Fender Players Series HSH: Short demo and a partially failed modification

Today's video is a little different. It is part project, part review. The project part was only a partial success, but I thought that people still might be able to learn from it, so I've decided to release it.

I purchased this Fender Players Series HSH stratocaster. I liked it A LOT more than I expected, but found that there was a drastic volume different between positions 1 and 5 compared to 2-4. In order to remedy this I bought a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails pickup (effectively turning it into an HHH guitar).
It only sort of worked, the volume balance is better, but it just doesn't blend as well as the original configuration. I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

There are a few variables that I encountered in this project.
- I ordered a Seymour Duncan SH1N and got an SH1B.
- The five-way switch in the guitar was something I'd never seen before. I connected the new pickup to the same place as the old one, but there may have been more than one option.
- I might be able to get a different tone by using different conductors from the Duncan (I used the black as the hot and soldered/taped the red/white).

Anyway, here is the video. I hope you enjoy it!



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0:00 - Intro
1:25 - Introduction & Overview for the Fender Players Series HSH
3:51 - Stock pickups clean tones and stock features overview
5:50 - Stock pickups with Marshall gain channel
7:53 - Clean tones Seymour Duncan SH1 installed
9:55 - Marshall gain with Seymour Duncan SH1 installed
10:40 - A/B comparison between Fender humbucker and SH1
12:21 - Final thoughts - where this falls in the current Fender lineup