So I recently found a dream guitar in terms of playability and looks and basically all other metrics.... Apart from the pickups.
My issue is I play live with a Strat (with hot rails in bridge. Basically a free overdrive!) and have done since about 2008.
However, the new guitar in question is HH configuration. I tried to find HSS version but also you know how it is when you find an amazingly playable guitar which is different even from the same models in a shop.
My question is (although i think i know the answer it would be good to hear thoughts from people here), can i get a single coil sound from a humbucker slot in the neck without routing the guitar? Is the SD phat cat P90 the closest I'm going to get?
Also any ideas (passive not active) to a humbucker that sounds like SD hotrails in the bridge?
I am in full acceptance that I'm not going to get exactly a start sound or of this guitar, but i really dislike the sound of it at the moment (acoustically however it's great!)
Thanks in advance!
Comments
for the neck, you can get pretty much any pickup you want in a humbucker sized enclosure, or can easily buy an adapter.
or, why not buy a different pickguard so you can fit single coils?
If there's no pickguard obviously options are more limited
1) Bridge humbucker
2) Inside coils (faux Stratocaster " in between" sound).
3) Bridge + neck.
4) Neck humbucker (coils in parallel)
5) Neck humbucker ( coils in series)
https://www.alegree.co.uk/collections/humbucker-sized-stratocaster-single-coils
(His other pickups I have tried are great.)
Another option would be a humbucker that's geared up towards splitting- I've tried the Gemini Fireflies, and they're excellent. One of the coils is basically a Strat-style single coil, and the other coil is more humbucker-like. Together, the Strat coil is too powerful, so its output is tapped so it doesn't overpower the other coil for humbucker mode. He has several other models in this style too, so you have about 4-5 options IIRC to choose from depending on the tone and output you want.
Again I haven't tried it (and again his other pickups I have tried are great) but Catswhisker seems to offer something similar with his "S-bucker" pickup.
I think Alegree's Solar Flare is a similar idea too, or his Chameleon which offers a ton of different pickup settings from the one pickup.
These will be more awkward to wire, but the advantage with these ones is that you'll be able to get (more or less, at least) a genuine neck humbucker tone, too. (Or get a bridge version too- as long as it sounds close enough for you to the Hot Rails!- and get the option of good single coil and humbucker settings from both pickup positions.) Just watch, though- I've got a vague feeling that the Fireflies at least are marginally deeper than standard humbuckers, and the other ones might be too. Depending on what guitar you're planning to fit them in, that might be a problem.
There are probably other options, too, that I haven't thought of.
Bridge pickup, hard to think what would emulate the Hot Rails. From what I remember, they are hot and very middy. The Dimarzio Super Distortion won't really do the same thing imho, but you could look at the Duncan Custom Custom (the Alnico 2 one) or the Custom/59 hybrid - both of those are quite hot and middy, with enough high end.
Another option I'd consider is Oil City Brass Knuckle set. They are essentially two strat pickups wired up as a humbucker, with magnetic polepieces etc. This means when they're split, they sound much closer to strat pickups. Additionally, I also found with the bridge pickup, due to the construction, was a bit brighter and edgier compared to a "typical" humbucker, which I also find is a quality of rail pickups. Could be a good choice.
Kent Armstrong Motherbucker for the bridge.
You will understand why when you see them .
What type of switch does it have? You will most likely want coil-splitting options for both of those pickups.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
The selector switch is 5 way, so plenty of options it seems.
Now to narrow it down.
Thanks again for your time!
Ps I don't like the sound of spilt coil but thanks for the suggestions.
https://www.lollarguitars.com/lollar-other-single-coil-pickups/novel-t
They also do P90, Charlie Christian, Gold Foil and Ricky-style pickups in the same series.
LOL good shout, I forgot about that one. I haven't tried it, but I had something similar in my MusicYo-era Kramer Striker- it was a bit crap, but I'm guessing the MotherBucker is a fair bit better. Or else I just don't like those Hotrails-style pickups! (I really didn't like the neck version of the Duncan Hotrails in my Framus.)
For the neck position, I'd just get a PAF leaning pickup that's hot enough to be able to split effectively. A BKP Emerald is a great neck pickup and is quite hot so will split OK.
... although you may want to split it to only half the full pickup.
I understand why you don't like split traditional humbuckers, but that's not what the Stag Mag and Brassknuckle sound like - they're literally two Strat-type pickups mounted on the same baseplate, so their split sounds are like true single coils and not like a split humbucker.
There's an interesting scheme with a 5-way that gives you the full pickups at each end and the split pickups in the 2 and 4 positions, with two split pickups in 3.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein