hot rail/esquire help requested

[drew_half_empty]

well, i think i want an esquire with a hot rail. What i'm wanting out of this guitar is...well, with my bridge 59 the cleans cut through like nothing i've ever heard, but under distortion they seem to get quite a bit less cutting, so basically i'm looking for the exact opposite out of this guitar, something that cuts more when distorted, and has a mean, aggressive as all hell tone. I'm kinda worried about the rails mudding up though, cuz with the '59, as bright as it is, under a good ammount of gain it's JUST articulate enough for me to not complain, so yeah i guess i need a good ammount of articulation even under the most thick raunchy gain. Does the rail sound like the single coil for the job? I think the switch position that cuts out the tone controll should make that thing scream.

I decided maple neck/rosewood fretboard, but should I go with an alder or ash body? I'd prefer alder due to the bass response but ash may be necessary to get the cut i need.

 

[TattooedCarrot]

Re: hot rail/esquire help requested

Use a 1 meg pot and bypass the tone control and it will be one mean SOB. Adds a bit of top end to it that way too (it is a bassy/middy pickup). I'm putting one in my tele bridge as well. I also think the cermaic mag will give it a little more articulation than the A5 in the 59, as long as it's not oversaturated with unusable gain.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: hot rail/esquire help requested

tattoed, your avatar makes it take like 5 minutes just to read one paragraph

never give an ADD kid the option of reading about pickups & looking at boobs

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: hot rail/esquire help requested

a Lil 59 is a ceramic magnet...but just so you have something to compare to, a lil 59 and a Cool rail use the same coils...

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: hot rail/esquire help requested

no my '59 is a full size humbucker

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: hot rail/esquire help requested

no my '59 is a full size humbucker

sorry bro...I miss understood.

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: hot rail/esquire help requested

pssssst....i know all about the tele hotrails since i have 3 teles with them...one being an esquire...this is hands down my favorite duncan mini sized hum...such a killer pickup...it's not as hot and edgy as the strat hotrails and can have more balls than a typical LP if you want it. it can have tons of low end but it's never mushy and it's very articulate under high gain...the harmonics are great and on that subject pinch harmonics just scream from it!! it's nothing at all like a strat hot rails to my ears, i can't stress this enough since i have both and honestly don't like the strat version. it has a nice top end bite to it but not ear piercing and sharp at all. overall at 14.8k it's hot but not crazy hot like some of the others (JB, strat hot rails, dime etc etc) so it can go from a classic rock or even semi-clean blues or gritty (ask bludave, even he liked it) to all out metal crushing tone with no problem. it can do clean fairly well but that's not what it's ment for so don't expect 110% perfect clean tones from it but it won't sound bad clean with some amp tweeking it does it pretty damn well. i have THE PERFECT wiring diagram for you too if you need it i'll dig it up...it's a custom one from my esquire (below) it's wired like this...pos 1 500K volume and 500K tone (.22 orange drop cap), pos 2 volume no tone, pos 3 volume and tone with coil split. as for wood...i say go alder that's what my 3 hot rails teles are and i love these guitars but i have maple necks on all mine, no rosewood so i can't help with that part.

here's my esquire...man i love this guitar...

-Mike

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: hot rail/esquire help requested

would there be a way to have a position that bypassed tone AND volume?

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: hot rail/esquire help requested

as a kill switch...why yes there is...that was my first request (artietoo did my diagrams) so i may still have the one that has a kill in it but i'm not sure...post what you want it to do in pos 1 2 3 and i'll ask artie to check this thread since he can wire a guitar to do anything you want lol.

-Mike

 

[TattooedCarrot]

Re: hot rail/esquire help requested

it's nothing at all like a strat hot rails to my ears, i can't stress this enough since i have both and honestly don't like the strat version. it has a nice top end bite to it but not ear piercing and sharp at all. overall at 14.8k it's hot but not crazy hot like some of the others (JB, strat hot rails, dime etc etc)

Sh*t!! I had no idea the strat Hot Rails and Tele Hot Rails were so different. I thought they were the same pickup with different base plates for proper mounting. I'm kinda bummed because I'm working on building a custom Tele right now and had planned to use the Hot Rails based on my experience with it in strats. Now I'm not sure what to do. :smack:

I suppose I could pay out the ass for a custom shop strat Hot Rails with a Tele bas plate, but what a waste of money. I wonder why they would give the same name to two very different pickups? :boggled:

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: hot rail/esquire help requested

i guess all the way foward - tone & volume, middle - no tone, all back - no tone or volume

 

[TattooedCarrot]

Re: hot rail/esquire help requested

Looking at the Duncan tone graph and description, the tele Hot Rails looks more like a little CC rails than a Hot Rails.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: hot rail/esquire help requested

I'm sure you'd still be happy with it

judging by the clips, the tele rails sound better than the strat ones IMO

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: hot rail/esquire help requested

Looking at the Duncan tone graph and description, the tele Hot Rails looks more like a little CC rails than a Hot Rails.

i guess it's kinda similar to it but it seems to have it's own attitude the mid spike isn't as pronounced as the CC and it seems to be much thicker sounding than the CC also. overall it's a great pickup IMO. give it a try with some 500K pots and if your still looking for that edgy sound of the strat hotrails a 1meg should help as you said. i'm hooked on these tele hotrails and am contemplating having a full size hum made from the custom shop that looks like a dimebucker but is wound the same as the tele hot rails to see how it would sound in a fat strat or other alder guitars. i'm pretty sure if you don't like the tele hotrails and want a strat hot rails in the tele you can take an old junk tele pickup and shave off the bottom/base plate and then glue it to the bottom of the strat hot rails and just use longer screws and springs to make up for the change in mounting hole depth and you'd be set. this is how i plan to get a tele hotrails in a strat...just glue a strat base to the tele hotrails and call it a day, you'd never see it and it should save a ton of cash.

-Mike

 

[TattooedCarrot]

Re: hot rail/esquire help requested

Well I already have a white strat hot rails in my spare parts drawer, so I might just try and mount it in the tele bridge.