Bridge Humbucker for a Hardtail strat?

[TimmyPage]

As I said in the other thread, I'm getting sick of the PATB-3. I love it.. but it has such a unique, honky sound that EVERYTHING ends up sounding samey. The attack is also far too rounded, and the lower strings are a little flabby. I tried the P-Rails after the other thread, and they weren't quite what I was looking for either.

I have a 2006 Alder Hardtail Strat, Cool Rails in the neck, Classic Stack+ in the middle. My current bridge tone influences are Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Isis, Guthrie Govan, in generally more modern higher gain, prog rock and fusion tones.

What I'm looking for is something that's tight more on the hot end, and something I can balance with the Cool Rails. I don't really want something extremely aggressive or buzzy, and versatility is a bonus. I play in a soul/funk band where I only use the bridge pickup for a few solos and for the notch position, so I wouldn't mind something that would still have a little bit of quack when split and mixed with the middle pickup.

Amps, whatever the venue or studio gives me. Mostly Marshalls and Blackstars here in the UK.

TL;DR : High gain/prog rock/Fusion sounds that can quack sometimes in a notch position. GO.

[Inder_Cine_Mann]

Re: Bridge Humbucker for a Hardtail strat?

Full shred?

[LtKojak]

Re: Bridge Humbucker for a Hardtail strat?

As I said in the other thread, I'm getting sick of the PATB-3. I love it.. but it has such a unique, honky sound that EVERYTHING ends up sounding samey. The attack is also far too rounded, and the lower strings are a little flabby. I tried the P-Rails after the other thread, and they weren't quite what I was looking for either.

I have a 2006 Alder Hardtail Strat, Cool Rails in the neck, Classic Stack+ in the middle. My current bridge tone influences are Opeth, Porcupine Tree, Isis, Guthrie Govan, in generally more modern higher gain, prog rock and fusion tones.

What I'm looking for is something that's tight more on the hot end, and something I can balance with the Cool Rails. I don't really want something extremely aggressive or buzzy, and versatility is a bonus. I play in a soul/funk band where I only use the bridge pickup for a few solos and for the notch position, so I wouldn't mind something that would still have a little bit of quack when split and mixed with the middle pickup.

Amps, whatever the venue or studio gives me. Mostly Marshalls and Blackstars here in the UK.

TL;DR : High gain/prog rock/Fusion sounds that can quack sometimes in a notch position. GO.

An A8 for that PATB3 could be just what the doctor ordered.

I have an A4 PATB1n/A8 PATB3 set in my Mayones Maestro and I love it to death.

If you're in the UK, I can help you with the mags.

PM me if you're interested.

HTH,

[CTN]

Re: Bridge Humbucker for a Hardtail strat?

I put a Custom with an RCA3 magnet in my alder bodied hardtail strat.

It's tremendously versatile. Actually, that axe is my dedicated "versatile" axe, cuz it can do anything. Has the tone for blues/fusion or rock, but has enough power and tightness to do metal easily as well. I've actually used it for metal gigs several times, and got killer tones out of it. Because it's a custom series, it'll also split really well to about 7k so your inbetween sounds should be sweet too.

Mind you, it's lower output than a custom 5. probably similar in output to a Custom Custom.

bit of a nuisance getting an RCA3 and then installing it, but it makes a really REALLY well balanced, tight, and toneful pickup that's leaning towards lower output rather than higher.

[TimmyPage]

Re: Bridge Humbucker for a Hardtail strat?

Those are some fairly cool suggestions, though I will say that I've never been able to mesh with the sounds of Alnico 8. I've tried a few homebrew 8 pickups on other people's guitars and.. I just can't get into the tone. The Full Shred is kind of a neat idea too, I remember being into the idea back years back when I was a super Opeth fan, and I know that Steven Wilson and Guthrie both use really bright pickups in their guitars so it might be worth a look.

Keep the ideas coming please!