Electric Guitars

[Muddslide]

I've seen this mod done before and wonder at its utility. Not that the Strat can't be a great, versatile guitar with only two pups (and here I'm talking about two single coils--not a double 'bucker "fat" Strat.)

On the recent "Let's see your #1s" thread, at post #116, a forumite named J-E-M shows a pic of his one and only electric, which is a gorgeous creamy Strat with gold anodized pickguard and just the neck and bridge single coils. He said it covered all the bases he needs a guitar for.

I think Robbie Robertson (of The Band) also had a cople of Strats set up this way.

Has anyone done this, or played a Strat with this configuration? It seems cool, but I also wonder what would get lost in the process and what the benefits--if any--would be for doing this, aside from fewer pickup selections.

[peskypesky]

the benefit, for some people, would be that their pick won't get hung up on the middle pickup's polepieces.

Richie Blackmore lowered his middle pickup as low as it could go. His Signature Model has no middle pickup, just a dummy:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guita...lectric-guitar

What you lose are the 3 tones that come from positions 2, 3 and 4. Since most Strats have a reverse-wind middle pickup to reduce hum, you would lose that benefit (which you get in positions 2 and 4).

Positions 2 and 4 are also the pickup combinations that give the Strat its famous "quack" tone. This is caused by the two pickups being out-of-phase.

[photon9]

I have a 2 P90 Stratosonic. Does that count? It's great.
Super fun. Great sound. Looks cool. Love it!

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by peskypesky

the benefit, for some people, would be that their pick won't get hung up on the middle pickup's polepieces.

Richie Blackmore lowered his middle pickup as low as it could go. His Signature Model has no middle pickup, just a dummy:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guita...lectric-guitar

What you lose are the 3 tones that come from positions 2, 3 and 4. Since most Strats have a reverse-wind middle pickup to reduce hum, you would lose that benefit (which you get in positions 2 and 4).

Positions 2 and 4 are also the pickup combinations that give the Strat its famous "quack" tone. This is caused by the two pickups being out-of-phase.

No, the pickups are NOT out of phase. They get their phase-cancellation from the fact that they read different point on the string at at vibrating at a different radius. It's the same effect that give full-size humbuckers their midrange phase-y-ness/creaminess/muddiness. If they were out of phase, they would sound so anemic and thin that many would think they were broken.

In a 2-pickup Strat/Tele/LP Special/etc., you can use a reverse-wound/reverse-polarity neck PU to get hum-cancelling with both PU's on.

[Wyatt]

Originally Posted by peskypesky

the benefit, for some people, would be that their pick won't get hung up on the middle pickup's polepieces.

Richie Blackmore lowered his middle pickup as low as it could go. His Signature Model has no middle pickup, just a dummy:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guita...lectric-guitar

What you lose are the 3 tones that come from positions 2, 3 and 4. Since most Strats have a reverse-wind middle pickup to reduce hum, you would lose that benefit (which you get in positions 2 and 4).

Positions 2 and 4 are also the pickup combinations that give the Strat its famous "quack" tone. This is caused by the two pickups being out-of-phase.

No, the pickups are NOT out of phase. They get their phase-cancellation from the fact that they read different point on the string at at vibrating at a different radius. It's the same effect that give full-size humbuckers their midrange phase-y-ness/creaminess/muddiness. If they were out of phase, they would sound so anemic and thin that many would think they were broken.

In a 2-pickup Strat/Tele/LP Special/etc., you can use a reverse-wound/reverse-polarity neck PU to get hum-cancelling with both PU's on.

[billybilly]

I don't know, seems like a disservice to yourself. Get a tele.

[Muddslide]

Originally Posted by billybilly

I don't know, seems like a disservice to yourself. Get a tele.

Aw, I'm a Tele man all the way, actually. Always have a Tele. I like Strats too, and own a cheap one now that is a lot of fun, but for me when it comes to classic solidbody electrics I'm

Tele>Les Paul>Strat

[bubkus_jones]

Richie Blackmore didn't seem to have a problem with a 2 pickup Strat, and Yngwie only recently started using the middle pickup.

[Radar-Love]

I own something similar to a 2-pickup Strat.

It's a Fender Lead II ...

[Muddslide]

^^^ I remember those well. They came with a few different pickup configurations. Roger Miller from Mission of Burma used one almost exclusively and I remember seeing Bono playing one with U2 on Live at Red Rocks. Pretty cool little gits.

[McCain]

Mod originally posted by Honeyiscool:

Swap the neck&middle pu's for a no solder mod. The 5-4-3 positions will sound like a 2 pu strat. Bridge/Neck.

Switch control is now:
5.B
4.B/N
3.N
2.N/M
1.M

I think that's right.

[Radar-Love]

Originally Posted by Muddslide

^^^ I remember those well. They came with a few different pickup configurations.

Yes. There were 3 different Fender Lead models: Lead I, Lead II, and Lead III.

The Lead I had a single bridge humbucker. Lead II had two single coils. Lead III had two humbuckers. They didn't sell well and were discontinued rather quickly.

I bought my red Lead II with maple fingerboard as new-old-stock in 1987. About a week later I bought a used-but-like-new black Lead I (like the one below) with a rosewood fingerboard for dirt cheap -- $100 if memory serves.

Roger Miller from Mission of Burma used one almost exclusively and I remember seeing Bono playing one with U2 on Live at Red Rocks. Pretty cool little gits.

Eric Clapton played a Lead II for a bit in the early 1980s. He ended up donating it to the Hard Rock Cafe in London soon afterwards. It may have been the first guitar he ever donated.


http://travelingwilbury.files.wordpr...uitar-blog.jpg

[BluesTuesday]

[D Carroll]

Originally Posted by Radar-Love

Eric Clapton played a Lead II for a bit in the early 1980s. He ended up donating it to the Hard Rock Cafe in London soon afterwards. It may have been the first guitar he ever donated.


http://travelingwilbury.files.wordpr...uitar-blog.jpg

http://www.hardrock.com/locations/ca...91&MIBenumID=3

It was the first guitar donated to the hard rock

[lz4005]

I've been wanting to do a two pickup strat for a while now, with extra switching for series/parallel/out-of-phase options when both pickups are on. Sort of a mashup of a strat, duo-sonic II and a tele with the 4 way switch mod.

[fretless]

[cephus]

Aesthetically they fail. I am normally a form over function guy. I have an hh strat and I love it. But the 2 singles look effeminate. I hate myself for being so shallow.

[vintage clubber]

Surf Monster!

[lz4005]

Originally Posted by cephus

the 2 singles look effeminate.

How is having a tele-style setup (two singles, one angled, one not) on a strat effeminate looking?

[ashtray]

2 pickup Strat? Actually, this is more of a Strat bodied Tele.