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Replacing Single Coil Pups with Duncan Rails

OzzyOzzy
in General Discussion and Chatter
Elo,

I hope you could help me out with this question. I have a Mexican Standard Fender Stratocaster. I want to replace the factory single coils with Seymour Duncan Hot Rails. I was asking around, and some one told me that i have to buy new volume controls and tone controls! something to do with electrical resistance. and also, that i'd have to buy a new pickguard!!!

Now, i don't think that this is true, i believe that the Rails being single-coil sized, it wouldn't need any alteration done to the pickguard. as for the electrical issue, i'm afraid i don't know much about electricity other than the fact that if you touch a live wire you would go ZAP!!!!! :P

So help would be much appreciated. Thanks.
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Comments

  • philfloodphilflood
    You should be able to change them out without changing the volume and tone control potentiometers. You can find Fender wiring diagrams online, and also, Duncan has wiring recommendations on-line. Typically, the volume are tone controls are either 250K ohm or 500K ohm pots. The tone control would be the more senstive to having the wrong resistance. You would notice a lack of adjustability in the tone. If the pickups sound good with the stock pots, you are fine, otherwise, you would need to get the recommended value pot. You would also want to check the capacitor to see if it is the recommended value. Change it if need be. When I need that sort of item, I order it from Guitar Electronics in Phoenix Arizona. Stewart MacDonald is also a good place to get parts. Rail pickups are usually just slightly larger than single coils. You won't need a new pickguard, but you will need to enlarge the hole just slightly to get the rail to fit. I use a Dremel tool for this, but you could do it with an Exacto knife, or even with sandpaper given enough time.
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  • shreddshredd
    This is s really killer site for various wiring specs and mods:
    http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/menu.php
    And of course there's many like this. Message me if you need others, i'l trade the info for a hot-tub date with Jenn. :D
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  • OzzyOzzy
    What, hehehehe, are you kidding me!!!

    A hot-tub date in exchange for wiring info!!! If i had the hot-tub date, who of us would be spending time on the forum discussing wiring!!

    Thanks for the link, I already checked this site out once.

    I joined the Seymour Duncan forum, and asked there. They said, I don't have to do anything of that stuff!!! Thought I'd share. What do you think?

    Ciao.
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  • TerranautTerranaut
    Hi Ozzy.
    I have a G&L Legacy that I've outfitted with Duncans.
    A JB at the neck, Cool Rail in the center, and a Hot Rail at the bridge.
    I originally added a phase switch, but removed it. I liked the straight sound better. No other wiring mods were used, and I've been using it happily for 6 years. The Hot Rail is best for the bridge position. The higher output can sound muddy in the center or neck positions. That's why I added the Cool Rail and JB. It gives me a few more colors to work with. I didn't have to enlarge or drill anything on the G&L. Everything fits snugly. Hope your install goes smoothly. You will enjoy the Hot Rail immensely. Good Luck!
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  • ednrgednrg
    \philflood\ wrote:
    Rail pickups are usually just slightly larger than single coils. You won't need a new pickguard, but you will need to enlarge the hole just slightly to get the rail to fit.

    Untrue. It fits perfectly.

    8)
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  • philfloodphilflood
    It depends on the rail pickup. I wasn't referring specifically to the Duncans. I've done this mod on three guitars, and with some of the rails that I've used, I have needed to enlarge the pickup hole at the end of the pickups, as the hole in the pickguard was rounded and the rail pcikup had a slightly more squarish shape to it. I know I've run into this issue specifically with Kramer rails, and I believe it came up with GFS pickups as well. The Duncan, from what I understand usually fits into a standrd single coil slot, but, again, it might depend on the brand of the single coil that is being replaced, whether r not the pickgurd is a stock Fnder product, etc.
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  • toddebnertoddebner
    I have a mex strat that I replaced all the pickups with SD's.

    I have a cool rails in the neck, a vintage rails in the middle and a lil 59'r in the bridge. I read several places that humbuckers are better off with 500k volume pots, so I changed mine out. wasn't very difficult.

    Torres engineering has some pots, they also recommend a 1 meg pot and have a mid boost replacement for the middle tone knob. So I added that to my guitar and rewired the bottom tone to control tone for the whole guitar.

    I also replaced the 5 position switch with three toggle switches to allow me to do a coil cut on the cool rails and on the lil 59'r. (The vintage rails can't be split, it is a single coil sound noiseless pickup).

    Gives me a lot of variety in the sounds I get..
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