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I have a 2000 American Deluxe Stat with Fender Noiseless Pickups. I am planning to replace the complete pickup / pickguard / pots / switch assembly. I think the combination I desire is: Bridge - Hot Rail Bridge, Middle - Cool Rail ??, Neck - Cool Rail Neck

The questions I have are: What do you guys think of this combination, and should I use a Cool Rail Bridge or Neck in the middle position. I am tempted to put a CR Bridge there to smooth the transition between the HR Bridge and CR middle, since the CR Bridge has more output. I tend to play most rhythms on some combonation with the middle pup. Leads can go in either direction. I play Classic Rock (Zep, Rush, Pink Floyd, etc, and some Blues) thru a Marshall 100 TSL Halfstack. My goal with this guitar is to be a bit hotter, but not into the metal crunge areana. I also have another AD Strat with Gold Lace Sensors. I will leave that for the cleaner material.

From what I read I believe I should use 500k pots with this setup. Maybe thinking about push-pull tones to single coil the pups, but that probably is overkill. I have seen the Shaller 5-way super switch, what benefit would that provide vs a standard 5-way. Which wiring scheme do I use? I have not seen one just for the HRs or CRs

Thanks guys (amp; gals).
I will really appreciate your input.

I've really fallen in love with my Cool Rails in the bridge and neck of my Strat. Matched with a more conventional single in the middle, and it sounds great. The Cool's have a nice quot;spankquot; to them. Fairly hot, yet still not overbearing.

Then again . . . I've never heard Hot Rails.

btw - Welcome to the forum.


Originally Posted by ArtieTooI've really fallen in love with my Cool Rails in the bridge and neck of my Strat. Matched with a more conventional single in the middle, and it sounds great. The Cool's have a nice quot;spankquot; to them. Fairly hot, yet still not overbearing.

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I have HR/CR/HR. I like this setup. I have push/pull pots. I installed them, but then decided I wanted the pots to control the pickups corresponding to their location. That required the assistance of a tech, and several phone calls to SD from him to get the wiring correct.lt;------------------

It is usually recommended that you use the 'neck' version for the mid position.

These are 'hot' pickups. I like both, but my favorite is the cool rails. Both have dark tonal properties, which I like. Splitting the coils won't get a 'true' s/c sound, but it certainly adds variety to your pickup choices.

If you want the ultimate in versatility, I might recommend a Hot Rails in the bridge, Vintage Rails in the middle and a Cool Rails in the neck. That way, you could do anything from clean jazz/blues to dirty blues to hard rock and even metal. The Hot Rails in the bridge would give you great hard rock/metal tones, and even some bluesy stuff when backed down on the volume. The Cool Rails in the neck would give you some ultra smooth bluesy leads and even tread into shred territory when pushed with enough gain from the amp. The Vintage Rails in the middle would give you amazing sparkling cleans and a nice classic Strat grit when played under light gain.

But that is all my personal opinion.