Breakdown On A Bridge P-Rails??

[zozoe]

Hiya all,, how is this pup really, with all it's different sounds with a Triple Shot? The P90 coil as P90's go, & the single on it's own? Combo sounds? Thnx,,,,
Be well all!!

[JamesPaul]

I have this in my Les Paul Custom.

The P90 coil is as close as you will get to a real P90.

To me the rail is passable. Like splitting most humbuckers you can tell it is now a single coil, but it does lack some of the chime, jangle and twang of a true single coil. Keep in mind this is in a LP.

Coils in series it is relatively hot. It is close to my Custom output-wise, but it does not have a PAF-ish tone or the typical hot humbucker tone. It is kind of it's own tone, but I really like it. So much that I've loaned out my Duncan Custom loaded LP to one of my kids.

Coils in parallel it comes closer to a typical hot humbucker in parallel, but I'm not the best judge of that as I do not spend a lot of time in parallel with any of my humbuckers.

Only my opinion but I think split humbuckers are never 100% of any single due to effects from the proximity of the other unused coil.

[Jack_TriPpEr]

I share a lot of the same sentiments as what JamesPaul said above.

Based on some advise from member GuitarDoc, I gave it a try with having the Bridge pup situated so that the Rail coil faces the bridge. I prefer the pup this way. I did also try it with the Rail coil facing the Neck, but I found - just like GuitarDoc advised - that the Rail coil gained more personality by facing the bridge. And it did not seem to have any impact on the P90 coil.

In my opinion, the Rail coils on these pups are not Stratty in character, but orienting it like I have it, it is working well at faking Telecaster style singlecoil tones. The Rail coil in both Neck and Bridge P-Rail pickups is a little weaker than I would like in terms of strength and output- and if you search threads in this forum about these pups, you'll see where others have said this, too. So when I do use the Rail coil, i actually use both together vs just one of them. And I did end up also orienting the Neck Prail so that its Rail coil is the outer coil instead of being an inner coil. I found that helps to achieve the Tele like sound I am going for when I use the Rail coils.

I actually just installed the Prails in a test bed guitar about a week ago, so I am still getting acquainted to these pups.

Another point you may find useful: if you decide to go with a set of P-Rail pups, I have found the combination of Neck and Bridge pups * wired in parallel * to be a very glassy, almost Stratty tone, on a clean channel. It's a really really good clean tone.


* CORRECTION: i originally wrote "both pups wired in parallel and then each split to the P90 coils" directly above, but the next day I went back and checked my settings on this guitar. It was actually both HBs wired in parallel, no coilsplits. On that basis, I've also removed the now non-applicable comments I made later in this reply about having each pup first wired in parallel before doing coilsplits and whether the Tripleshot rings could do that, yada yada.

[Mincer]

My 2 favorite sounds are the P90, and both coils in parallel. I never liked the rail by itself, or the entire pickup in series (too thick). It is absolutely worth the money for the pickup and the Triple Shot for those 2 sounds, and a few other bonus sounds.

[Jack_TriPpEr]

In my earlier reply, I completely forgot to talk about the P90 tone. Used for distortion or overdrive, it's a superb P90 tone. True for both pups. As clean tones go, i've never been a big fan of any P90 used for cleans. These P90 coils sound like what i've heard from other P90s clean. So if you like that tone, these P90 coils do well at it.

[zozoe]

Alrighty then!! While we're here, thoughts on Strat Bridge saddles that are magnetized, or not? No diff, & no problem? I would think nogo, but I think, & I get into trouble ;~{

[jeremy]

why would you want magnetized saddles?

[beaubrummels]

I've never heard of magnetized saddles. Does such a thing exist? And what problem does it solve?

[Mincer]

Are you talking about something else besides the saddles?

[zozoe]

All I know is that I had a bunch of saddles & puos scattered around, & I noticed that certain sets of saddles were attracted & stuck on the pup, while the majority had no magnetism at all!! It never crossed my mind in the past & doesn't terribly concern me now,, but I was just asking around. I'll taken mine non-mag'd!!
peace all~

[PFDarkside]

You mean steel vs brass vs cast... zinc?

[zozoe]

No brass involved, but most likely zinc, steel, or a similar alloy, but with just one unidentifiable bunch of 6 that took a strong liking to the p/u....
Which metal offers the best sustain on a Strat, magnetic or not?
rhnx

[PFDarkside]

I like stamped steel saddles on a Strat. I had a pretty drastic comparison going from the old Fender Floyd locking bridge to a 2007+ American Standard bridge with stamped steel saddles. The bar wiggle is worse on the new one, but the tone is more to my liking.

[GuitarDoc]

The saddles themselves are NOT "magnetized" in any set. But some metals are more attracted to magnets (of the pups)...eg: steel & stamped steel. Brass, pot metal, zinc, stainless steel are not much attracted to magnets.