Cardinal sin? I added a humbucker to my strat

axisus

jaymenon said:

Do the single coil sized humbuckers (DiMarzio / Duncan Cruiser, Rails, Lil '59) do just as good a job tonally?

Jay

I don't like the look of SCs that look different. Just a personal thing. 

Cirrus

Not a sin. I put one in mine 6 weeks ago - an Oil City Winterizer. I love the sound and the aesthetic.

Dave_Vader

jaymenon said:

Do the single coil sized humbuckers (DiMarzio / Duncan Cruiser, Rails, Lil '59) do just as good a job tonally?

Jay

I've got anSD hotrail in my black strat and it sounds just as good as the buckers in my superstrats.

I am a bit deaf mind you. YMMV.

ICBM

jaymenon said:

Do the single coil sized humbuckers (DiMarzio / Duncan Cruiser, Rails, Lil '59) do just as good a job tonally?

In my opinion, no - not if you want a true full-size humbucker sound.

The L'il '59 is also probably my most-hated Duncan pickup. It just sounds congested and lifeless - nothing like either a full-size '59 or any kind of decent Strat pickup. It's marginally less bad in the neck position, but I still wouldn't pick one on purpose. The JB Jr and L'il Screamin' Demon are really good though, surprisingly. The Hot Rails is a thing unto itself - it sounds like no traditional pickup at all, but it's just a really good aggressive modern pickup.

I like some of the DiMarzio ones too, although I have less experience of them overall - I have a Fast Track and a Chopper in my Strat-type guitar. They sound like somewhere between a very high-output single coil and a modern humbucker, without quite being like either... if that makes sense. But they sound great.

YellowLedBetterMan

A black HSS Strat is something I want to look into eventually. Cobain vibes for days.

rivercider

I have a black HSS strat that I bought in 2017.  A couple of months back I fitted a SSS guard to it to see what I might be missing, but after a while have gone back to the original HSS configuration as I prefer it. 
I'm on/off about selling the guitar altogether and buying something different, but that's another story.  I prefer the HSS I have to my SSS experiment. 

GuitarAndy2

ICBM said:

jaymenon said:

Do the single coil sized humbuckers (DiMarzio / Duncan Cruiser, Rails, Lil '59) do just as good a job tonally?

In my opinion, no - not if you want a true full-size humbucker sound.

The L'il '59 is also probably my most-hated Duncan pickup. It just sounds congested and lifeless - nothing like either a full-size '59 or any kind of decent Strat pickup. It's marginally less bad in the neck position, but I still wouldn't pick one on purpose. The JB Jr and L'il Screamin' Demon are really good though, surprisingly. The Hot Rails is a thing unto itself - it sounds like no traditional pickup at all, but it's just a really good aggressive modern pickup.

How does the L'il Screaming Demon compare to the JB Jnr? I've had the latter in my Levinson Blade for well over a decade and whilst it copes well with crunchier tones & can handle gain pretty well, I've always found it somewhat wanting at the two extremes of proper cleans or all out filth.

JanekLubanski

I wouldn't mind a play on it. I've never had a Strat but the more that I see Strats with HSS pick up configurations the more I think I would like to try one. I presume that HSS would offer more tonal variety.

rivercider

Mine is an American Pro with a Shawbucker, so I can only comment on that one against my other current humbucker equipped guitars (e.g. Burstbucker Pros, 57 Classics) and I like it.  Not as much as the 57s, but it's less harsh than the Burstbuckers.
It doesn't split/tap, so not sure that it has more tonal variety, so much as just different tones.
I do like the fourth position though, its a bit like a sort of boosted normal strat fourth position,to my ear.
Not quite got the same magic of a regular SSS in that position but it's OK.  I dislike strat bridge pickups so I don't feel I'm missing much there.

skippy76

axisus said:

BigMonka said:

@axisus ; that looks amazing! Have you got a full guitar photo?

I do now. Just snapped.

Looks really good mate  

ICBM

GuitarAndy2 said:

How does the L'il Screaming Demon compare to the JB Jnr? I've had the latter in my Levinson Blade for well over a decade and whilst it copes well with crunchier tones & can handle gain pretty well, I've always found it somewhat wanting at the two extremes of proper cleans or all out filth.

The Demon is brighter and lower output - better for cleans, but maybe less good at high gain. I’m not really a high gain player though, so I may not be the best person to ask! But despite its name, neither version of the Demon is really “Screaming” in terms of output - it’s more an edgy mid-gain pickup. The original had very mismatched coils which makes it brighter and more ‘harmonic sensitive’ than a typical higher-wound humbucker.