Should You Install Hot Rails Into Your Strat?

In this video, I install a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails pickup into my 2023 Squier Affinity Stratocaster. This is my first time modding my guitar, and as someone who plays mostly metal music I decided it was time to get a hum bucker added to my guitar. I hope you enjoy the video!
IG → / steele_johnson
#seymourduncanhotrails #squierstratocaster #guitarmods

[@kensimmons3356]

I have a Bullet Squire that I bought brand new for $65 on sale. I guess they just wanted to get rid of them or something. I bought 2 actually because they were so cheap. One is still stock and the other one has 3 Seymour Duncan hot rails installed. I purchased the mid and neck pickups used for $40 and purchased the bridge one new. Did all the work myself and those pickups are way better than the stock ones. I like buying cheap stuff and hot-rodding it. It's satisfying to do the work yourself and have that sense of accomplishment. That's a nice sounding guitar. Good job.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

That's such a great deal! They are such great guitars, especially for mod projects. It truly is a satisfying feeling being able to customize your guitars and make them unique! Thanks for watching!

[@EverlastingDominion]

I own a guitar repair shop and I can tell you the best way to solder a pick is. When you wire up pickups, you should strip the wire casing back more than you think and then tin the wire. Run some solder over the wire to make it more of one strand of wire, bend it into a hook, and hook it through the connector hole. then solder it in. That would make sure it doesn't disconnect.

[@AndrewAHayes]

I dont think he added any solder to the tip either, I like to make a larger pool of solder when grounding a pickup to the pot, and I like to heat up the surface area a little before adding more solder, and add a little solder to the termination rings also. He got the job done though, kudos for videoing and uploading it despite being a novice solderer, we all start at the beginning!

[@EverlastingDominion]

@@AndrewAHayes Agreed.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

I didn't even think about doing that! That's great advice! Are there specific tools for stripping the wiring casing, or do I just need to use a knife very gently on the edge of the casing? I appreciate the tips!

[@AndrewAHayes]

@@SteeleJohnsonMusic You can buy wire strippers that will do many different gauges of wire, they are quite a cheap tool, if you buy the waxed cotton covered wire you can just pull it back a little as it is not fixed to the copper, but not many pickups come with that wire and so you will still need a stripper, I personally just use may side cutters, the technique I use is to apply slight pressure in the jaws of the side cutters and then spin the wire and the cutters left and right so it scores the sheath, then take a firm grip of the wire and pull against the sheathing with the side cutters, this will strip the excess off and reveal the copper.

[@tankdarla637]

totally know what you mean and I agree although I can not really solder

[@willister54]

Love the shirt brother!

[@jeffallen3382]

Change the trem block to a brass one and get the tone sounding even better!

[@tankdarla637]

lol, actually just a bigger heavier and perhaps denser block, brass, steel, whatever, might or might not improve tone, it will most likely make it a bit livelier tho

[@jeffallen3382]

@tankdarla637 I have brass trem blocks on all of my Strats & guitars with a Floyd Rose in them.

[@danedearmond4905]

I have some Hotrails for one of my strats. The Humbucking aspect of a Dual Hotrail is nice, but the murkiness of a rail is noticeable compared to pickups that use single-poles for the magnets (or flux concentrating lugs, in ceramics)... Which, if you're playing metal and "chugging" then it's barely noticeable. But when playing clean, that murkiness becomes a bit more obvious... But if you're playing heavy high-gain music (like metal), those rails should treat you quite well....

[@tankdarla637]

Stratocaster's are still one of the best looking guitars, never out dated

[@nocheckmarkgames]

once you've done one, you can't wait to do another. Something I like about the Squires has been that they have cutouts for pretty much any pickup setup you want to do. Could have thrown an entire humbucker in there. The last thing they need to start doing is selling them with a cheap Floyd Copy and they'll be absolute shredders.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

I wish I would’ve taken the pick guard off to see that a full-size humbucker would’ve fit in this guitar! Next time I’ll be more prepared 💪🏻 I’ve never played a guitar with a Floyd, but a strat with a Floyd would probably be a lot of fun!

[@metallion0738]

Great review and information, and a new subscriber as well.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

Thank you so much! 🙌🏻

[@bradfordwolpert6394]

That tone is sick! Especially after the install. What gear (pedals, amp…) are you using?

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

Thank you! All of the tone came from plugging straight into my audio interface with Mike Stringer’s Mixwave preset pack! Specifically using the “Heavener” preset 🔥

[@barbmelle3136]

I cannot comment on Hot Rails in a Strat, but I have a pair of Hot Rail pickups in a Tele. I can split them by pulling the tone knob out. Between the pickups and wiring, the guitar has multiple very enjoyable voices. I am a clean to slightly overdriven player and I think it is great.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

Having the versatility of splitting the pickups would be nice! Maybe that could be a future wiring project for me!

[@pedraw]

My Strat has had pretty much every pickup configuration. It currently has a single Fender Shawbucker 1 in it, nothing else. When I had single coils I did use a Duncan Lil 59 for the bridge position. It was alright but it always seemed like the mids were kinda scooped, idk. I do really dig that white on white/maple fingerboard look though. Keep on rockin' in the free world.

[@hidingelement]

nice vid man, and guitar looks cool

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

Thank you! 🙌🏻

[@Mytwocentsisallicanafford]

Definitely my favorite Stratocaster combo off white body with maple neck finally found a 2012 American standard I could afford this past year however I have a few super strats mainly a Kramer and Charvel that do all a hot rails will do and then some

[@BonkeyMucket]

The Hot Rails was a good move. Swapping out the tuners would be another good move.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

Tuners will definitely be the next mod! I’ll make a video when I swap those out 🔥

[@TimRock1269]

Your Squire sounds awesome with the new pickup. A great easy do it yourself upgrade. I've done a dual rail, dual rail, humbucker with coil splits for each pickup in one strat. A dual rail, single, dual rail with coil splits in another strat and I'm about to put a dual rail bridge with a coil split & keep the standard tele neck pickup on my Affinity tele. I think it's well worth it to have the versatility. Only thing I would do differently with your guitar is do the coil split to get that original strat sound also.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

Thank you! It was a fun upgrade and fairly simple to complete with little experience! It would be fun to had another rail and coil split the neck in the future! Thanks for watching!

[@handel1111]

I replaced all my pickups with hotrails on my strat with push-push pots for coil splitting to dial that twangy single coil sound

[@FansSports]

How do you like it?

[@handel1111]

@FansSports I don't have to switch guitars according to genres bacause it's all in there and there are a lot of combinations you can come up with

[@AndrewAHayes]

I was surprised you were using a Strat for metal, once I heard that SD hot Rail pickup though I realised what it is about. That is a sweet pickup and although I am not into metal I can appreciate its versatility.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

I typically use my 7 string Ibanez for metal, but that guitar lives in either Drop A# or Drog G. I swapped this pickup so I can play more E standard and Drop D!

[@MyMakersMarker]

How does the neck feel? And i love what youve done to it, its a very beautiful guitar despite price range.

[@TomHolland-r6k]

Put a Amazon $12 hot rails knockoff in a sx strat was amazed at the sound brutal high gain and sounded like a strat bridge single a low volumes and clean

[@jpsilverplaylists]

I love a white strat with a maple neck. The perloid pickguard def looks better than the plain white. The SD def sounds better in the bridge for your sound, does the humbucker thing well. Next thing to upgrade is a full sized nice thick trem block instead of the thinner Squier block...

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

I'm a huge fan of the maple neck on the Olympic White body! I personally don't feel a difference between maple and rosewood boards, so I went with the board that I thought had a nice look on this body. I will have to look into getting a full sized trem block! I know these Squier Affinity strats have a thinner body, so do you think a full size trem block would fit well? Thanks fro watching!

[@jpsilverplaylists]

@@SteeleJohnsonMusic I completely rebuilt a MIK 1998 squier strat, replaced the whole bridge with a Fender vintage style assembly, but yeah with the body being a smidge thinner you can't get the back cover on, but that hasn't bothered me at all to be honest. Its not that it sticks out very far, just a few mm but enough not to get that cover on, unless you sand / file the string slots into 1 big opening to allow the block some space.

[@fumanpoo4725]

I did thevsame in the 90s. Sounds cool.

[@monkeyshoulder3411]

Same. Still my daily guitar all these years later. Really versatile.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

These strats are very versatile! I look forward to keeping this guitar for decades.

[@ariskoskinas]

Good demo but haven't seen again rhythm metal playing with reverb and delay

[@jebivepar]

Yes.Period

[@Anode230]

Yes. That's the answer. A Strat is a versatile guitar. With a bridge humbucker, it becomes an even more versatile instrument.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

100%! This was a fun mod project for my strat!

[@davidkastin4240]

I love a hot rails in the bridge of a Strat. Have a few like that. Also I have a 3 hots rails Strat, and a humbucke ,hot rails, hot rails Strat with coil split on each pickup 😈🎸👍

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

It’s fun having the hot rails in the bridge! Maybe down the line I will replace the neck and middle pickups for some hot rails too 😎 It could be a fun project learning how to wire the pickups to add coil splitting!

[@davidkastin4240]

@SteeleJohnsonMusic I bought a loaded pickguard with the Humbucker hot rails hot rails coil split. Very inexpensive. Unfortunately the Strat I put it on wasn't routed for a Humbucker in the bridge. Chop 🪓 chop lol. Slowed the process down but came out amazing 👍

[@davidkastin4240]

@SteeleJohnsonMusic I also modified a reg Strat into a 2 P-90 version, door, one of my fav creations. I collect and modify Strats for fun. I have more Strats than I can play.

[@bluwng]

Can’t believe how,good that guitar looks. Did you alter the appearance in any way? Hot Rail gives you best of both worlds.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

The only other thing I changed was the pick guard! It came with a white pick guard originally, but I swapped it for an aged white pearl guard. I lucked out when it comes to nice figuring on the maple neck 🙌🏻

[@BryanClark-gk6ie]

I put a SD hot rails in my 1996 American strat ahhhh long about 2010' our band played on Friday night' didn't really care that much for it....just didn't have the grit to it to like the SD Duncan pearly gates I'd swapped it out for' anyways I swapped it back out for the pearly Gates pickup' played again Saturday night and got a better audience response' all the fans stood up and 👏👋👋 and cheering after the first song' something they hadn't done the night before' thank you.... thank you ladies and gentlemen.... I really appreci...... Then all the sudden somebody from the crowd hollered out PLAAAY!!! FREEEE!!!!! BIRRRRRDDD!!!!!!!! It was at that moment I knew I'd made the right decision to reinstall the SD pearly Gates. Thank you' thank you ladies and gentlemen' I reallllly appreciate that thank you.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

Such a cool story and moment!! I’ll have to check out the SD Pearly Gates!

[@revtimewest]

Yes

[@tankdarla637]

If them tuners aint broken, absolutely no need to change them, especially for heavy lame lockers

[@w1zard0f0h]

Yes, yes you should.

[@tankdarla637]

Hotrails are not quite as good as a real full size humbucker, I do not think they suck though.

[@banced1]

probably could have just turned the switch around the first time before rewiring two more times. Just an observation.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

True! I did just turn it around, but I think the wire came loose from the solder when I turned the switch. I could've saved time by testing it before screwing the pick guard back in. All a learning experience for me!

[@edwilson7629]

Is there any shielding behind the pickups??

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

I didn’t add any additional shielding. I honestly think it’d be a good idea to add some into the pickup cavity to help reduce even more noise!

[@andrewwilliams3394]

What were the resistance readings before and after?

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

Honestly, I’m not sure! I don’t have any tools to check that unfortunately. This mod was based solely on swapping a single coil for a humbucker!

[@danpena7922]

What amp sim are you using?

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

Mike Stringer’s Mixwave presets! Specifically using “Heavener” by Trey Celaya for distortion tones

[@johnbloxham6020]

Add a new brass block on the bridge of or guitar

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

I’ve seen people add this, but I’m honestly not sure what it does! Does it impact tone or does it just look cool?

[@edg.3100]

What about cool rails.....😊

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

maybe next time 😂

[@simonssparestrings8910]

sounds very tinny try wiring the rear tone control

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

The single coil or the Hot Rails? Personally I don’t think the Hot Rails sounded tinny! Maybe there is still more to be done to make this guitar have a tighter sound!

[@joseislanio8910]

​@@SteeleJohnsonMusic I think what he said is that the bridge pickup in a strat is normally not connected to any tone control. You can modify the wiring to connect that pickup to one of the tone controls

[@tankdarla637]

a semi seasoned player should know to just buy a guitar the way you want it to start with, just sayin"

[@paj1015]

The Hot Rails is way too hot for my taste. I like the Dimarzio Tone Zone S a lot better and it also sounds a lot better when switched to single-coil, than the Hot Rails.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

I’ll have to look into those pickups! Since I play mostly metal, I chose the Hot Rails since they’re pretty hot and have a good bite in the tone. Thanks for watching!

[@LeonardLangford]

If you want that then do it why make a big deal over it?are you needing someone's approval?if you don't like it ,rip the pickup out and put your old one back in.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

Sometimes it can be fun to just try out a new pickup! I made this video simply to document my experience :)

[@potato9832]

How much do you get paid to bust balls? Might be worth the career change.

[@bluwng]

@@SteeleJohnsonMusicnever argue or respond to a fool.

[@bluwng]

Who are you? Your opinion isn’t worth anything Nancy.

[@arthurbrucecrawford6896]

What is your problem? 😮

[@rutiger6901]

The MOST underwhelming mod you can make to any guitar is to "upgrade" the pickups. The pickups that they grab out of that big cardboard box in the Chinese factory, to make Temu guitars, are same as the Seymour Duncans, etc that you dream about. Amplifiers make the sounds you're after. Not the pups.

[@SteeleJohnsonMusic]

I’m not sure, but I definitely think switching from a single coil to a humbucker would make a difference. It definitely did on this guitar!

[@guitarsNsuch]

I completely disagree, maybe running it through a digital amp plug-ins, but through a real amp pickups absolutely matter

[@ernestschultz5065]

That just might be the stupidest thing I have ever heard anyone say regarding pickups and I have heard some very stupid stuff.

[@MyMakersMarker]

Pickups definitely matter!​@guitarsNsuch

[@MyMakersMarker]

​@guitarsNsuchyou are very right! Everything plays a part in shaping the sound.