3 Humbucker Parker Nitefly - Am I Insane?

[gvis]

Re: 3 Humbucker Parker Nitefly - Am I Insane?

Thanks masta. I spent a lot of time yesterday with pickup height, because I had seen threads on the alt 8 and pup height; it did help a lot. But I probably need to spend some more time with it, and not on a day after...ahmmm....a big night out before. Leason learned there; managed to put a nick in my black pickguard and somehow tore the alt 8 ribbon. I just had to see the results asap (no patience). But next time no work unless I'm fresh..lol.

 

[LesStrat]

Re: 3 Humbucker Parker Nitefly - Am I Insane?

:wow:

Interesting alterations.

 

[blueman335]

Re: 3 Humbucker Parker Nitefly - Am I Insane?

If you adjust the height where it starts to work better and notice a couple strings need a boost, adjust just that side of the pickup closer or take advantage of the adjustable pole pieces...that's what they're there for!

+1. Pole piece and PU height really makes a difference. Always try those first.

 

[gvis]

Re: 3 Humbucker Parker Nitefly - Am I Insane?

Ohh, wait, I didn't read that close enough. Adjustable pole pieces? Am I dumbass for not noticing that screws are there for adjusting (don't answer that)? Lol...I have to say I've never questioned why some pickups have screws, and I think this is my first guitar that has them. I assume the invader's massive screws are adjustable as well, or not?

If I can get this pup to work under high gain, I'll be sooo satisfied with this build.

 

[gvis]

Re: 3 Humbucker Parker Nitefly - Am I Insane?

An update. I just couldn't get the alt 8 to sound good in the middle position, so today I switched it to the neck and put the invader neck in the middle. Finally, all 3 humbuckers sound great, with both the alt 8 and invader neck/middle sounding best parallel or split. The invader bridge sounds best series.

I missed the thicker, creamy, driven neck solos I could get from other guitars but couldn't with the very trebly and mid-lacking invader neck (in the neck position) in this guitar. And the stock single coil couldn't handle any overdrive for solos.

But the alt 8 set to parallel in the neck sounds great for this, with every tone setting returning great leads, even brighter settings. Not as many pinch harmonics as I get from the invader bridge, but that's not what I need in the neck. And it can handle high gain chug without splatting like it did in the middle, although its smoother than the invader bridge, which still has more character overall than the alt 8 at chugging and biting leads (alt 8 in neck vs invader bridge - bridge to bridge comparo is probably different). Clean leads sound great too, but so far I haven't found a way for it to do clean rthymns well because of the high output driving the amp; pretty hard attack.

And the invader neck in the middle handles this position better than the full shred or alt 8. In parallel it can chug fine, but the invader bridge and alt 8 do a better job of that. It can handle clean rthymns and bluesy leads well (the alt 8's clean bluesy leads are great too).

The only invader neck issue I have, in both the neck and middle positions, is it's high treble. It's just so much more than every other pup I've tried. The separate humbucker tone controls I'm using are great for pulling out bass, which is great for changes to chugging tones, but the treble reduction side is pulling the highest freqs only (just doesn't adjust like a normal tone control) and the option to cut mids as well as treble pulls too many mids, leaving thin tones.

Given this, is there a way to put a permanent in line cap that basically sets the highest freq equal to what would be some adjustment level to a normal tone knob? If so, what cap values do this? Same as what we use on a tone pot? I'm assuming I'd have to try a few different values to see which one balances it to the other pups. It's not the end of the world if I can't do this, but it would nice to not have to adjust the master tone so far down each time I peg this pup.

Aside from a few wiring tweaks, I think I'm finally done with this process, thankfully (famous last words).

 

[gvis]

Re: 3 Humbucker Parker Nitefly - Am I Insane?

The saga continues. Might as well provide periodic updates, in case anyone ever does a search on parker nitefly swamp ash setups.

In summary, IMO high output pups don't work well in this guitar. The tone they deliver seems flubbed out and splatty, in any position (though worse in the neck and middle). My guess is that it's due to a combo of the thin swamp ash body and the composite fret board. So I'm now running medium output pups.

So here's where I'm at now:

-- Stock dimarzio bridge pup. Basically a parker specific version of the fred, with modded EQ and slightly less output. A medium output pup, it has great harmonics, balanced bass (I just got tired of trying to control the boomy bass of the invader and alt 8), and a more modern, slightly compressed sound. No problem getting high gain metal out of it; just had to adjust the amps and pedals a bit.

-- Invader neck in the middle position, with A2 mag and normal hex screw pole pieces. It was ok stock in parallel early on, but never good for anything else but pure clean, due to high output. Now it's just perfect, and now in series. Still clearer than the other pups because it was designed/eq'd that way, but now warmer, balanced, and without the flubby bass I'd get with it in the middle. And bass is tighter. I can now apply gain to it, for both rythmn and leads. As far as I'm concerned, the case is closed on whether or not a humbucker can work in the middle; with enough tweaking and trial and error it can. The tones I'm now getting are nothing like the bridge and neck pups, and blending with those offers completely new tones. And the tone is no less in quality than the other pups in their position; nothing strange, nothing missing, etc.

-- Dimarzio Liquifire in the neck. Does exactly what I wanted, which is a warm, smooth, fluid like tone with rolled off treble, decent articulation and the ability to handle high gain leads. It does this in spades. It is bassier and thicker thna the other two pups, but that's fine with me. It doesn't really handle high gain rythmn and the low strings that well, but that could be the combo of the extra bass, the guitar's dislike for bass under gain, and the position. But leads really sing. And cleans are very nice, though a tad thick.

-- 250k volume and 250k tone (stock). 500k volume and 250k tone, which I had used to open up the thick bridge invader and alt 8, was just too cold.

-- No more series/parallel/single mini toggles for each pup because what I have offers five very unique tones, and because I need space for some new tricks (below). Also dictehd the special tone pots for each pup because I don't have to worry about controlling bass anymore nor balancing treble; all three are balanced/normalized now.

My next addition will be two standard size three way switches that cut trebel to the exact value I want for neck and bridge, for when I want creamier solos. I never spend time with tone positions other than the max treble I can tolerate and the tone I want for creamy leads, so these swicthes will allow quick back and forths, or allow the neck to sit and wait in creamy mode for leads while the bridge carries on unadjusted for rthymn.

I can't say enough just how pleased I am with so many tonal options, on the most playable guitar I've ever owned (if you've played a parker, you know what I'm talking about). Under very high gain during solos, the differences become a little less apparent, but otherwise they are significant, especially when compared purely clean. The middle pup makes it all happen. On it's own it has no quack; just sounds between a neck and bridge humbucker. Blended with the bridge it gets a bit of a dark quack, but just a bit. Blended with neck, it gets a cool strat like sound; clean argeggios here sound great.

Now that I'm close to finishing it up, and now that I've completed my reverend hellhound combo to head conversion (I'll post pics this weekend; it came out great), I'll start preparing for a demo early in the new year....finally.

Hopefully this is the last of the pup mods...lol...famous last...

 

[gvis]

Re: 3 Humbucker Parker Nitefly - Am I Insane?

Ok, so last night I put the polished A5 in my alt 8. What a difference compared with the UOA5. No more fuzziness/strangeness. Compared to the invader ceramic I had last tried, it sounds tighter and more controlled, with less cocked wah sound.

It doesn't have the cool, more modern sound of the Fred, which is also more compressed. And the Fred seemed to have a mild twang the alt has never had with any mag. The alt is more open. But the A5 alt 8's output is better balanced with the liquifire in the neck, which was an issue with the Fred, requiring the liquifire to sit lower than I'd prefer, and it's leads are just fantastic. And rthymn is very balanced under gain; no muddiness and all the notes can be heard. And bass is just right. So I think it's the bridge winner of all the pups and mags I've got laying around.

Gotta play it a little more to be sure, but so far I like what I'm hearing. How close to a JB is an alt 8 with polished A5?