HB to go with Alnico III singles?

alex1fly

alex1fly

Well-known member
Thought I'd share my brainstorm. I've finally gotten around to speccing out my HSS Strat build. The bones are from a Yamaha Pacifica that I adore and have been lovingly re-finishing - Alder body, Strat style tremolo bridge, maple neck, rosewood board, danish oil on the neck and homemade dye on the body and headstock. And I have a good HSS Strat wiring harness from my local luthier ready to go - push/push master volume for splitting the bridge HB, 250k neck/middle tone, 500k bridge tone, 5-way switch.

Type of music/playing would be mostly clean, pop, jazzy noodling, fingerstyle, funky soul, venturing into indie rock.

The neck and middle single coils are probably going to be these Alnico III pickups simply because I'm intrigued and want to try something different than the standard Alnico V/ceramic Strat pickups: https://bootstrappickups.com/products/bootstrap-54-vintage-sparkle-set-for-strat®

I'd like to at least start with one of these humbuckers for the bridge, since I already have them:
Dimarzio Air Zone
Dimarzio Virtual P90
Duncan JB
Duncan Seth Lover

I'm thinking the JB or Air Zone would probably split the best and yield the nicest bridge/middle notch tone... but the Seth Lover or Virtual P90 would have the nicest solo bridge tone for low output, glassy highs, not-too-thick humless sound.

Any feedback is appreciated!
 
The link didn't work for me but I assume it's an A3 vintagey pickup.

For that my first instinct to pair in terms of sound is the Seth Lover. The JB split is great but it may be too much in humbucker mode and not sure you want a JB based on the music you play - if you go JB you can always try to balance things out with pickup height.

All nice pickups :)
 
Blille said:
The link didn't work for me but I assume it's an A3 vintagey pickup.

For that my first instinct to pair in terms of sound is the Seth Lover. The JB split is great but it may be too much in humbucker mode and not sure you want a JB based on the music you play - if you go JB you can always try to balance things out with pickup height.

All nice pickups :)
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm thinking start with the Seth Lover. Lowest output, prettiest looking (gold cover!), should be the chimiest except for maybe the Virtual P90 but will mount in the pickguard and adjust much easier (the Virtual P90 has to be direct mounted)
 
alex1fly said:
Yeah I'm thinking start with the Seth Lover. Lowest output, prettiest looking (gold cover!), should be the chimiest except for maybe the Virtual P90 but will mount in the pickguard and adjust much easier (the Virtual P90 has to be direct mounted)
Click to expand...

Killer pickup and if you don't use a lot of gain, it may just be the ticket.

Post pics when you're done :)
 
Didn't Duncan used to have a pickup called the Eclair that had an A3 in it?

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
 
The Eclairs are a tweak on the JB/Jazz set with an A2 in the JB.

The JoBo Skinnerbursts had A3s in them, but they were a limited edition. I would assume the Custom Shop could still make something in the ballpark.
 
Or maybe an A4 Custom. That would go great with vintage A3 singles especially wired to split with the middle.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
 
Demanic said:
Didn't Duncan used to have a pickup called the Eclair that had an A3 in it?

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

The Eclairs evolved from the JB and Jazz combo that Seymour likes so much but they are not the JB/Jazz. The neck is Alnico IV, the bridge is Alnico II and they're both single conductor." The bridge is wound for more cut and clarity and the neck is smooth and articulate. MJ also underwinds the neck and overwinds the bridge - the resulting tone is full and transparent, with a best of both world's in-between position.

D.C. Resistance: 15k (bridge), 7.1k (neck)
 
JamesPaul said:
Yes, I agree with Blille we definitely need to see pics.
Click to expand...


Blille said:
Now you most definitely have to post pics lol
Click to expand...

Haha okay, here she is (since photo uploads are acting odd currently): https://imgur.com/gallery/AmRu4pq

An absolute mongrel. Basically my one guitar to do a bunch of weird stuff to "just because". Painted the pick guard years ago, the paint has all peeled off. The trem bar broke in the bridge so the bridge is a new Fender one. It was originally black; I blowtorched off pieces of finish to create this amber/black mixture still visible on the belly cut. The latest round involved removing most of the remaining blowtorched finish and applying my homemade dye to the body and headstock. The back of the neck got sanded and danish oil'ed for a darker look and smoother feel. She'll look different after these new pickups come in, but this is her in her current glory.
 
alex1fly said:
Haha okay, here she is (since photo uploads are acting odd currently): https://imgur.com/gallery/AmRu4pq

An absolute mongrel. Basically my one guitar to do a bunch of weird stuff to "just because". Painted the pick guard years ago, the paint has all peeled off. The trem bar broke in the bridge so the bridge is a new Fender one. It was originally black; I blowtorched off pieces of finish to create this amber/black mixture still visible on the belly cut. The latest round involved removing most of the remaining blowtorched finish and applying my homemade dye to the body and headstock. The back of the neck got sanded and danish oil'ed for a darker look and smoother feel. She'll look different after these new pickups come in, but this is her in her current glory.
Click to expand...

Thanks! :) I think if you put in a new light pickguard it would look very cool. How did you do the dye?
 
Blille said:
Thanks! :) I think if you put in a new light pickguard it would look very cool. How did you do the dye?
Click to expand...

Good thought! I used to have it painted white & red ala "The Wall". The dye was made from a tumeric paste (tumeric + water) that I rubbed all over to make it yellow, wiped it off, and then thinned out some blue food coloring and rubbed that on until I liked the deepness of the green. Curiosity satiated! Then a single coat of polyurethane.
 
alex1fly said:
Good thought! I used to have it painted white & red ala "The Wall". The dye was made from a tumeric paste (tumeric + water) that I rubbed all over to make it yellow, wiped it off, and then thinned out some blue food coloring and rubbed that on until I liked the deepness of the green. Curiosity satiated! Then a single coat of polyurethane.
Click to expand...

I would have never thought of that. Very cool. I have a bunch of food coloring at home from baking...
 
alex1fly said:
Good thought! I used to have it painted white & red ala "The Wall". The dye was made from a tumeric paste (tumeric + water) that I rubbed all over to make it yellow, wiped it off, and then thinned out some blue food coloring and rubbed that on until I liked the deepness of the green. Curiosity satiated! Then a single coat of polyurethane.
Click to expand...

That's wild! As I read that paragraph I got to "tumeric paste" and stopped. Why isn't the entire thing yellow? Then I read on. It has a bit of that ceruse (? think that's the term) vibe.
 
Ceruse! I had to Google it. Glad it has a bit of sophistication in the presentation, lol. I honestly had a blast creating patterns with the blowtorch to remove paint in some areas, crackle the stock poly in others, build out interlocking color areas... and then rip it all off to play with food dye, lol.

Bonus is that after the food dye, the tone is much juicier, meatier, and spicier.
 
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