Pickups For An HSH Guitar

[Lucky Eastwood]

Hello everyone! I’m planning on ordering a double neck bass and guitar body from Warmoth. I’m wanting the guitar side to have both nice hot output for overdrive and distortion tones and crisp clean tones.

I’ve been thinking about getting 2 Seymour Duncan JB humbuckers for neck and bridge positions and a standard AlNiCo 5 Stratocaster pickup in the middle position with a stacked 250K potentiometer for the guitar side.

[Snake Aces]

Wow. You must have a strong back. Other than that, cool build.

I am curious, why do you want a JB for the neck position of the guitar side?

[Mincer]

You might consider the Jazz for the neck position, which pairs well with the JB while having the ability to play clean (if you want to). Try a Classic Stack in the middle for a great Strat sound that keeps up with the humbuckers volume-wise, and is noiseless, too.

[Snake Aces]

You might consider the Jazz for the neck position, which pairs well with the JB while having the ability to play clean (if you want to). Try a Classic Stack in the middle for a great Strat sound that keeps up with the humbuckers volume-wise, and is noiseless, too.

This is how I would do it as well. I have an HSH with a Jazz neck and a Classic Stack middle. I even used to have a JB in the bridge but now it is a Jazz bridge.

[Lucky Eastwood]

How would JB’s do in parallel mode?

[Top-L]

This is the logical progression of things.

First there was 6-strings plus a bass guitar.

Then there was seven strings. Guitar players realized they didn't need a bass player any more..

So they invented eight string guitars. And longer scales. And bass players became optional.

Now an enterprising guitarist is building a 6string guitar + bass in one instrument.

I predict the next step is that everyone will realize thats too difficult to play well, wouldn't it be easier to have another person play the bass?

Then we are right back where we started. 6 String guitar + bass.

Circle of life.

[Snake Aces]

This is the logical progression of things.

First there was 6-strings plus a bass guitar.

Then there was seven strings. Guitar players realized they didn't need a bass player any more..

So they invented eight string guitars. And longer scales. And bass players became optional.

Now an enterprising guitarist is building a 6string guitar + bass in one instrument.

I predict the next step is that everyone will realize thats too difficult to play well, wouldn't it be easier to have another person play the bass?

Then we are right back where we started. 6 String guitar + bass.

Circle of life.

Lol. Amen.

[jeremy]

i like the jb in parallel for some things. it doesnt sound like a paf or a jazz, it sounds like a thinner/brighter jb

[Mincer]

The other 'crisp clean tone' neck pickups are the Sentient, and the Full Shred. Can I ask why you'd want 2 JBs?

[Lucky Eastwood]

I’m looking for pickups with equal windings between both bobbins for both pickups where when in 2 and 4 positions on a 5 way switch, they can somewhat match the middle pickup when the pickups coil-split. I don’t particularly mind if the 1 and 5 positions remain on the hot side. I’m wanting to have little amount of switching as possible on the guitar as well.

[Lucky Eastwood]

How would a set of 59 on neck and bridge with 4C wires work with a middle single coil?

[eclecticsynergy]

How would a set of 59 on neck and bridge with 4C wires work with a middle single coil?

Tonewise, it's a good combination. But I don't think it would be right for you if you're looking for hot output at the bridge.

JB is strong enough when split to balance well with a Strat singlecoil in the #2 position, assuming you're looking at autosplit via the blade switch.
I'd consider a JazzN at the neck as Mincer suggested, and use a resistor in the ground connection for splitting.
I think that'd be a very nice set.

[Mincer]

I think the 59 in the bridge might need some boosting after the guitar to get the hot tones you want. It is a solid choice in the neck, though.

[Lucky Eastwood]

I could probably get the Stag Mag for the neck and JB for the bridge, use the 5 way switch for neck(series) / neck(parallel) / neck + bridge (split) / bridge(parallel) / bridge (series) and use a concentric 250k pot.

[Lucky Eastwood]

Here’s a pic of my double neck guitar body.