Can anybody give me a n advice for a maximum versitile PU combination?

  • Hi :)


    Well, I need for our band a lot of different sounds! My working horse is a 1995 Fender Strat (as you know with a lot of space under the pickguard - no problem with 2 humbuckers). I want to assemble it with new Pick Ups, an maybe it´s possible to reach some good Single Coil AND Humbucker Sounds??? Maybe you can give me some tips!?? Many thanks!!! :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

  • Hi :)


    Well, I need for our band a lot of different sounds! My working horse is a 1995 Fender Strat (as you know with a lot of space under the pickguard - no problem with 2 humbuckers). I want to assemble it with new Pick Ups, an maybe it´s possible to reach some good Single Coil AND Humbucker Sounds??? Maybe you can give me some tips!?? Many thanks!!! :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:


    To me, as a Strat player myself, the Strat is as versatile as it gets.
    I will say though that I'm not a fan of putting a HB in the bridge posititon because I'm personally very fond of the S-S-S configuration and especially the bridge SC.
    To achieve more HB like sounds I would recommend working with preamp EQ instead of swapping the PU.
    But that's just me.

  • Hi there is an excellent alternative : P-rails by duncan , what u got is : P90 - single coil - both in parallel (Humbucker like ) , both in series ( Vintage Humbicker like) . Got them on my SG1000 and they sound great in lots of style. I guess they exist in standard and hot output now.


    you'll need 2 push pull pots to get the 4 combination.


    R

  • I have two antiquity Surfers (neck/mid) and a Kinman Big Nine-0 (bridge) in my American vintage hot rod strat.
    Very great set of pu. Especially the big nine-0 is awesome. Gives you everything a singlecoil lacks in the bridge position of a strat and a takes away what a humbucker is exaggerating. Awesome nock position and noiseless. Perfect from fat cleans to high gain!
    I wouldn't change the singlecoils in neck/mid, that's why I actually have the strat. If you want more versatility, go for a fender s1 switch. I have the following set-up:
    S1 off:
    Normal strat
    S1 on:
    1: bridge mid in series
    2: bridge / neck in parallel
    3: bridge / mid and neck in series
    4: all three pu in parallel
    5: neck mid in series

  • I have an Ibanez RG1570 that has sorta become my workhorse lately, I've put a lot of effort into selecting the right pickups and wiring for it. The worst part IMHO was selecting the resistor and capacitor for the volume treble bleed circuit, but I can't remember what it was, I can come back with the values later if you're interested. Also finding pickups that blend well together is a real pain, and to me these work perfectly together, I like the neck pickup to be slightly softer than the bridge and above all not muddy, I want to be able to use either brifge or neck pickups without having to build specific rigs for them.


    The pickups are:


    - DiMarzio Fred (bridge): not too loud, has sexy mids which can still be dialed out through EQ for acoustic-like cleans, great all around pickup.
    - Original "IBZ" middle pickup (single coil): don't have much to say about the stock Ibanez middle single coil except that it blends pretty well with the other two.
    - DiMarzio 36th Anniversary PAF (neck): probably the best neck humbucker I've ever played, balanced and well
    defined, never muddy, I imagine it sounds like those incredibly sought
    after 50s Gibsson PAFs.


    The pickup positions give me the following:


    1. Bridge pickup alone, humbucking mode (both coils in series)
    2. Bridge pickup spllit (one coil only) in parallel with the middle pickup - single coil output level, plenty of "strat quack"
    3. Middle pickup alone
    4. Neck pickup split (one coil only) in parallel with the middle pickup - single coil output level, some "strat quack"
    5. Bridge pickup alone, humbucking mode (both coils in series)


    I have also installed a push-pull switch in the tone knob so I can switch the neck pickup on together with the bridge pickup for some surprisingly convincing Tele tones (with the volume rolled off a bit).

  • interesting.


    I recently changed the PUs on my G&L Legacy to get the most variety of relevant (for me) sounds out of it.
    I made some educated guesses that worked out fine and had sheer dumb luck with the SC sized HB in the bridge.


    neck - Dominger The Hippie '68 SC
    middle - Fender 57/62 SC
    bridge - SD Hot Rails SC sized HB


    YMMV ;)

  • You should try EMG SAX! Last winter I built up a Warmoth Strat and first time ever used EMGs. And I am still really happy with it. You should keep the old pickguard and replace it completley with the new pickups and other electronics mounted into a new picguard. That makes it very convenient because you can benefit from EMG plugging system and you can conserve the original configuration untouched.


    No signal loss in cables, no hum - and a really good Strat tone. If you indeed miss "Humbucker Sounds" I would use some preamp EQ in the KPA. Or you could use a EMG SPC. With the plugging system these things are easy to exchange later on and easy to test and return on moneyback if you don't like it, because there is no soldering.

    www.audiosemantics.de
    I have been away for quite a while. A few years ago I sold my KPA and since then played my own small tube amp with a Bad Cat Unleash. Now I am back because the DI-profile that I made from my amp sounds very much convincing to me.

    Edited once, last by fretboardminer ().

  • I have a HSS pickup combination in my strat (http://hornauer-pickups.de/)


    The 5 way megaswitch works like this:


    - Bridge Humbucker (can seperatly also be splittet by a push pull, but I hate singlecoils at the bridge so I really never used that except once to test if it works :huh: )
    - Bridge split/middle
    - Bridge split / neck (tele sound)
    - middle / neck
    - neck

    MJT Strats / PRS Guitars / Many DIY Guitars -- Kemper Profiler Rack / Kemper Remote / InEar