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Replacing pickups

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(@lion2)
Trusted Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 33
Topic starter  

Hello Im planning on replacing the pickups on my Squier affinity strat with these:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Seymour-Duncan-SCR1-Cool-Rails-Pickup?sku=300160
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Seymour-Duncan-SHR1-Hot-Rail-Stacked-Single-Coil-Pickup?sku=300300

My question is, where should those pickups best be placed? (Bridge, middle or neck)


   
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(@jackss565)
Reputable Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 233
 

SCR 1 in the neck, other one in the middle.


   
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(@trguitar)
Famed Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 3709
 

You will note that the SHR1 comes in a neck and bridge model so order the appropriate one. I think the other pickup would sound great in the middle. I have a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail in my strat at the bridge as well as one in my Squire Telecaster in the bridge position. Turns them into a different animal. :twisted:

"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --


   
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(@greybeard)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5840
 

Have you considered the new SHPR-1 P-Rail - a combination of single coil, humbucker and P90 all in one humbucker sized package?

I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
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(@lion2)
Trusted Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 33
Topic starter  

Thanks for the advice everyone.

BTW Greybeard, those pickups seem really cool, but I want something that fits into current pickup slots. Im doing this to learn more about the innards of guitar and right now Im not willing to start drilling holes to fit a humbucker sized pickup. However when I fell more comfortable and daring in the future I will definitely consider those!


   
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(@lion2)
Trusted Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 33
Topic starter  

Ok everyone, thanks for the advice again. I've bought the pickups and installed them. I only replaced the bridge pickup, but will also replace the rest in the future. Now I'm thinking of replacing the Volume and Tone Pots on my guitar. I've read that single coil pickups do better with 250K pots and Humbuckers do better with 500k pots. Now the confusing part is that looking at fenders wiring diagrams for my squier strat, it shows that all pots are 500k( http://www.squierguitars.com/pdf/diagrams/SquierSTRATFromSTRA5C5.pdf ). That totally contradicts what I've read in several places. I've also heard of pots greater than 500k.

So what I want to know if it is worth it to replace the pots. I've also read that squiers come with lower quality electronics, so will better pots give me better tone? What pots do you guys recommend for the Seymore Duncan (hot rails and cool rails )pickups?


   
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(@hyperborea)
Prominent Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 827
 

I wouldn't bother replacing them unless they are giving you a problem or at least you are in there anyways. The tone pots don't carry any of the signal that you are putting out of the guitar.

The signal that travels through a tone pot is signal that you are discarding. A tone pot in conjunction with a capacitor throws away some of the high frequencies. It is a low pass filter - it lets low frequencies pass through and discards higher frequencies. The value of the pot together with the value of the capacitor determines what frequencies get thrown away. For the same value of capacitor a higher tone pot resistance will throw away signal at a higher frequency and so sound brighter than a circuit with a lower resistance pot. They may have used a 500K pot on the Squier because the pickups may not have as good a high frequency response and they didn't want them to sound muddy.

The volume pot will carry signal that are putting out of the guitar but even then I don't think that there's much in the way of tonal "badness" that one pot will have compared to another unless the pot is scratchy or making bad contact. Personally, I'd wait for that to happen before I swapped them unless, as I said earlier, you are in there for other stuff anyways.

Pop music is about stealing pocket money from children. - Ian Anderson


   
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