position or the regular humbucker rout.

Thx!

All I did was order a W/B/W pickguard from Warmoth that was H-x-H with V-x-T controls and the 5-way blade switch cutouts. I didn't specify what humbuckers would be mounted on the pickguard; I assumed this was a pretty "standard" thing.

The pickup routing for the early American Standard Stratocasters was a kind of shallow "universal" route so I did need to route a bit deeper to accommodate the pickup height adjustment screws and humbucker wings.  Otherwise, everything mounted like a dream!

 

[Cagey]

The pickup routing for the early American Standard Stratocasters was a kind of shallow "universal" route so I did need to route a bit deeper to accommodate the pickup height adjustment screws and humbucker wings.  Otherwise, everything mounted like a dream!

I've always wondered what the point was of the lowered mounting flanges on humbuckers, along with the 18" long screws to tie into them. WTF? If it weren't for those, you wouldn't need those deep routes on the sides of the things for clearance of fasteners that don't need to be so deep by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[MikeW]

... bridge using a Warmoth pickguard that is routed for H-x-H ...

Just out of curiousity, what routs did you get for the pickguard? Did you use Fat Humbucker for the neck and Trembucker for the bridge positions? I'm considering doing a similar strat, but can't figure out whether I need a trembucker for the neck position or the regular humbucker rout.

Thx!

All I did was order a W/B/W pickguard from Warmoth that was H-x-H with V-x-T controls and the 5-way blade switch cutouts. I didn't specify what humbuckers would be mounted on the pickguard; I assumed this was a pretty "standard" thing.

That's sort of what I assumed too given that the sizes of humbuckers/trembuckers all seem pretty close. I'm thinking of doing an HxH strat with a JB trembucker in the bridge and a Pearly Gates humbucker in the neck. Sounds like just the standard routs will work fine.

Thanks again.

 

[line6man]

The pickup routing for the early American Standard Stratocasters was a kind of shallow "universal" route so I did need to route a bit deeper to accommodate the pickup height adjustment screws and humbucker wings.  Otherwise, everything mounted like a dream!

I've always wondered what the point was of the lowered mounting flanges on humbuckers, along with the 18" long screws to tie into them. WTF? If it weren't for those, you wouldn't need those deep routes on the sides of the things for clearance of fasteners that don't need to be so deep by any stretch of the imagination.

Yeah, I've always wondered the same. Seems like a bit of poor engineering that we've stuck with over the years. Much like six-point trems. :blob7:

 

[line6man]

Ok, since it has become apparent that there is absolutely no standard, I picked a placement and routed it this evening. :blob7: