Middle pickup to pair with P-Rails

[Liko]

Hi guys,

I'm spec-ing a Warmoth HSH Strat build, and I want to use P-Rails for the humbuckers. My problem is choosing a middle pickup. Factors in the decision:

• Unlike some, I love the raw, meaty but biting sound of a vintage SC Strat in position 3 (and no tone pot in that position; I like the second tone wired to the bridge). I find myself using that as the "lead" position on my SSS Strat more often than the bridge. So, the middle pickup has to have true vintage SC Strat tone when soloed.
• I also like position 4 (neck/mid) with its signature quack for rhythm work, and I plan to emulate that here by flipping at least the neck P-Rail so the rail coil is to the outside, giving more space to induce the natural phasing between these coils that produces this sound. So, the middle pickup needs an output that works well with the rail coil of a P-Rail, and it would be a definite plus if it hum-cancelled with the neck rail; from the P-Rails Wiring Bible, I see the neck rail is South polarity, so if I get a single coil I actually need a "normal", North-polarity middle.
• My current Strat has Alnico-5 pickups; I like the brassier tone they give vs A-2 and so I'm leaning toward an A5 pickup for this project.
• Position 2 (mid/bridge) is not as high a priority; I virtually never find myself using it with my current Strat in front of an audience, mainly just when screwing around in my "home studio". It might find more use with a hotter coil, like the P-90, so given the way the P-Rails are arranged, I don't see a problem using a single coil middle here, as if the neck rail hum-cancels with the middle, so will the bridge P-90.
• Obviously I'll have a "neck on" switch in addition to the standard 5-way so I can select neck/bridge or neck/mid/bridge; I have no illusions that a middle pickup well-matched to the rail or P-90 will also hang with both P-Rails, but it would be a nice tool to have if the pickup could hang with at least one P-Rail in parallel mode, which according to other reviewers gives the P-Rail a more PAF-y output than the extremely hot series option. I plan to have series-parallel switching (this will be a beast of a wiring job) so I hope to find something that works.
• I'm not opposed to a hum-cancelling middle pickup like a stack or rails, but between coil selection, neck-on and series-parallel switching, I'm pretty much out of room on the pickguard for a coil split on the middle pickup. That means if I do get a hum-cancelling pickup, it better live up to any claim made about single-coil tone.

The shortlist, in my mind, are the SSL-2 Vintage SC Flat and the STK-S4 Stack Plus. I'm also mulling over the Vintage Rails and Duckbucker, but I don't think I'll end up with one of those. I realize I'm asking a lot out of one pickup and I might not get absolutely everything I want in one SC-sized package, but for my dream guitar, it's worth taking a good look around.

Your thoughts?

[Liko]

Re: Middle pickup to pair with P-Rails

Wow, zero for 23... maybe a bump will get some replies.

[trevorus]

Re: Middle pickup to pair with P-Rails

I'd probably go with an SSL2. I love the 1's, and it's a pickup that I actually use a bit when I have a middle position on my guitar.

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