Adventures In Single Pickup-land??

[Mincer]

Yes, anything in the Custom family has a great split sound- one of the best. I'd say it is 80% of a Strat pickup, but for some that isn't enough (it is fine for me).

[zozoe]

Cool,,, So, I take it that the StagMag is not humbucking? And which Custom has the nicest kick,, keeping me FAR from Invader territory, but not at ground level? I don't use OD pedals as I like my amps to do my barking, so a Custom with some, uh, charm ando personality, for lack of a better words?
thnx

[esandes]

My Jackson is currently set up with a 5-way blade that does:

Full humbucker, straight out, no tone
Full humbucker, with tone
Parallel coils (with tone)
Split to slug (with tone)
Split to screw (with tone)

I have it with a Liberator, and then swapped out

Full Shred
Screamin Demon
Slash bridge
Jazz bridge
Custom
Custom 5
Custom Custom
Distortion
Black Winter

The Custom family always sounds Fender Strat like with split to slug. The Black Winter also.
Parallel seemed remarkably similar across all of them. The Custom family came closest to having character like a Filtertron, the others were more just like a brighter, lower output version of what they already are.
Splitting to screw coil often sounded punk P90-ish across all of them
My Distortion just sounded louder or quieter in all positions. Remarkable that it kept consistent character no matter what.
The Black Winter is what is currently in and may stay for a while. It has the versatility of the Custom but also handles the old metal stuff like the Distortion. I may put the Distorition back in at some point as it was the hands down best for doing old metal tunes and sounded just like those records (dead on, better than the Winter). Ultimately, I think I will permanently put a Custom or Custom 5 in there as they were the most versatile.

There's a few more I still need to swap in just to hear also.

How do you describe the HB tone/tone bypass sounds? I saw Chris Broderick demo his signature guitar and it has a tone pot bypass push/pull and when bypassed it sounds huge...way better than with the tone pot load.

[beaubrummels]

How do you describe the HB tone/tone bypass sounds? I saw Chris Broderick demo his signature guitar and it has a tone pot bypass push/pull and when bypassed it sounds huge...way better than with the tone pot load.

The tone pot engaged has a little bit of tone suck similar to adding a volume pedal or a bad cable. Straight out bypassing the tone you get all the high treble there is to be had, which helps being able to hear delicate finger articulation and have some snap to work with for a variety of songs. Bypassing the tone is like turning the Presence up 2-4 notches on the amp. Very lively.

[zozoe]

BREAUBRUMMELS, when you said "StagMag does it also, but you compromise on the humbucker sound", it led me to believe that it's not H'bucking, but I see it is,,,
Does any particular Custom pop up as have a unique sound, especially when split & parallel? I'd like to squeeze as much possible out of a single pup setup!!
thnx

[zozoe]

The 59/Hybrid has piqued my curiosity,,, ? ?

[Mincer]

The Hybrid is my 2nd fav bridge humbucker. It splits well, too. I haven't tried it in parallel, yet.

[beaubrummels]

BREAUBRUMMELS, when you said "StagMag does it also, but you compromise on the humbucker sound", it led me to believe that it's not H'bucking, but I see it is,,,
Does any particular Custom pop up as have a unique sound, especially when split & parallel? I'd like to squeeze as much possible out of a single pup setup!!
thnx

When I said compromise on the humbucking sound, what I meant was the StagMag doesn't sound like a typical PAF type humbucker. Mine sounds kind of like a slightly warmer Duncan Distortion pickup in full humbucking mode, which is not bad at all. StagMag full humbucker sits in between a Black Winter and a Distortion for me. (Or maybe in between a JB and a Distortion.)

Your original post doesn't say what wood your guitar is, but I'd bet the Custom Custom would be very versatile. My Custom Custom in my Jackson sounded like a vintage chimey PAF in full humbucking, but has some power to do singing leads, rocked chords pretty well, in parallel had a Filtertron-ish Gretsch-like vibe to it but not the fully authentic thumpy trebly twang of a Gretsch (the right amp would fix that), it sounded like a Strat split to slug, and had a weaker punk P90-ish tone split to screw, though it lacks the push of a real P90 (again, the right amp, or maybe even a boost pedal, could fix that straight away). Custom Custom was the most versatile in general of all the ones I swapped out. Basically, each 'mode' sounded notably different.

For me, the only reason for choosing something else than the Custom Custom would be if I needed to do a different kind of music in my versatility. For example, I have a Black WInter in right now and in full humbucker mode it adds 80s-90s metal to my possibilities, it keeps the Fender strat tone split to slug, loses the Filtertron-ish sound in parallel but replaces it with a weaker brighter Winter sound for clean parts of heavy metal, but also loses vintage PAF-ish blues stuff.

So it's a question of what variety of music do you want to play? Then figure out which pickup will provide that variety.

[zozoe]

GREAT BEAUBR,, and thanks for expounding on this for me,,,, I believe the body is a 2 pc. Swamp Ash from Warmoth, rock maple neck w/rosewood fb,, Stylistically, a solid power pop (commanding) rhythm style,, no HM, Death, Goth or even grunge, but more punk possibly Alt., but def. good 'ol RnR' and RnB...
I also want some nice clean sounds,,, Leadwise or on the single coil side of life, I dig my newly found love (and ability) of a good #2 Strat position,,,, I know, it sounds as if I want a whole lot from one p/u, but I understand it's a balance, and I'll settle for versatility, with the scales gently tipping more towards the Fender'ish cleans and a great parallel sound... I intentionally have the p/u and the Triple Shot inside out, upside down,,, just fishin' around~
thnx again!! P-Rails is cool, but I want cooler~

[alex1fly]

Man, I'd love to get in to this world. Every time I'm seriously thinking about taking plunge, I try to spend some real time with my bridge pickup only... and get bored after 20-30 minutes. That time then serves to remind me of how much I love neck pickups.

It is really cool being forced to do weird stuff like pick way up on the fretboard for a round sound. But then I'm like... why don't I just play my acoustic guitar if I want to approach guitar in this way?

I do think it'd be neat to have a middle pickup only... a bit rounder than the bridge, still with some teeth, and I do really enjoy a middle pickup. I'd like to leave it wired to a 3 or 5 way switch that way I could use the switch as a kill switch for texture and weirdness.

What am I missing on the single pickup adventure?

[beaubrummels]

What am I missing on the single pickup adventure?

Simplicity. Focusing on music and hand technique, you against the strings to make all the sounds; less on gear and settings.

[alex1fly]

Simplicity. Focusing on music and hand technique, you against the strings to make all the sounds; less on gear and settings.

I'm wondering about getting over the hump of missing the neck pickup. So spend more time with a single pickup guitar, then? Force yourself to do it and see what you come up with?

[beaubrummels]

I'm wondering about getting over the hump of missing the neck pickup. So spend more time with a single pickup guitar, then? Force yourself to do it and see what you come up with?

I was like you until I bought a melody maker with one pickup and immediately upon playing it discovered that by simply shifting my strumming hand from over the bridge pickup to where a neck pickup should be yielded warmer, near-neck tones, and everything in between. Playing became all about the hands. It is surprising how many different sounds you can get moving your hands around, changing from pick, flat to the strings or edge at an angle, to bare finger, to tapping to, strumming near the bridge, strumming near the neck, even strumming over the neck itself. The single pickup just becomes a full-range bright microphone to pickup everything you are doing.

You don't have to buy a guitar. Just remove the neck pickup from one you have to try it.

[zionstrat]

I can't say that I've ever had a single pickup guitar. May have to try it one of these days.

But I do know that we're having a great gig when I realize I haven't made any control changes in the last 10 minutes :-)



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