I bought a pickguard with everything axe set and I really hate the duckbucker pickup. Its the only seymour duncan pickup I have ever had that sucks. Ok my question is what would be the best seymour duncan hum canceling pickup to put in the middle of the pickguard. I play mostly blues and old school rock. I dont care if its a rail just as long as its hum canceling. Thanks guys
best replacement for duckbucker pickup
- Thread starter spotmfd
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Nostalgic Distortion
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Re: best replacement for duckbucker pickup
STK-4M, STK-7 Vintage Hot stack, another Lil 59, all would be good for the middle position of a Everything Axe guard. Is the Duckbucker wired out of phase? If it was the red & white wires would be attached to the hot & ground leads, this is supposed to give you a vintage Strat tone in pos. 2 & 4 but there's going to be a pretty notable vol. drop? You can try to just wire it up as a regular S.C. sized humbucker and see if you like it any better before replacing it? I kinda like them in the middle out of phase but they are definitely pretty wimpy sounding puppies!
STK-4M, STK-7 Vintage Hot stack, another Lil 59, all would be good for the middle position of a Everything Axe guard. Is the Duckbucker wired out of phase? If it was the red & white wires would be attached to the hot & ground leads, this is supposed to give you a vintage Strat tone in pos. 2 & 4 but there's going to be a pretty notable vol. drop? You can try to just wire it up as a regular S.C. sized humbucker and see if you like it any better before replacing it? I kinda like them in the middle out of phase but they are definitely pretty wimpy sounding puppies!
Re: best replacement for duckbucker pickup
If you hate the Duckbucker (and it is wired correctly), you will also not like the Vintage Rails. I would go with a Classic Stack Plus, if you still want a Strat sound, or for something more humbucker-y, the Cool Rails.
If you hate the Duckbucker (and it is wired correctly), you will also not like the Vintage Rails. I would go with a Classic Stack Plus, if you still want a Strat sound, or for something more humbucker-y, the Cool Rails.
Drunken Uncle
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Re: best replacement for duckbucker pickup
Similar situation so resurrecting this thread
I was wanting to buy an Everything Axe set for one of my strats but here in UK no one has it in black so I've just ordered the JB Jr bridge and Lil '59 neck, both in black, individually from different sellers
I'm also looking for something other than the Duckburger (a future board build?) for middle, I've already imported new pots and five way switch, the pots are 500k and a blender so a straight single would maybe be compromised by the 500's and lose its sparkle.
I have a trio of on/on/on mini toggles waiting to go on, was going to try to have individual series/split/parallel for each pup, the guy who does my wiring is in his late 70's and likes being given jobs a bit off the beaten path. So considering a reverse wound tapped single in the middle, even considering a Hot Rails or would this blow out the other two and better with a Cool Rails?
Just to see if anything new to add to the above
Edit, just ordered a Cool Rails for middle, will post first impressions once all fitted, it's a MIJ Squier Silver Series strat they're going into
Similar situation so resurrecting this thread
I was wanting to buy an Everything Axe set for one of my strats but here in UK no one has it in black so I've just ordered the JB Jr bridge and Lil '59 neck, both in black, individually from different sellers
I'm also looking for something other than the Duckburger (a future board build?) for middle, I've already imported new pots and five way switch, the pots are 500k and a blender so a straight single would maybe be compromised by the 500's and lose its sparkle.
I have a trio of on/on/on mini toggles waiting to go on, was going to try to have individual series/split/parallel for each pup, the guy who does my wiring is in his late 70's and likes being given jobs a bit off the beaten path. So considering a reverse wound tapped single in the middle, even considering a Hot Rails or would this blow out the other two and better with a Cool Rails?
Just to see if anything new to add to the above
Edit, just ordered a Cool Rails for middle, will post first impressions once all fitted, it's a MIJ Squier Silver Series strat they're going into
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Re: best replacement for duckbucker pickup
One thing true about both the duckbucker and the vintage rails. Because they are wired in parallel, the inductance is not cut in half, as if the coils were split. Rather, the indictance is cut to 1/4.
Therefore, players need to put duckbuckers and vintage rails very close to the strings to get a good volume out of them.
One thing true about both the duckbucker and the vintage rails. Because they are wired in parallel, the inductance is not cut in half, as if the coils were split. Rather, the indictance is cut to 1/4.
Therefore, players need to put duckbuckers and vintage rails very close to the strings to get a good volume out of them.
Re: best replacement for duckbucker pickup
Love to hear how that Cool Rails sounds in the middle.
Love to hear how that Cool Rails sounds in the middle.
Drunken Uncle
New member
Re: best replacement for duckbucker pickup
Same here, I like the idea of it sitting between the JB and Lil '59. The strat has a hugely wide fretboard, especially compared to my MIJ Contemporary Strat which has a really thin one, my Pro Tone and MIM Fender are somewhere in between and I imagine standard width. Because of this I got the idea of humbuckers but with the three way mini toggles, have one on the Contemporary, it's single bridge humbucker only, and I love the parallel sound, it's a high wind humbucker, I think parallel gives the best of both worlds, losing a bit of mud from series and adding some wallop to split but still having both of those to play with too
The Cool Rails should arrive tomorrow, one of the other two has been posted and hopefully all three will be here soon. Due to the holiday it'll be 2016 before any work's done, I'll bookmark this thread and get back to it once completed
Up until this year I'd never replaced any of my pups but have already done three of my guitars this year, waiting for pups for another two and about to order something for another one. It's worth the effort and expense, if you've got a good guitar but average electrics in it then why not?
Same here, I like the idea of it sitting between the JB and Lil '59. The strat has a hugely wide fretboard, especially compared to my MIJ Contemporary Strat which has a really thin one, my Pro Tone and MIM Fender are somewhere in between and I imagine standard width. Because of this I got the idea of humbuckers but with the three way mini toggles, have one on the Contemporary, it's single bridge humbucker only, and I love the parallel sound, it's a high wind humbucker, I think parallel gives the best of both worlds, losing a bit of mud from series and adding some wallop to split but still having both of those to play with too
The Cool Rails should arrive tomorrow, one of the other two has been posted and hopefully all three will be here soon. Due to the holiday it'll be 2016 before any work's done, I'll bookmark this thread and get back to it once completed
Up until this year I'd never replaced any of my pups but have already done three of my guitars this year, waiting for pups for another two and about to order something for another one. It's worth the effort and expense, if you've got a good guitar but average electrics in it then why not?
Drunken Uncle
New member
Re: best replacement for duckbucker pickup
Bumping the thread to vent my spleen
As mentioned above, the three pickups I bought were all ordered from different sellers as no one had the full set
All were bought as new, the JB Jr arrived yesterday, all good and as expected, the Cool Rails just arrived, same, but the Little 59 arrived this morning and not happy.
Sold as new but arrived in a cracked case with broken seals and a mark on the pickup, the cynic in me thinks it's shop staff selling their old **** as new for £5 under the normal new price.
So it's going back to whatever hellport it escaped from and a replacement was ordered from another shop on the stipulation that it's a new, unopened item
As it will probably not be here in time for Christmas I'm afraid that it's had to be cancelled, I'm sorry but there's always next year to look forward to
Bumping the thread to vent my spleen
As mentioned above, the three pickups I bought were all ordered from different sellers as no one had the full set
All were bought as new, the JB Jr arrived yesterday, all good and as expected, the Cool Rails just arrived, same, but the Little 59 arrived this morning and not happy.
Sold as new but arrived in a cracked case with broken seals and a mark on the pickup, the cynic in me thinks it's shop staff selling their old **** as new for £5 under the normal new price.
So it's going back to whatever hellport it escaped from and a replacement was ordered from another shop on the stipulation that it's a new, unopened item
As it will probably not be here in time for Christmas I'm afraid that it's had to be cancelled, I'm sorry but there's always next year to look forward to
Drunken Uncle
New member
Re: best replacement for duckbucker pickup
Two months later and same seller sold me two opened DiMarzio pups as new, I've returned them and they only refunded me for one and had Ebay close the case so I'm now having to chase the monies owed, fecker
The three Seymour Duncan pups are fitted but we're trying to get rid of an earth problem, once done I'll update
Two months later and same seller sold me two opened DiMarzio pups as new, I've returned them and they only refunded me for one and had Ebay close the case so I'm now having to chase the monies owed, fecker
The three Seymour Duncan pups are fitted but we're trying to get rid of an earth problem, once done I'll update
Drunken Uncle
New member
Re: best replacement for duckbucker pickup
Got the guitar back yesterday and played today
The Cool Rails works really well between the JB Jr and Little '59, all three are split via push pulls, works well as a H/S/H or with the JB/59 split and the Cool Rails on full, great fun
Got the guitar back yesterday and played today
The Cool Rails works really well between the JB Jr and Little '59, all three are split via push pulls, works well as a H/S/H or with the JB/59 split and the Cool Rails on full, great fun
Drunken Uncle
New member
Re: best replacement for duckbucker pickup
Thanks, it's a 90's MIJ Squier Silver Series, neck on it is nuts, really wide fretboard, my 80's MIJ Squier Contemporary strat has a really thin fretboard and my 90's MIK Squier Pro Tone is in between with a more normal size, just worked out that way, the Silver Series and Pro Tone were bought on ebay (present to myself Christmas 2014) and I just lucked out with three completely different necks
Thanks, it's a 90's MIJ Squier Silver Series, neck on it is nuts, really wide fretboard, my 80's MIJ Squier Contemporary strat has a really thin fretboard and my 90's MIK Squier Pro Tone is in between with a more normal size, just worked out that way, the Silver Series and Pro Tone were bought on ebay (present to myself Christmas 2014) and I just lucked out with three completely different necks