Back to bridge Single coil

[Demon Dave]

After a nice 2013 Sg Standard and a great 2019 LP Classic came in, I started to think to pull out on the original Single coil on my 2001 american strat.
I bought it from a guy, who replaced the original bridge SC, with a Di Marzio Paf Pro, more than ten years ago, so I never heard it's real voice. Ok I set a push/push pot to split the HB, but I know it is not the same. My luthier at that time, suggest to leave as it is now, but I want the look and the sound of a real Strat.
What my forum says about?
Thanks
David

 

[Fenderbaum]

entirely up to you. You just need a pickup, a new pickguard and a soldering iron.

 

[mad axe man]

absolutely i would...love me a bridge single coil

 

[Murdog]

I'm not a big fan of the HSS configuration, I prefer the SSS myself. If I want the hum bucking sound I just grab a different guitar.

 

[blacktuesday]

If you think you'd use it, why not? You already have the two guitars with bridge humbuckers. Personally I like the single coil on my bridge, and gets a lot of use, and have the LP for when I want the humbuckers.

 

[Stratstrangler]

Have humbuckers in your other two, I'd definitely put a Fender single coil bridge pup in the 2001. My 2001 has the stock pups and knowledgeable Fender fans say they were one of Fender's best sounding pickups. I use my bridge often with its dedicated tone knob rolled back.

Stratstrangler

 

[thegrasshopper]

I'd put the single coil for sure... I went through the same situation some time ago, and never regretted. One thing you may want to bare in mind is what type of pickup are you installing... perhaps you would like a hot on (plenty of bass response), so the transition from the humbucker is not too drastic... But it is a matter of taste of course... For hot pickups I would recommend Fender Custom Shop Fat50 or Fender Custom Shop Texas Special

As @Stratstrangler pointed out, It would be a good idea to have a dedicated tone pot for the bridge pickup, since you might find it a bit harsh, compared to a humbucker. You can start trying capacitors from 0.047 to 0.1 uF

 

[jvin248]

.

Buy a loaded SSS pickguard and swap. Keep the HSS pickguard for someday if you want to try it again or sell the guitar you can go back to stock. Then move your SSS pickguard to the next chassis. Since you need to solder a loaded pickguard to the ground and jack anyway, make sure to replace the two wires to the jack with shielded cable and you'll cut a lot of noise.

One of my Strats I converted over and kept the same pickguard. You need to cut a small spacer to fit but then you can use traditional or Hendrix-angle single coils. this Strat has been modded a hundred different ways until I realized I just hated the humbucker in there. It was also redundant with other HH guitars I had. So I took it to classic SSS.

Or just buy a reverse slotted pickguard like I did for my other Strat. This one I bought used as HSS and replaced it all.

Both are wired with the Armstrong Blender mod. Keeps the classic SSS tones for why to have a Strat around in the first place, plus adds all the extra fun as you dial through PAF into hot Super Strat HSH.

 

[MT Poteet]

I'm not a fan of humbuckers in Strats, however I do have a Tele with a humbucker in the neck position that I love.
I would go back to sss.

 

[Audiowonderland]

Build another guard with the single coil setup you want. This is an entirely reversible change. Don't like it? No harm, no foul

 

[The_Whale]

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[Phrankenstrat]

It's your guitar. Do what you want. I'm a HSS guy. I would personally leave it. All but one of my SSS Strats has been converted to HSS. The one SSS I still have never gets played. But I also hate noisy pickups so I'm thinking of putting DiMarzio Areas in it to make it more playable.

 

[Slacker G]

I'll chose sound over looks anytime. I have HSS configurations in most of my Strats that get played the most..

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

If it started life as an SSS then putting it back to stock should be no big deal.

I would suggest, however, ensuring you have a well-matched set of single coils and putting a RWRP in the middle if you use P2 and or P4 a lot. If you don't, three regular single coils will do.

I would suggest either the Fender pickup the guitar originally came with, a complete set of new Fenders (or indeed a loaded pickguard). My SSS has SD SSL-1s and I love them.

 

[nickmsmith]

That depends on the single coil and humbucker in question. There are versions of either I’d like a lot, or not so much.

 

[StratUp]

If it's the right humbucker, then splitting it comes awfully close to a single coil sound in my experience.

I'm also not all that fond of the sound of a single coil in the bridge.

But, if you have other humbucker guitars then why not? Variety is fun.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

My HSS has a SD Little 59 / Custom trembucker in the bridge and SD SSL-1s in the middle and neck. If I was doing it again, I'd put a RWRP in the neck not the middle:

P1 - bridge full humbucker;
P2 - bridge north (slug) coil plus middle (auto coil split) (hum canceling as the middle us a "south");
P3 - middle only (a "south up" at present);
P4 - middle plus neck (currently not hum canceling but would be if I put a RWRP in the neck);
P5 - neck only (currently a "south up" but if it switched it to a RWRP it would be a "north up").

If you split leaving the south (screw) coil active, the RWRP should go in the middle.

 

[RL21980]

Not a humbucker in a strat guy and I barely ever use the bridge by itself. I just need it sufficiently strident to make a nice straty quacky 2 position.

 

[Demon Dave]

What I'm about to do, is to put back the original 2001 single coil bridge p-up, to have it back in stock condition.
Anyway I have another strat, a 1986 contemporary with a single Humbucker in the bridge

 

[Demon Dave]

This one