I recently did this mod on a HSS Strat loaded with a PRS Tremonti bridge humbucker, two stock Fender single-coil pickups, and a standard CRL 5-way blade switch. The two tone controls continue to function as normal, operating independently on the neck and middle pickups, and you get an expanded tonal palette consisting of five distinct sounds: solo neck or middle single-coils, two combined single-coil settings (neck-plus-middle or middle-plus-bridge), and, of course, the full-throttle solo bridge humbucker. This coil-tap mod goes a long way toward eliminating that problem. One complaint about an HSS Strat is that in position 2, the humbucker sonically overwhelms the middle pickup. Wired this way, position 2 offers a combination of middle and bridge single-coils, and you get much closer to that classic, clucky middle-plus-bridge combination Strat players love. (Note: We’re using the usual numbering scheme that identifies the solo bridge pickup as “position 1” and the solo neck pickup as “position 5.”) You still get the fat, full humbucker sound in position 1, but in position 2, the humbucker goes into single-coil mode. We’re going to rewire the 5-way switch to coil-tap the humbucker in position 2.
If you have a guitar configured this way with a 5-way switch, there’s a way to make it even more versatile without adding any additional switches or hardware. For many guitarists, a Strat equipped with a bridge-position humbucker and two single-coils (HSS) offers the ultimate in sonic flexibility.
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