I was looking for something different to do with an HSS American Elite Strat. Lindy said that if I was looking for a legit humbucker bridge thing, that I should just do the standard HSS. I already have one of those so off we went with the 4 split blade idea. I wanted to install them myself but was thankful that Lindy put the bridge pair together…I used the Fralin pickguard and wired the set with push-push pots as the two tone controls. One push-push switch makes the bridge “single coil,” and the other wires the bridge to be on regardless of the switch, so you can use it with positions 4 and 5. I used 500k pots but found I preferred the bridge with 250k, so I lowered the value for that one and left the neck and middle to see 500k. I used a standard 5-way switch. I really like the separate height adjustments for the two halves of the “humbucker.” Most of my guitars have humbuckers in the bridge, so I’d guess it makes sense that I set the treble side of the humbucker fairly even, which makes the high strings thicker. However, after experimenting a little I found that I like the bass side offset a bit, which gives more clarity and punch to the wound strings. This guitar cuts through the mix WELL. The single coil sounds are pure Strat. Split blade Blues in the neck are one of my favorite strat sounds, and the inbetween “quack” at 2 and 4 are everything I’d expected. With the push/push switches I can also get a sort of Tele thing using bridge single and neck. In the end, I couldn’t be happier–it sounds GREAT and looks really cool too. Thanks to Lindy and Tyler at Fralin for all of your help!
