Is the Mexi Strat an H-S-S?
Why yes it is.
Semihollowbodies can actually be played in a pretty loud environment with a good bit of gain. They have a solid block of wood in the middle that the pickups are mounted in. The top and back are thick plywood and don't resonate like an acoustic guitar top. The hollow "wings" are more for looks than sound, though they do resonate somewhat. I've sat around playing an unplugged semihollowbody a lot. You can hear it better than a solid guitar like an LP or Tele, but it's very quiet. The reverse is true, you can make it feed back more easily but it's still much less sensitive to feedback than a hollowbody. Stay out of the direct cone of sound from the speaker and it'll probably be OK.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Why yes it is.
I've got a guitar with the same basic design, but H-H config. Same body style and same scale length as the Strat. I have some Guitar Fetish P-90s in it. The "Mean 90s". The bridge can get nice and nasty, ala Keith Richards in the Midnight Rambler. I've not played much heavier than that, but I can attest to a nice keef type bite. They did fit in my Humbucker hole in the guitar. I had to trim a slightly bigger hole in the pick guard, but it really doesn't matter with your config.
I doubt that P90's will fit in the Neck position unless modifications are made to at least the pick guard and perhaps the pick-up hole in the guitar itself. Not unless the P90s you speak of are a lot different shape.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Hi, you can't get those pups into a Jag, and I would have suggested Jazzmaster if I had thought that even the Mascis-type pups would do your sound, or come out and make room for others. No matter, Jazzmaster wasn't in your question.
A Toronado was once made with Fender White Dove-or-something pups - they could come out and better P90's subbed in.
Here's the original 1998 Toronado with Atomic Humbuckers - ours, and I think they're explosive enough to keep onboard.
And here's a ready made Tele with Black Doves. All I recall is that picky players preferred Gibson's original P90 soapbars.
If that MIM Strat is a recent Standard model and not a classic or a re-issue, you could change the pickguard to a SSH (Single/Single/Humbucker) at put in a choice of different strength pickups - I'd try what I suggest at the bottom of post, and the Alnico II true humbucker at the bridge, and expect to sound a bit like Slash. So, wait to see pic at bottom.
When I build a Strat with a bucker in the bridge, or both buckers, I stick with the string spacings or pole spaces that Gibson dictates for want of better knowledge? Gibson and Seymour make a pickup for each position, separately, but I've moved them around without consequences, turned them around backwards, done all kinds of odd things to be different.
I will try to post a pic of what type of body routing you might expect in a later MIM Standard, which will let you put a HB size as-is or with very little, and I don't think ANY body modification. They aren't exactly swimming pools which is easy.
The other thing to NOT worry about, is that if you put a Phat Cat or Fat Bastard with a humbucker, they will not go out of phase, or thin and nasal in any position. The humbucker would cancel hum, or most of it, properly. If you are thinking of one of these P90's types at your bridge, and you keep the single middle, make sure it is not the reverse wound reverse polarity Fat, so it matches or compliments, and cancels hum with the existing stock RWRP sitting in the stock Strat.
If you came across a normal Tele, you could slide in a set of EMG's w/their electronics kit without trouble & sound good.
In the end, here's what it comes down to with the modern MIM Std. Strat, you get SSH routing, so one bridge humbucker. I still don't see a problem - you could put a SD JB Jr. in the neck position for more than enough power at that position.
Disregard the green vintage SSS and black HSH special bodies and note the SSH white and SSH MIM Std. in Blizzard Pearl.
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
if not getting an actual Jerry Jones-type electric sitar, then this thread should have gone directly to either a Tele or the more expensive Jazzmaster. as for pups, a P90 is not really thin and biting, it has more midrange and output that most Fender single coils, and not as much high end. it sounds raw and edgy (but not thin) with body. compared to a humbucker, it does have more high end. but we don't really go to 'buckers for high-end, do we?
so I have these:
recent version of my beatercaster with P90
same beatercaster with Tele pup (old pic/configuration) and Lite Ash Tele with Seymour Duncan Tele pups
if I want an Eastern sound in a Tele, I would go with maple fret board, Tele with a good set of alnico Tele pups, use some crunchy OD and work it with some finger buzz.
FWIW, this is also thin, quasi-biting and definitely has as Eastern vibe. but I only recommend it to someone with other main guitars, as it's a bit of a specialty item:
Eastwood Ichiban with notorious Jazzmaster style bridge/trem (all snap/no sustain), and mini-HBs (more high end) -- sounds more Eastern than Tele, cheaper than a real Jazzmaster:
-=tension & release=-
for single coil guitars in my opinion and experience a strat is one of the most versatile guitars. it can play many styles.
with pickup changes it's range is extended. get the best one you can afford and that will be perfect. a tube amp will help you achieve that squeezed bite you want.
