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The Pickup Place / Re: SSS Strat Pickup Combinations

« on: June 19, 2025, 02:38:44 AM »

You’re compensating a bit based on the position with the 61 in the neck and the slightly fatter 54 Pro in the middle. That approach has some merit as opposed to going weak in the middle in order get ultra skinny 2 and 4 tones but sacrificing position 3 in the process.

I just got a Virtual Solo to put in the bridge with a 54 Pro in the middle and Heavy Blues 2 in the neck but don’t have a guitar ready yet. I plan on my usual tricks to maximize brightness for 2 & 4 and to defeat the dummy coil on the neck pickup when the tone is rolled up.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Squier Mustang Classic Vibe 60s – Pickup Advice Needed

« on: May 21, 2025, 11:36:13 AM »

Maybe this will help:

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The Pickup Place / Re: Squier Mustang Classic Vibe 60s – Pickup Advice Needed

« on: May 20, 2025, 11:27:35 AM »

in that case that would be the equivalent to 115k/7.8n.

The math is more complicated than that.

it would limit the operation of the tone control

This.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Squier Mustang Classic Vibe 60s – Pickup Advice Needed

« on: May 16, 2025, 12:38:29 PM »

PS: I found a b-stock "Vintage Blues", and I ordered it...

It’s my favorite stacked vintage output pickup for the bridge position, though you’ll probably want to come up with a scheme to reduce the top-end chime for distorted applications.

In a strat I’ll use a 5-way super switch and add up to two capacitor/resistor pairs in addition to a tone control in order to manage the top end of a vintage output bridge pickup when it’s being used by itself. The last vintage output strat I did has a Lace Sensor Hot Gold Neck in the bridge with 6.8n/270k, 1n/200k, and 33n on a 250k tone control with a 47k series resistor, also dedicated to position 1. This smoothed out the top end nicely without any pronounced resonances. Position 1 is primarily used for dirty tones but it still sounds good with clean tones though all the chime is virtually eliminated.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Squier Mustang Classic Vibe 60s – Pickup Advice Needed

« on: May 15, 2025, 04:31:49 PM »

I would also take a look at the Virtual Vintage Blues. The Alnico 5 magnets provide more dynamic range and punch while also allowing for a less aggressive wind to provide a sparkly top end compared to the Injector Neck and HB2.

However…

Seeing that you raised a concern about brightness, the HB2 might be the best choice, or perhaps even the Virtual Solo which also has the performance benefits of Alnico 5 stated earlier.

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The Pickup Place / Re: EC preamp with Areas

« on: May 03, 2025, 01:38:47 PM »

It’s really no different from using a pedal on the floor.

As far as bumping the output is concerned, the Areas are on par with traditional single coils.

That out of the way, the EC mid boost should work as expected. With the possible exception of the Injector Bridge and perhaps Virtual Solo, the Area/Virtual Vintage pickups already run lean so they might sound a little thin. The HS series is supposed to be fatter sounding and may do better. It has been a long time since I heard that particular circuit so consider this little more than hand-waving.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Reply Help me choose next pickup HSH set.

« on: March 31, 2025, 09:42:34 PM »

Nice switching ideas, thanks for sharing.

Thanks. I like yours as well.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Reply Help me choose next pickup HSH set.

« on: March 28, 2025, 12:53:41 PM »

I haven’t found a better split coil sound than a JB. I also find that position 2 quack sounds better when splitting to the outer coil.

My HSH is The Breed Neck in the bridge with a PAF Pro in the neck and a Fast Track 1 in the middle. The switching is as follows:
1: bridge
2: middle
3: bridge and neck inner coils connected in series with a passive filter to reduce bass and midrange.
4: middle and neck outer coils; again, connected in series and filtered.
5: neck or neck in parallel with the bridge. There’s a push-pull on the tone control to add the bridge to the neck, which only works in this position.
All positions are hum-cancelling.

If I had a second HSH it would be as follows, borrowing from things I’m already doing in other guitars:

Bridge: JB/Screamin’ Demon hybrid; JB coil on the outside in parallel with the middle for position 2.

Middle: A traditional single coil, perhaps a True Velvet, but that would depend on what magnets I use in the humbuckers. The middle would only get used in positions 2 & 4. Position 3 would combine bridge and neck humbuckers.

Neck: Screamin’ Demon/Full Shred Neck hybrid; Demon coil on the outside in parallel with the middle for position 4.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Reply Help me choose next pickup HSH set.

« on: March 26, 2025, 03:04:34 PM »

How do you plan on using the middle pickup? If you use it by itself is it in stark contrast with either of the humbuckers, or would you like it to work in harmony with the humbuckers?

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The Pickup Place / Re: SSS Strat Pickup Combinations

« on: March 13, 2025, 01:52:19 AM »

This is just a brief update on the Fast Track 1 in the neck position.

While the pickup produces a good amount of treble it is devoid of chime regardless of which pot values you choose. I had hoped that I could partially split the pickup and combine it with an Area 58 in the middle for position 4 quack. Unfortunately it does not have enough top end to keep from sounding muffled. Favoring the red/black/north coil provides a slightly brighter tone over the white/green/south coil but it was still inadequate. So in place of neck + middle, I am combining the Fast Track 1 with the full humbucker in the bridge, which I find more useable.

I imagine position 4 would sound better using the full pickup with another Fast Track 1 in the middle, though I can’t imagine it will sound as good as a pair of Cruisers which already isn’t my cup of tea. I like the tone of the bridge Cruiser in the neck position by itself, but I don’t care for the diffuse sound that results when you combine it with another pickup. So in keeping with the context of this topic about SSS combinations, I would really only recommend the Fast Track 1 for the bridge position unless you’re willing to forego traditional Strat sounds. I still think it is a good choice if you want single coil-esque sounds that can keep up with a humbucker in an HSS or HSH configuration.

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The Pickup Place / Re: SSS Strat Pickup Combinations

« on: March 07, 2025, 01:41:23 AM »

I’m diggin’ the Fast Track 1 so much that I just swapped out a VVHB2 for one in the neck of my HSS.

I’m in the midst of wiring, so nothing is final, but I’m treating it differently from the way I’m using it in the bridge in terms of loading and voicing.

Because it has so much output and treble it can be sculpted to work with weaker single coils in various ways. And because it has so much output it keeps up with the humbucker in the bridge much better than the VVHB2, saturating much more easily; and like the VVHB2 it isn’t getting muddy.

I also liberated the VV54P from the middle position so that I can use it and the VVHB2 with a Virtual Solo on a future project. The VV54P was replaced with an Area 58, wired so that only the top coil is active for the two quack positions. It is a better match for the screw coil of an A2-loaded JB, also allowing me to split the Fast Track 1 fairly aggressively, though still not completely.

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The Pickup Place / Re: SSS Strat Pickup Combinations

« on: February 18, 2025, 11:50:36 AM »

The 67 is still a bit brighter than the Injector neck with these loads.

Reducing the load on the Injector neck with 500k pots won’t change its resonant frequency. I would instead consider an Area 61 and continue using 250k pots for a more traditional (less pointy) sounding response with the additional desired brightness, adjusting the heights of the pickups to help address the reduction in output if necessary. I intentionally chose the Injector for its warmer top end and output to keep up with the Fast Track 1 for distorted tones.

The exercise of swapping the pickguard for a vintage output set would be to determine whether the guitar was excessively bright, though I don’t believe it is. If it was excessively bright and I wanted the generous amount of chime provided by the vintage output set then I would use a brass block, perhaps changing out the saddles as well depending on the severity.

While the clean tones on this guitar are really nice, I’ll reach for a different guitar if I want the skinny Strat sound. As it is this guitar works well along side other guitars equipped with humbuckers. In a pinch I can plug straight in and get very useable Strat sounds without any adjustments. That’s the beauty of the Fast Track 1. It does an excellent job bridging the chasm between single coils and humbuckers. With the voicing I’ve applied and the values I’ve chosen for the tone control in position 1, it can get downright chunky with it rolled back yet still have enough output to be even with the rest of the positions, from the mid-bass through the low-treble without sounding honky.

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The Pickup Place / Re: SSS Strat Pickup Combinations

« on: February 17, 2025, 01:47:07 PM »

Thanks!

Imagine an Area 61 in the middle position of an average Fender American Standard with 250k pots. I don’t think the guitar is particularly bright for what it is. The Injector Neck without the noise cancelling coil is akin to a more powerful version of the Area 61 with the noise cancelling coil. The load of three 250k pots is 83k, so in the case of position 4 consider it like having a 250k volume with a 250k tone in parallel with a 500k tone instead. This makes the position slightly brighter than with vintage Strat wiring.

I’m doing additional things to optimize each position considering the mismatches between the pickups, as well as voicing the FT1 warmer to work better with distortion, but I think just summarizing the loading is able to paint the general picture.

After this project I’ve come to the realization that the Fast Track 1 is the only single-sized humbucker that I like in the bridge position out of everything I’ve tried, including The Chopper. For anything hotter I prefer a full-sized humbucker.

Just for the sake of comparison I’m toying with the idea of dropping in a pickguard with an Area 67 in the neck, Area 58 in the middle and a Virtual Vintage Blues in the bridge. I’ll be sure to post about it in the event that I do. If the guitar turns out overly bright then an Area 58 in the neck with an Area 61 in the middle and the Injector Neck in the bridge might work better, though I don’t have a spare Area 61 or Injector Neck on hand. (Please disregard; as much as I would like to build another set based on an Injector Neck in the bridge, doing it for the sake of being darker than the other set listed is wrong-headed on my part).

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The Pickup Place / Re: SSS Strat Pickup Combinations

« on: February 11, 2025, 07:56:21 PM »

I ended up using a 500k/250k dual-gang, single-shaft pot for the master tone control. It was the only way I could do everything I needed to do after exhausting all four poles for positions 2 & 4 on the 5-way super switch.

The final tally for the loading:
bridge (Fast Track 1): 110k
bridge & middle: 250k
middle (Area 61): 125k
middle & neck: 100k
neck (Injector Neck): 125k

Position 2 could possibly benefit from a lighter load. A 1 Meg pot for the volume control might make a slight improvement, though I don’t think it’s worth the effort since the Fast Track 1 simply won’t achieve the same result as a single coil. As it is, position 2 sounds good and is definitely useable.

I’m satisfied with the amount of chime for all of the other positions. The Area 61 in noise cancelling mode loaded with the standard 125k was my baseline for matching positions 4 and 5. With the exception of position 2, there was still room to go brighter, so the values chosen were free from the limitation of too little pot resistance; keep in mind that the noise cancelling coils aren’t being used in positions 2 & 4, and the noise cancelling coil on the neck pickup is dependent on the outer tone control that’s only active in position 5.

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The Pickup Place / Re: SSS Strat Pickup Combinations

« on: January 28, 2025, 12:28:41 PM »

I don’t like having the tone up high when playing single coils with much gain, so hum from running the Injector with a compromised dummy coil will never be an issue for me.

I’ve used the Injector Neck in all three positions in various guitars. While it is warmer than a traditional vintage single coil, I have never found it to be lifeless. Of course there are many factors involved that will influence how a pickup sounds, not the least of which being the materials used for the bridge and how you set your amp.