HELP: Single-sized Neck to pair with Pearly Gates+ (bridge)? No info on PG+ ;(

[JDLM]

Pearly Gates+ arrived today; installed it and, man, sonic Nirvana, eargasm. I took the risk cuz I didn't know how it'd sound on a superstrat with basswood body, it's amazing, well-balanced and super articulate. Ah, and amazing harmonics without the harsh.

Now I have to find a single coil sized in the neck to pair with it. I keep trying the tone wizard but since this Pearly Gates+ is not a regular pickup, I can't get an idea. All info posted on SD web is this:

Hum canceling: Yes
DC Resistance: 8.65k
Magnets: Alnico 5 bar
Resonant Peak: 6.62khz
4-conductor wiring

Based on that info, what single-sized pickup would you use for the neck? My favorites are the STK-4, STK-5 or SSL-5, but I prefer noiseless.

Thanks a ton!

[DreX]

Re: HELP: Single-sized Neck to pair with Pearly Gates+ (bridge)? No info on PG+ ;(

There's a custom shop Little Pearly Gates http://customshop.seymourduncan.com/...tes-for-strat/ , I have both Pearly Gates as well as Little Pearly Gates, and while they don't sound identical, they sound extremely related. Where the Pearly Gates are thinner than a 59, the Little Pearly Gates are likewise thinner than the Little 59. I think the a full sized PG and a little PG would sound great in the same guitar.

But if you have to go single coil, I'd do Ant II Surfers.

[SJ318]

Re: HELP: Single-sized Neck to pair with Pearly Gates+ (bridge)? No info on PG+ ;(

To JDLM,
Where do you buy a P.Gates +? Fender? Custom shop? I didn't see it on the tone chart. Thanks,
SB

[GuitarDoc]

Re: HELP: Single-sized Neck to pair with Pearly Gates+ (bridge)? No info on PG+ ;(

Lil '59 or Duckbucker

[JDLM]

Re: HELP: Single-sized Neck to pair with Pearly Gates+ (bridge)? No info on PG+ ;(

To JDLM,
Where do you buy a P.Gates +? Fender? Custom shop? I didn't see it on the tone chart. Thanks,
SB

Got it on a trade. It's not really like a Pearly Gates. It was done for the Fenders Lonestars and Big Apples. It has Alnico V and has more mids and treble, but it works for what I wanted on my basswood superstrat.

[uOpt]

Re: HELP: Single-sized Neck to pair with Pearly Gates+ (bridge)? No info on PG+ ;(

I like the hot rails neck. It isn't all that hot, it's about PAF class, and it has some "liquid" high gain soloing capabilities. And you can split.

[Ace Flibble]

Re: HELP: Single-sized Neck to pair with Pearly Gates+ (bridge)? No info on PG+ ;(

I've had the PG+ in a few guitars and in terms of plain matching it, I think Fender/Richie Sambora got it right when they paired it with their Texas Specials in the Lone Star strat. When I first took the PG+ out of the Lone Star Strat I had, I tried it in other guitars with Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups, SD SSL-1s, Quarter Pounders, Cool Rails and the Little '59, but in the end I stuck the Texas Specials with it again and that was what matched up best, to me. Even though I usually prefer humbucker tones for the neck position, the Texas Specials balanced better. (Granted, I later ripped it out again and paired it with a couple of Phat Cats, but they're not single-sized.)
The Texas Specials work because they were made with the same principle as the PG+: take a normal old-style wind and magnet configuration, turn up everything a little bit and then turn up the treble once more. They've not got much hum to them, either, though of course a lot of that depends on how well your guitar is shielded, the room you're playing in, how much gain you're using, etc. If you want to be completely humless, the Vintage Hot Stack Plus would be the humless equivalent.

Word of warning, remember that the PG+ is made to match phase with Fender pickups, and regular Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio pickups will be out of phase with it. I forgot this and went through several pickup combinations before I realised why the combined positions sounded so thin. So if you do end up with a non-Fender pickup, remember to reverse the phase of the PG+.