would it be smart to put a real single coil in my charvel?

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right now im playing my baby and getting some nice tones!
but in the 2 and 4th positions. theres not enough "quack" in it. it has some but i'd like it to be brighter without messing with my eq. what would be a good single coil to put in the middle position? im gonna get a lil 59 for the neck spot pretty soon and would like something that would balance well with both the custom and lil 59. what would be a good choice?

i was thinking of an ssl-1 or a2 pro singles?

[Robert S.]

Re: would it be smart to put a real single coil in my charvel?

Both of those are good choices and the Custom and lil59 will work with just about anything. That sounds like a cool guitar.

If you want more quack and brightness you may want to consider splitting the Custom and lil59 in the notched positions. You can work it out so that they will be hum cancelling with the middle single and you'll get a brighter, more Strat-like tone.

Another way to do it is the approach I'm using with my Strat. I have a JB and a lil59 with a Hot Stack for Strat in the middle slot. The Hot Stack and lil59 give me a very nice if not somewhat thicker #2 position tone that I find very pleasing and useable. I haven't done it yet but as soon as I come up with a white JB I'm going to open the guitar back up and add a series/parallel toggle to the JB. This will brighten up the JB giving me a more typical Strat #4 tone. The JB and the Hot Stack together do sound very good, but the tone could be thinner and Strattier for some applications. The parallel wired JB should do the trick very nicely.

An added bonus is that I will have the JB in series tone available in the #4 position (It is a good tone) as well as the JB in parallel in the bridge only position and the guitar is 100% hum free. This particular guitar also has a neck pickup on/off switch so I can also combine the JB with the lil59 and the JB can still be wired in either series or parallel in that position as well.

Lots of tonal options and flexability, no hum.

[Travis]

Re: would it be smart to put a real single coil in my charvel?

I personally prefer the Vintage Rails to true single coils. It would match well with a hotter humbucker like the Custom and the Little 59 at the neck.

Based on the descriptions on Duncan's page, I chose the 1/4 pound for an older Charvel model 4, although I ended up selling the guitar before I got a chance to put the pickup in. Now I've got it laying around waiting for another guitar to show up in need of a single coil.

What model Charvel do you have?

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Re: would it be smart to put a real single coil in my charvel?

it's one of teh san dimas series charvels that they made in the 90's. handmade
mahogany body, gorgeous quilted maple topm original floyd.
thing is, i dont want to mess with any of the wiring other than then normal stuff when changing pickups. i do like to have a varietyof tones but not as the expent of my guitar. i like it simple. and whether it's hum cancellating or not doesn't really bother me because im nopt gonna use it with high gain(or any gain for that matter) mainly for when i want a good crisp fusion lead tone or for blues, funk, etc.
i normally would've gone for the antiquity texas hot but it's kinda expensive so im looking for a different alternative.

[jeremy]

Re: would it be smart to put a real single coil in my charvel?

for quack, i think a ssl2 is a good choice, on a charvel i think the flat poles might work better with the flatter fretboard radius and the bright jangly tone of the ssl will help get the quack you want. it will also have more output than the vintage rails

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Re: would it be smart to put a real single coil in my charvel?

alright

thanks

i'll be getting that with the lil 59