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Guys,

I was thinking of buying a Strat and dropping a vintage PAF-style bucker in the bridge position to get that early EVH vibe. My questions are:

1) Will a quot;Fat STratquot; readily take a PAF-bucker in the bridge or is there further routing that needs to be done?
2) Which buckers would you go with? A '59? JB?
3) How would it sound if I played in the middle position with a bucker in the bridge and a regualr Strat single coil in the middle? Are the diff pups going to clash?

Thanks all!

1) Yep

2) JB or Custom or whatever quot;matchesquot; the singles best output-wise (but that's just me, dunno what EVH would do)

3) The 'bucker eliminates the quack in position 2 but it'll still be in position 4 (neck amp; mid.) But I don't think EVH is much for quacking.

I love the JB but it is too high powered for Ed's likeing and it does not match the output of your strats single coils.... i'd stick to humbuckers like the 59.... Something along that line... i love the way the 59's have the paper tape and you can see the little wooden block spacer....

A humbucker with the middle pu won't really sound much like the traditional Strat bridge-middle cluck, even if you split the 'bucker. Just a different beast. That's not to say you won't still like the sound, heck, you might even like it better...

But to really Van Halen-ize it, you'd have to slightly slant that bucker...


Originally Posted by ZhangliqunA humbucker with the middle pu won't really sound much like the traditional Strat bridge-middle cluck, even if you split the 'bucker. Just a different beast. That's not to say you won't still like the sound, heck, you might even like it better...

But to really Van Halen-ize it, you'd have to slightly slant that bucker...

I love the out of phase tone i get on some of my strats with added humbuckers in the bridge postion..... it has a nice wah on effect with distortion...... But thru a clean amp it's useless... Just flip the switch to have the bridge and the middle on and it works great.

I would guess Eddie started to slant his humbuckers a little to try and get the poll's of the pickup as close to the e strings as possible... I used to do that on guitars with Vintage Style Fender bridges.... The older style bridges with the wide string spread used to bug me until they released the F spaced Dimarzios and Trembuckers... But even then i think the F space means Floyd not Fender as it is not wide enough still... My parts strat with a Dimarzio and a Gotoh Fender trem has still some wider string spread then the pickup offers... But it is much better then a narrow Gibson spec humbucker....

WhoFan

My advice:

1. get the fat strat (preferably black)
2. drop in a '59 trem spaced
3. don't use single coils
4. go far out and get a 5150
5. put electrical tape all over guitar. spray paint

perfect EVH guitar
How Van Halen are you wanting to go? Which era?

Edward was never much for single coils, so don't bother with those unless you're looking for more variety in your tone.

I'd probably go with a 59 or a CC, especially if you've got the Marshall or 5150 to go along with it.

Id go one better than a fat strat and order yourself a warmoth strat body with some sort of great neck and a kramer headstock, and you could even just route the body for one slanted humbucker...but you dont have to put stripes all over it and go for the total knockoff look, could paint it some nice colour with a flame top or something and that will make it quite a unique kind of guitar. The warmoth stuff is top notch, not real cheap, but top notch, and you can build it to your specs. Ive got a warmoth strat and now a warmoth gecko bass and they are just like picking up top shelf instruments.

As far as pickups go people will have all sorts of opinions, but the things to remember is that Eddie used lower vintage output PAF pickups and had a fair bit of top end in his sound, so for this something like a duncan 59 would be good because its not too hot like a JB or something...but it you want to get reallyl adventurous, go get yourself a rolph PAF clone or something which will just sound spectacular!!!

Then go get yourself a komet 60 head and a quadbox of celestion g12h30's and you will have eddies sound in spades

As far as the bucker and the strat middle position are concerned i think the middle position with the bucker and middle pickup sounds great clean! Depends on the pickups of course, but if you have a 59 or something like that in the bridge, along with a decent strat pickup in the middle (you may want to change them up to duncans too) then it should sound great and still have a little bit of quack, its not all lost when you put buckers in the bridge...there is more than the middle position of a les paul at least!

Thanks for all the info. As far as which EVH-era, I am definitely into the quot;Fair Warningquot; sound. I think it's his best guitar playing.

I'll probably go with a Fat Strat with the middle and neck as singles. That way when I'm not trying to do the EVH thing I can do a poor imitation of Jimi.

I like the 59 or C-5 the best for Fender superstrats. Surprisingly, the Jazz Bridge sounds great in a strat, although it'd be nice if it were offered in a tremspaced version.
Right now, I've got a Jazz B and 2 surfers in mine. The Jazz mates very well with singles, and has a nice punchy tone. Jazz is a terrible name for that pickup, because it sounds nothing like Jazz to me. It's actually like a 59 with a harder attack, so it makes a pickguard sound more like 'straight into wood.'

Custom Custom in the bridge. Check one of those out.

Either a 59' TB in the bridge, or a CC. I have the CC in a double fat strat, and it does suprisingly well...albiet later VH tones. Also, look at the Blues Trembucker...don't let the name fool you....it's a fantastic guitar...a take on the 59' designed especially to beef up trem style guitars, but still sound vintage. There is also always the 78' Model.

Good Luck.

Do we know what EVH was using for the quot;Fair Warningquot; record? Was he still using the Frankenstrat with the '59?

I don`t believe the Frankie had a 59 , from what I`ve read it had an old Gibson PAF . He did put another pickup in it for the `80 tour but I have no idea what it was(you might be able to make it out in my avatar). The 5150 guitar had a 59 in it but I`ve heard rumors that it was rewound by Ed. What kind of body wood are you gonna be using?

I'm going to be using a MIM Standard Strat. I guess they are poplar.


Originally Posted by jonnymangiaI'm going to be using a MIM Standard Strat. I guess they are poplar.

From `99 on I`m pretty sure they were made from alder , at least from 2000 on.

Here's a tip, if you want to correct the problem of having a nasally/thin honk when the humbucker and middle single is on....

Use the green wire as hot, with the black/silver soldered to ground.

I'd leave off the single coils and just go with humbuckers.

The single coil polepieces are strong magnets and they'll pull the wound strings out of tune when you play above the 12th fret.

They'll also change the tone of the guitar somewhat...again: that magnetic pull thing.

Personally, I think a guitar with humbuckers sounds best with just humbuckers on it.

Lew


Originally Posted by jonnymangiaDo we know what EVH was using for the quot;Fair Warningquot; record? Was he still using the Frankenstrat with the '59?

According to this thread he was using a custom/59' hybrid:

from : localhost//forum/s...amp;highlight=evh

I got one of those in my carvin 7 string...SWEET pickup. Ya gotta either make it yourself or buy one off someone though...