Thumpalumpacus
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On a 3SC Strat, 1, 2, and 4 are the positions I love. Neck-only gives the SRVaughanabee sound, very juicy and full of body, and 2 & 4 are variations on Hendrix tone which I love. In the project I have going on now, I use the middle position (I know, yikes!) for some solos.I think that a 490T would work perfectly well as a Stratocaster's bridge pup!
I was sitting here thinking about the whole matter, when yet another reason why I haven't either swapped or modded my current Strat to get that bucker-in-the-bridge thing going...
It's because I'm such a sucker for the neck pup tone of an unpinned Stratocaster! Honestly: while playing that particular instrument, I'm on the neck pup a good 90% of the time, though I also switch out to the second or third position to take advantage of the other pickups...
But I always end up right where I started-- on the neck pickup only.
There's something so... I dunno, what would be a good word? Endearing? About that slightly quavering voice of a Stratocaster in that position... especially while running it through my HRD 410 amp with a lot of reverb...
Something priceless about that sound. Some people seem to hate it, but I really do care for it quite a lot...
A humbucker in the bridge would probably persuade me to swap out settings more often, though. And I've got a buddy who owns an HSS Strat that also features coil splitting on the humbucker.
Funny: even as a single, a humbucker sure doesn't sound like that native single-coil Stratocaster!
--R![]()
A little reverb goes a long ways with any Strat I've ever played. It's a great sound and I'd use it if I had need for it.
I want a 490 at the bridge precisely because being a low-wind, the volume difference is not huge, but enough to kick a sweaty amp in the ass. I don't want distortion at that point, just more grind. Flip it and get it, y'know? And punch the pedal if it ain't enough.
I'd definitely go for a full-sized humbucker, myself and my own tastes. SC-sized humbuckers still don't "sample" the breadth of string and still sound less humbucky to my ears. They do, however, kill the hum, so there's that.
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