Forum pickup ideas

[matt239]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

I might be in the minority here but I actually love the middle position on it's own. It provides a brighter more open sound without being shrill like a lot of bridge strat pups. I'd say it rings out a lot more and is great for B.B king licks. I use it probably just as often as the 4,5 positions.

I think you ARE in a minority,, but YOU'RE NOT WRONG.. Of course a few other players have "discovered" the middle p/u, but many do not. - I think the middle p/u sounds GREAT, WHEN, it sounds GREAT...

- but often it doesn't. - Usually, the middle p/u is the same is the neck p/u, and once you dial-it-in for great sounds in 2 & 4, it ends up sounding pretty flat on it's own.

I think it's less of a problem with very-old-school, very-low-output, very bright, traditional single coils. - In this case the middle p/u often sounds quite good compared to all the other positions,

- trouble is; the whole regime is too bright, too thin, too ice-picky, too quiet, too percussive, too little sustain,, for the majority of modern players. - It only works for real devotees of "traditional," "authentic" "Stratty" chime, & quack. - I like these sounds sometimes, but it doesn't make for a versatile guitar.

For guitars with hotter-darker-rounder neck & bridge p/ups, I think it would be helpful for the middle pickup to be much hotter, & edgier than it usually is, with a bit of an upper-midrange spike.
(Maybe it would help a lot just to specify "bridge" singles for the middle position, rather than neck.. ?)

For people who NEVER use the middle alone, (perhaps they have tried, and got it to sound "good" just not exiting, not something they would often choose over other positions..)
- A radically different middle pickup might be in order..

[Ascension]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

I think a neck 'bucker to pair with the Brobucker would be awesome, but WHY does it have to be underwound and an A4? The Brobucker, from what I understand is wound to around 10k? That is a pretty juiced up PAF. An A4 humbucker wound to like....what....6k or whatever isn't going to balance well with it. It just makes me think of the Dragon1 neck humbucker I have. A4 magnet and mine measures at 7.4k. It sounds good, but I find myself wishing it had more juice for leads and balanced better with any of the pickups I have had in that guitar.

A better option if this route were taken would be to just wind a PAF to match the Brobucker. Anyway, just my opinion.

One of the better pickup combos i have used was the old Demarzio Virtual Hot PAF with the Eric Johnson neck.
I will run a 5 way in a super strat and get a number of PRS like splits as I love the HFS/VB set up in my 07 CU 24 with the 5 way rotary. However would like some thing bigger warmer and less harsh in the bridge with a cleaner more open neck tone.
I have a JB / 59 A4 in my MG 102 and want bigger warmer and sweeter overall that that combo.

[LtKojak]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

Matt239, the middle p'up by itself in a stock strat is one of the most used for arpeggio-and chord-work in the studio by pros since... forever.

HTH,

[VHTJay]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

One of the better pickup combos i have used was the old Demarzio Virtual Hot PAF with the Eric Johnson neck.
I will run a 5 way in a super strat and get a number of PRS like splits as I love the HFS/VB set up in my 07 CU 24 with the 5 way rotary. However would like some thing bigger warmer and less harsh in the bridge with a cleaner more open neck tone.
I have a JB / 59 A4 in my MG 102 and want bigger warmer and sweeter overall that that combo.

Interesting! Do you find the 59 A4 balances well with the JB? Maybe the magnet in the Dragon1 neck is really degaussed, but I can't get ot to balance well. I can see the merit with an A4 PAF (more balance, clear but warm) but I suppose I am a bit gunshy from trying to get my own A4 PAF to do what I want.

[matt239]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

Matt239, the middle p'up by itself in a stock strat is one of the most used for arpeggio-and chord-work in the studio by pros since... forever.

HTH,

- Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti. - I like it, when it's working well. - I just think it's not doing much for a lot of guys, a lot of the time.. - so that there might be a lot of interest in a "special" "different" middle pickup.

- Like I said, I think it works very well in old school Strats, - but if you just take a low-output very-bright chimey Strat p/u and drop it in the middle between much hotter, darker neck and bridge pickups, it's not going to be practical; - you'd have to step on a boost or EQ pedal every time..

- and if you use a hotter darker pickup in the middle, sometimes it sounds good in 2 & 4, but kinda "dull" by itself.. - So not a problem for everyone, but for a lot of folks it seems to be..

- So, for folks using "modern" bridge and neck pickups, I was thinking it would be useful to use hotter, yet "twangier" middle p/ups than are usually recommended..

Of, course none of this means it should be the next forum pickup, - it was just a thought.. - I didn't mean to hijack the thread.

(- And perhaps the problem I perceive could easily be remedied by just using a Hot Stack STK-S2.. ?? IDK..)

[SJ318]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

I use a TwangBanger in the middle,
And it is hot, the copper plate gives it some much needed spike than an overwound SC (7.5K or so) would not have. It sounds like a crackling under wound PAF. It is good on it's own as a lead pup. I find myself constantly noodling around on it all day. Might ask the Custom shop for a 6K TwanBanger for my neck. Seriously thinking about it. The 2 and 4 positions are very sweet, neck and middle have some quack, (neck is a Fend.'69 5.8K), and my TBanger with my Jazz Neck (7.8K) in the bridge position also has a very unique sound. LEADABLE! New word for the day. As in: can be used for lead solos. As the LT. says: HTH
SJB

[uOpt]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

I think a neck 'bucker to pair with the Brobucker would be awesome, but WHY does it have to be underwound and an A4? The Brobucker, from what I understand is wound to around 10k? That is a pretty juiced up PAF. An A4 humbucker wound to like....what....6k or whatever isn't going to balance well with it. It just makes me think of the Dragon1 neck humbucker I have. A4 magnet and mine measures at 7.4k. It sounds good, but I find myself wishing it had more juice for leads and balanced better with any of the pickups I have had in that guitar.

A better option if this route were taken would be to just wind a PAF to match the Brobucker. Anyway, just my opinion.

Creating a humbucker format pickup that would be really good in the neck, and doesn't have the problems of easily getting boomy in hardtail guitars, was one of the prime motivations behind what we did in March.

The split design has the potential to do all of the above, and if it is a bar magnet + passive polepiece design (up to SD) then you can also mess with the magnet, and screw versus hex screws and the like.

However, I do not believe that you can make one conventional PAF construction humbucker that will perform well in a wide range of guitars in the neck position. It won't work the same way that you can have widely useful bridge pickups. The neck position in a random hardtail just has massive differences in how much "boom" is being introduced right by the guitar. A PAF variant in the neck will always be either borderline lame or borderline boomy in many guitars.

Making the step to a single pickup point design and half-length/full-strength coils has the potential to do this by lifting bass without sacrificing the tone-forming mids.

[VHTJay]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

Creating a humbucker format pickup that would be really good in the neck, and doesn't have the problems of easily getting boomy in hardtail guitars, was one of the prime motivations behind what we did in March.

The split design has the potential to do all of the above, and if it is a bar magnet + passive polepiece design (up to SD) then you can also mess with the magnet, and screw versus hex screws and the like.

However, I do not believe that you can make one conventional PAF construction humbucker that will perform well in a wide range of guitars in the neck position. It won't work the same way that you can have widely useful bridge pickups. The neck position in a random hardtail just has massive differences in how much "boom" is being introduced right by the guitar. A PAF variant in the neck will always be either borderline lame or borderline boomy in many guitars.

Making the step to a single pickup point design and half-length/full-strength coils has the potential to do this by lifting bass without sacrificing the tone-forming mids.

I am pretty much open to anything, so long as it is well thought out. That said, I was really pumped about the split design that you were spearheading in March and was kinda bummed it didn't come to fruition. There were some good ideas, focus and alot of potential.

[firebirdguy72]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

A PAF variant in the neck will always be either borderline lame or borderline boomy in many guitars.

I think you're pushing your opinion as fact... If that were true there would not as much support for an under wound PAF style pickup. I don't have a dog in the fight for a PAF being the forum pickup... I'm just saying you shouldn't pass off your opinion as fact. Frankly I like the idea of doing a second take on the stagmag... I think there are many different directions it can be taken that I really like. That's why it got my vote.

[uOpt]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

I think you're pushing your opinion as fact... If that were true there would not as much support for an under wound PAF style pickup. I don't have a dog in the fight for a PAF being the forum pickup... I'm just saying you shouldn't pass off your opinion as fact. Frankly I like the idea of doing a second take on the stagmag... I think there are many different directions it can be taken that I really like. That's why it got my vote.

But the stagmag is in line with what I said.

Simply messing with a PAF-like construction is not likely to end up with a neck pickup universally useful in a wide range of hardtail's neck positions. A pickup with rod magnets is a derivation from that.

What I did not see is what the proponents of a stag mag 2 want to do differently than the normal stag mag we already have.

[firebirdguy72]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

But the stagmag is in line with what I said.

Simply messing with a PAF-like construction is not likely to end up with a neck pickup universally useful in a wide range of hardtail's neck positions. A pickup with rod magnets is a derivation from that.

What I did not see is what the proponents of a stag mag 2 want to do differently than the normal stag mag we already have.

I was just saying there has been significant support for an under wound PAF... which you were not in favor of. I'm not sure why you're saying there hasn't been many ideas for a new stagmag... because there has been quite a few.

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

Hm, how about a strat sized Dimebucker... Called a "Dime-sized Bucker".

[uOpt]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

Hm, how about a strat sized Dimebucker... Called a "Dime-sized Bucker".

Isn't that mostly a hot rails?

[Joe61]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

Chiming in kinda late here-the last four months have been rough. Has anyone considered a single-point humbucker built like a gibby sidewinder and voiced like a P90 and installed in a standard 'bucker case? It's an idea I've been rolling 'round my skull for a while. If it has already been suggested, I'll take my lumps.

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: Forum pickup ideas

Isn't that mostly a hot rails?

Thought the hot rails had boosted mids and less treble compared to the Dimebucker.