80's Hair Metal and versatile HSS?

[OldNewb]

Hi, y'all. Old user from the late 00's that had to create a new profile.

Used to play a lot and try a bunch of pickups, but now I'm old and just getting back into things. My only guitar right now that's not stored in the basement somewhere is a Mexican Richie Sambora Strat with a Floyd Rose. It has a PAF Pro bridge two Fender "Special Design" single coils.

I used to play a lot of classic rock and blues but now in my 50's, I've acquired the skills to play my secret love of 80's hair metal (Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Skid Row, Ozzy Satriani, etc). These days, I jam 80's stuff with my son in the living room or in bar jams using a Marshall practice amp or a Marshall JCM 900. I also occasionally join my purist, professional cousin in bar jams on Allman Brothers type stuff, doing the best I can with a Marshall or a Fender Blues Jr.

The PAF Pro ain't quite cutting it for pinch harmonics and heavy sounding rhythm on 80's, so I was thinking of getting a JB.

On an 80's guitar, you normally don't care about anything but the bridge pickup, but since I've got two singles, might as well use them.

For the neck position, I think I'd normally use that for mimicking an acoustic rhythm for a power ballad or for a smooth blues solo, so I thought about a Cool Rails.

Middle, who the hell knows? On a real Strat, I always liked the funky sound of the 2 and 4 positions, but never really utilized a middle on its own. I'm open to anything. Maybe a second bridge pickup (single-size hum) to play Allman Brothers songs and just use a 3-way switch. Maybe a traditional but noiseless single?

I asked AI, and it suggested JB/Classic Stack/Cool Rails

Thoughts/Ideas?

 

[Aceman]

Might I suggest;

JB Bridge, Hot rails neck, Cool Rails middle

Optionally, Distortion Bridge, 2x Hot Rails

Or,

Superdistortion, 2x Choppers

The PAF Pro is mucking up the whole affair...

 

[OldNewb]

Dadnabbit! You expanded my horizons and choices!

Listened to a dude on the interwebs playing a SD with a Chopper on some Deep Purple-ish stuff, and man alive, they sounded good.

Also listened to a Hot Rails that got in the ballpark of Satriani's self-titled album tone, which I love. Thinking with it's extra bass above the Cool Rails, it might be an ok fake acoustic rhythm with the volume rolled down.

I think though for a bridge, I might stick to JB. For lead, I think it will probably hit me better, and I really dig that tone on Bon Jovi Let it Rock where Sambora hits that heavy D chord and then divebombs. SD is cool too but a bit different. Not sold on a DD. I know it's the Crazy Train pickup and sounds cool there, but not sure its chunky crunch matches my style of playing.

 

[ehdwuld]

JB or a Custom for the bridge is standard 80s hair metal

Little 59 for the neck or a cool rails (which they say is like the Jazz tonaly)

And something else in the middle

 

[Masta' C]

I'm gonna throw a curve ball your way:

• JB (bridge)
• JB Jr (middle)
• Cool Rails (neck) or Screamin' Demon (neck)

Wire them all for coil splitting and then mix to your heart's content!

 

[OldNewb]

The Screamin' Demon suggestion got me digging and looking at EQ and such.

What do y'all think about this setup that has a similar mid hump in all: JB/Little 78/Hot Rails? No real single coil sound to speak of, but it sure looks cool on paper.

I'm intrigued by the Red Devils too, but their DCR is HIGH....

 

[Mincer]

While the Hot Rails in the neck doesn't sound nearly as dark as the bridge model, it is still really mid-heavy, and *really* far away from the 'acoustic' type sound you are after. I might go for a Cool Rails, or even something like a stacked single coil for that.

 

[Aceman]

While the Hot Rails in the neck doesn't sound nearly as dark as the bridge model, it is still really mid-heavy, and *really* far away from the 'acoustic' type sound you are after. I might go for a Cool Rails, or even something like a stacked single coil for that.

Hot rails split or parallel for that

 

[Aceman]

Dadnabbit! You expanded my horizons and choices!

Listened to a dude on the interwebs playing a SD with a Chopper on some Deep Purple-ish stuff, and man alive, they sounded good.

Also listened to a Hot Rails that got in the ballpark of Satriani's self-titled album tone, which I love. Thinking with it's extra bass above the Cool Rails, it might be an ok fake acoustic rhythm with the volume rolled down.

I think though for a bridge, I might stick to JB. For lead, I think it will probably hit me better, and I really dig that tone on Bon Jovi Let it Rock where Sambora hits that heavy D chord and then divebombs. SD is cool too but a bit different. Not sold on a DD. I know it's the Crazy Train pickup and sounds cool there, but not sure its chunky crunch matches my style of playing.

Would this guy lie to you about Hair Band tones?

 

[jeremy]

no, just about the tea in the jack bottle.

im gonna say jb bridge for the classic 80s tones. hot rails neck, but with a series/parallel switch. series will give you fat tones for solos, parallel will give you brighter/thinner tones for clean parts. if you want single coil tones, the classic stack+ is a fine choice for the middle

 

[Masta' C]

Would this guy lie to you about Hair Band tones?

I don't know about his band or his tones, but he's definitely lying about his hair, LOL!

 

[OldNewb]

I got all exited looking at too many offerings, so getting back to my main idea. An 80's guitar is ideally a one pickup, probably a JB. A neck pickup would be for power ballads or a blues solo, so the Cool Rails or split Hot Rails would be a good idea there. (Although I haven't picked up a soldering iron in over a decade, so I don't want to get too complex on wiring.)

What about middle? For 80's, middle is worthless, but if I think of it as an opportunity to be able to switch to a classic rock tone, maybe I think of a 3-way instead of a 5-way?

Bridge: Hair Metal or Jeff Beck.
Neck: "I Remember You" intro, or passable blues solo.
Middle: Traditional-sounding humbucker? Little 78, Little 59, Little Screamin' Demon, or whatever? If so, would I want a middle/neck version or a bridge version? Thought is, I could have a totally traditional sound but in the same ballpark as the other pickups to keep from re-eqing the amp. Position one = 80's hum, position two = 60's/70's hum. Just not sure how much effect the position of the pickup would have on the sound. Would a bridge pup in the middle still sound like a bridge pup? Maybe a bridge hum in the middle would give me best of both worlds? Cut for lead, but smoother for neck-ish sounds?

 

[OldNewb]

Oh, and obviously more Jack Daniels would help, but I'm SOL on the hair these days.

 

[OldNewb]

Sorry, thinking too much.

I could do a Cool Rails Neck in the middle and a Bridge Humbucker in the neck to keep it 80's side/classic side on the switch. But, again, I'm not sure if the position effects tone as much as the EQ/DCR/etc.

 

[Mincer]

The hard part about this decision is figuring out what is more important- volume balance between the pickups, or versatility. As you increase the volume of the neck and middle pickups to match the JB, you tend to lose what classic sounds those pickups have. I'd just do Little 59 neck, and Classic Stack Plus in the middle.

 

[OldNewb]

I'd just do Little 59 neck, and Classic Stack Plus in the middle.

Yeah, with more digging, I realized Seymour done thunk of this with the Everything Axe (JB Jr/Duckbucker/Little 59). I had a Strat years ago with a Little 59 and two Duckbuckers, and it was just kind of meh. Guess I'm trying to figure out my custom version Everything Axe.

 

[ehdwuld]

The hard part about this decision is figuring out what is more important- volume balance between the pickups, or versatility. As you increase the volume of the neck and middle pickups to match the JB, you tend to lose what classic sounds those pickups have. I'd just do Little 59 neck, and Classic Stack Plus in the middle.

This is true

The JB wants to be 1/8 inch under the strings
Too low thin muddy sound
Too high icepick highs

Just right
Hair metal all day

 

[OldNewb]

Yeah, I think y'all are right, but I'm not sold on the Little 59. After hours more of me keyboard-warrior obsessing over tone possibilities on the internet instead of actually playing and practicing, JB/Cool Rails/Little 78 could be the ticket to get in that same ballpark with maybe a little more X-factor.

 

[Masta' C]

If it were my guitar...

• Bridge: JB
• Middle: Lil' Screamin' Demon (bridge model)
• Neck: Lil' Screamin' Demon (neck/middle model)

That would be an excellent sounding, balanced set that could solo effortlessly in any position and would sound equally great when wired for split and/or parallel. Pure rock tone in the bridge, while the neck and middle positions would remain full, percussive, and clear sounding with great harmonics.

Side Note: I wouldn't be surprised if the Lil' S.D. neck/middle model is just a Cool Rails with pole pieces instead of rails.

 

[Mincer]

Yeah, I think y'all are right, but I'm not sold on the Little 59. After hours more of me keyboard-warrior obsessing over tone possibilities on the internet instead of actually playing and practicing, JB/Cool Rails/Little 78 could be the ticket to get in that same ballpark with maybe a little more X-factor.

To be fair, I haven't tried a neck Little 78. But the regular 78 is a bright sounding pickup, and I tend to go for warmer neck pickups.