Antiquity Strat mix Q's

[Chocol8]

I might be crazy so I figured I would stop by for a sanity check and to get alternate opinions.

I am getting a new set of pickups for a strat. For the most part I want a vintage tone, and I think set without the RW/RP mid sound a touch better. I also think some of that has to do with all the magnets pulling on the strings in the same direction, so I want all north facing or all south facing. When I say "for the most part" I want vintage, the one thing I am not 100% sold on is the bridge where I may want to go with a hotter wind, but I am leaning towards the 3 identical pickup set and using pickup height to balance them like in the old days.

I am thinking the Antiquity II's are the best bet for what I want, but if I go with the hotter bridge, I think the antiquity I bridge with the A2's might be more to my liking with a little more mids and less highs in that location. As I understand it, the A I texas hot bridge is north up, so if I used it I would want north up for the mid and neck as well, but then the winding has to match to be in phase, and the bridges are all TG as far as I know.

So here is my thought...

Get 3 Antiquity II surfer mids with RW/RP so they are north polarity with TC winding. If I decide to try the hotter bridge, get a Antiquity I Texas hot and reverse the wires so I still have all north magnets and maintain the electrical phase.

Is there a downside to flipping the leads on the bridge if I go for the custom hot version? Am I nuts thinking of mixing the A I custom bridge with the A II neck and mid? Am I nuts getting the surfers in the RW/RP mid version?

I play mostly in possitions 5, 4 and 2 and the guitar will be well shielded since no matter what there will be no noise cancelation in possition 5. As such I am not at all concerned about hum cancellation for 2 and 4, especially at any expense to the tone.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

welcome to the forum!

there is no down side to flipping leads and you are not nuts, or at least nothing in your post confirms your loopy mental status

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

I combined Ant and Ant II single coils in my Fender CIJ Jaguar. No issues whatsoever. Enjoy.

 

[Chocol8]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

welcome to the forum!

Thanks! Truth is I have been around a while, I just have not posted here. Got my first set of Duncans (vintage rails with a duckbucker mid) in the mid 90's and have remained a fan. I made the mistake of buying a set of Antiquity buckers for my Les Paul about a year ago, and I liked them so much I am now buying different guitars to try out the rest of the antiquity line. I think THAT might make me nuts!

I ordered the 3 surf middle's, hopefully I like them fine that way and don't go for the hotter bridge, but IME every guitar is a little different so ya never know until the solder hardens.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

Thanks! Truth is I have been around a while, I just have not posted here. Got my first set of Duncans (vintage rails with a duckbucker mid) in the mid 90's and have remained a fan. I made the mistake of buying a set of Antiquity buckers for my Les Paul about a year ago, and I liked them so much I am now buying different guitars to try out the rest of the antiquity line. I think THAT might make me nuts!

I ordered the 3 surf middle's, hopefully I like them fine that way and don't go for the hotter bridge, but IME every guitar is a little different so ya never know until the solder hardens.

Its a good sort of nuts though.

The other possibility for a bridge pup is the Twangbanger. Lots of peeps seem to like it here

 

[Chocol8]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

Its a good sort of nuts though.

The other possibility for a bridge pup is the Twangbanger. Lots of peeps seem to like it here

Thanks for the suggestion. The Twangbanger looks like it is wound slightly less hot than the texas hot custom bridge so it could be a good in-between option.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

I have both the Surfers & the Texas hots(complete sets) in two different Strats! They are truly great pickups. If you are concerned about it being bright in the bridge, just bridge the tone pot so it will work on the bridge pickup.

 

[Chocol8]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

I have both the Surfers & the Texas hots(complete sets) in two different Strats! They are truly great pickups. If you are concerned about it being bright in the bridge, just bridge the tone pot so it will work on the bridge pickup.

I think my wife would kill me if I bought another strat and another set of Antiquity 1's any time soon. That solution will have to wait until December. Also the concern is more than just bright. The 6kohm vintage style bridge pickups can be thin and bright, and thin will be harder to tackle. I already ordered it so I will try it and see if I can get a decent result otherwise I can always swap in a hotter wound bridge. The guitar they are going into is a rosewood board and accoustically is not as bright as my maple/ash strat, so it may work fine.

I will do the master tone pot wiring with a no load pot so I can pull it out of the circuit if I want the classic no-tone bridge sound. I also have one of the Fender midboost kits sitting unused. I would hate to use it full time to cover up the beauty of the Antiquities, but with a 3PDT toggle I can wire it to have a passive mode with master volume and master tone, and the active mode with volume mid boost and tone. The mid boost would definitely help out a thinner brighter bridge pickup. Maybe I will try that, plus I am curious if the midboost kit would sound better with the Ants then it does with the vintage toneless and lace sensors. Good thing I have a lot of solder on hand

 

[uOpt]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

I can't tell you whether the rwrp with the magnets the other way round changes sound. I speculated that it might because the magnetic field over the whole length of the pickguard is shaped differently (three ovals versus two panpakes). The magnets are definitely strong enough to "see" each other measurably. Whether that translates into something you can hear I tried to find out by posting soundclips here but results were inconclusive. So at the very least the difference is very small.

However, if you can hear that RWRP middle damages the sound to your ears, then you will get the same damage from having any strat pickup with the magnets reversed regardless of wind and position.

Personally I didn't like the overwound Ant Bridge for Strat and I like the Ant1s better so your problem wouldn't come up for me.

I hope this helps although I realize that is very unlikely

 

[Chocol8]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

It definitely helps...It helps me want a set of Ant 1's to compare to the Ant 2's

Also, I am glad to hear you did not like the overwound bridge. I would say I am 75% sure I would prefer the vintage, but I want to keep my options open for that 25% uncertainty.

The RW/RP affecting the sound is definitely small and there could be a number of factors at play, but I either way there is no hum cancelling in 1, 3, and 5 so I need to sheild the thing anyway. I also have a LP with buckers and a strat with SD's humbucking vintage rails and a duckbucker for any situations where the noise through the single coils is bad enough to be a problem. For this guitar, I want to go with the 3 even vintage style pickups with same magnetic polarity if at all possible, and I can do that with the bridge I orderd, or if I want a hotter wind the Ant 1 bridge or a twangbucker. They will all be north up.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

The thing about A2 and A5 in Strat pickups is that it is 90% guitar dependent IMHO. I like the Ant1s better but I have another Strat that doesn't "like" A2. I never observed this with humbuckers.

I definitely recommend getting a used surfer and a used ant1. The difference is much bigger than between ssl1 and aps1. Much.

 

[Chocol8]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

My set of Ant II's arived this morning. They all measure 6.13, so they are a perfectly matched set! I bought them "used" but they were never installed in a guitar and infact were all in their original wraping, with the tape still on them.

I went with the A5 II's because the guitar has a rosewood fretboard and is accoustically warmer than my other strat. I expect this to be a good match. I will likely get some Ant I's as well eventually, but not until the end of the year if not later.

I will report back once I have the whole thing wired up. I am going to install them with the Clapton midboost, using a 3pdt minitoggle to give me a true bypass to allow me to get the full glory of the Ants in passive mode. I figure about an hour to do the install unless my kids help in which case the install time will be "reduced" to about 8 hours!

 

[Chocol8]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

Update: did the install yesterday. Kids helped so it took a while.

The bridge sounds great in both the 1 and 2 positions. Even with the tone pot in the no-load position the pickups are glassy but no shrill or too thin.

I installed the Clapton mid boost circuit with a 3PDT mini toggle so I can get a pure passive sound. Glad I did, having the switch makes it pretty clear what you are giving up when the electronics are on. OTOH, the boost works well with these pups and I much prefer having the controls in the guitar rather than in a pedal. I read other comments on how there would be noise when switching the mid boost on and off, but the way I did it there is none. I am leaving the board powered up and just switching the signal wires rather than powering the board on and off. It works great.

 

[Artie]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

I also think some of that has to do with all the magnets pulling on the strings in the same direction, so I want all north facing or all south facing.

String-pull is always the same direction regardless of magnet polarity. The strings aren't sensitive to north or south. Only another magnet would be.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

String-pull is always the same direction regardless of magnet polarity. The strings aren't sensitive to north or south. Only another magnet would be.

Er, pardon me, but electric guitar strings are made from ferrous metals.

Try this experiment. On a Floyd Rose-equiped guitar, do a total divebomb so that the wound strings go completely floppy. Oops. What was that metallic clunking sound? You guessed it. Your strings just stuck to your polepieces.

:smack:

 

[Artie]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

Yes, I know. What I'm saying is, they'll "stick" to the RWRP pup as well as the others. The strings don't care about north or south polarity.

 

[Chocol8]

Re: Antiquity Strat mix Q's

The strings become magnetized by the pickups, just like the non-magnetic studs and screws in a humbucker, or the poles in a P90. I don't know if it is audible, but there is definitely a difference in how the fields overlap and influence the strings and each other.