Slow Hand and Irish Tour - Mix & Match?

[Philly Q]

Less than a week since I bought my Robert Cray Strat, and already I'm thinking about new pickups  :roll: .  No rush though, just a bit of long-term planning (I really need to rein in my spending for a couple of months).

The stock pickups are very nice for clean/bluesy tones, but I crave a little extra power, without losing the basic Strattishness - so straight away I'm looking at Slow Hands or Irish Tours.

I like a warm, singing, maybe even slightly soft neck tone - which says SH.  But I prefer the bridge to be bright, grindy, a little more aggressive - which says IT.  So I'm thinking some kind of IT/SH combo (I originally put "SH/IT combo" there...  :| ), but what middle pickup will work best?  I like that hollow, funky tone in the bridge+middle position - and at first I thought calibrated ITs... but maybe a SH middle would tame any hint of harshness from the bridge IT?  Finally, I'm going to change the switch to give me neck+bridge in one position, sacrificing either middle-only or neck+middle, so positions 3 and 4 are lower priority than 1, 2 and 5.


So, my questions are:

1. Will a Slow Hand/Irish Tour combo work well in terms of output? The DC resistances match, but I know there's more to it than that.

2. Which middle pickup will give me the most quack in position 2?

3. Any other thoughts?  All suggestions appreciated.

[blue]

only thought i would give is don't sacrifice the middle pickup!  unlike most people i find it's the one i use the most.  i have a set of irish tours and reckon they can do pretty much any strat sound you want, but of course i haven't tried any of the others. as i'm sure you know people tend to recommend the apaches as the perfect strat set, as far as i can tell they all sound great, there's just slight differences in sound.

[gingataff]

As a middle pickup on it's own the IT is very very good. Mine's with a Nailbomb in the bridge so I can't be so certain about the inbetween sound. However I always imagine lower output pickups are more quacky, I may be completely wrong on this though :oops:

[Twinfan]

Less than a week since I bought my Robert Cray Strat...

You've bought another guitar???  I thought I was bad!!!  :lol:

Rather than sacrifice the standard 1-5 pickup selections, have you thought about having a push-pull pot installed to give you the bridge+neck option you require?  There must be a way of getting all 3 pickups simultaneously that way too...

[Twinfan]

If a push-pull added the bridge pickup to all selections on the 5-way, that would be a great option...

[sgmypod]

yeah is a way..did mine with a mini toggle

[Philly Q]

You've bought another guitar??? I thought I was bad!!!

Yep  :oops: .  See here.  That's 3 this year (so far).  

MUST.STOP.GAS.

Rather than sacrifice the standard 1-5 pickup selections, have you thought about having a push-pull pot installed to give you the bridge+neck option you require?  There must be a way of getting all 3 pickups simultaneously that way too...

Yeah, I know how to use a push-pull to add the bridge (or neck) pickup to whatever's selected on the 5-way.  So you can get neck+bridge or all 3, in addition to the existing 5 selections.

But that's too fiddly for me, and I really dislike push-pull pots.  5 different sounds is enough.  I have a wiring diagram for the Classic Player 50s Strat, which has neck+bridge in place of neck+middle in position 4, and I'll probably use that setup.

* * *

Any more thoughts on Slow Hand vs. Irish Tour?

* * *

[38thBeatle]

I can't compare the ITs and the SHs Philly but the SHs are pretty darn good for providing a nice warm Strat tone. I probably am no help at all but thought that I'd say it anyway.

[Philly Q]

I can't compare the ITs and the SHs Philly but the SHs are pretty darn good for providing a nice warm Strat tone. I probably am no help at all but thought that I'd say it anyway.

Not at all, Steve, any info from someone who owns either model is useful.

I am leaning towards the SH middle, 'cause I favour a warm tone overall and I figure it might help give me those Robin Trower middle pickup tones.  If only I could play like him.

[Lizard on Ice]

I wired my Mothers Milk'ed Strat with a blender pot in place of the second tone knob.  It does the Neck/bridge combo, which gives a nice tele-esque sound.  If you don't mind only having a master tone, I'd say that's the way to go.

[_tom_]

Phil, do you have a diagram which would let me have neck+bridge together on position 5 (switch pointing down, in the typical bridge position), whilst having a push/pull pot or 2 way switch so I can choose between neck+bridge or standard bridge by itself on that position of the switch?


edit - either that, or position 4 to be neck+bridge instead of middle+bridge, I usually find that position too twangy so this might actually be a better option.

I think I just explained that really badly :lol:

[Philly Q]

Just to confuse things Tom, what I call position 1 you call position 5 and so on  :lol: !  I don't know which is "right" - I'll use your numbering.

Here's a diagram which will sort-of do your first option - it uses a push-pull on the volume control to add the bridge pickup to whatever's selected on the 5-way.  So in position 1 (neck) you'd get neck+bridge.  

To get the option you want, neck+bridge in position 5, you could connect the neck pickup to the push-pull instead of the bridge (so it would add the neck pickup to whatever's selected on the 5-way).

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/schematics/switch_f_bp.html

For your second option, I have a Fender wiring diagram which uses a double-wafer "superswitch" to give neck+bridge instead of middle+neck in position 2.  I'm sure it could be adapted to give the wiring you want in position 4, but I have to admit I really don't understand those superswitches  :( , I need a diagram.  Phil King could probably tell us how to do it.

I don't have a link for my superswitch diagram, but I can email it if you like.

[_tom_]

:lol: I have no idea how to use a superswitch, I only just manage normal ones! I might try the push/pull though, although I've never used a push/pull pot before, are they fiddly or relatively easy to use? The volume knob sticking up could get annoying, maybe a 2 way toggle would be better, if its possible to modiy that diagram so that the bridge is toggle-switch-able?

[Philly Q]

Push-pulls are easy enough to wire, but a little tricky to use - especially on a Strat, because you don't get much grip on those sloping sides of a Strat knob, especially if your fingers are sweaty.  They work best with a Tele-style knurled knob.

Alternatively, you could try to get hold of a push-push pot, which is much easier.  AFAIK only Yamaha make them (they must be patented or something), but you can get them from Warmoth:

http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/parts/parts.cfm?fuseaction=include_potentiometers

It's dead easy to use a mini-switch instead of a push-pull.  On the Duncan diagram, just think of the push-pull pot as two separate components, a pot and a DPDT switch, the wiring's exactly the same.  It's that simple.  The only downside is deciding where to put it and then having to drill your scratchplate.  

Personally I find both push-pull pots and mini-switches fiddly and annoying and don't bother with them - but I do have series/parallel switches on my SG-Xs, because the switches were already there.