Hot rails in the middle position?

[lord.cabot]

Hey guys,

I've put a Hot Rails Bridge into my Strat bridge position.

It's a great pickup and I like it but got many humbucker shred type guitars and am looking into swapping the strat pups for something totally vintage-y.

So the question is could I use the Hot Rails Bridge in the middle position of a HSH Ibanez?

First of I understand the middle position is supposed to be a single coil and Hot Rails is a humbucker?
But maybe it could be wired somehow? Love the way it looks.
And even if it could would the gain be too high?
Got a Duncan Custom in the bridge and Dimarzio Evo in the neck.


Please forgive me if I am embarrassing myself, I'm no guitar tech... Thanks in advance.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Hot rails in the middle position?

welcome to the forum!

you could put the hot rails in the middle and it will sound thick and fat, i think it might be fine with the sh5 in the bridge. you may need to adjust the pup heights to get the volume balance you want but shouldnt be hard. many ibanez guitars auto split the humbuckers in the notch position so you may need to address the wiring if you arent happy with the 2&4 tones

 

[Mincer]

Re: Hot rails in the middle position?

My thought is if you have them, try them! You will most likely have to lower the Hot Rails to balance. You can also wire it in parallel, too.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Hot rails in the middle position?

I was going to suggest split myself - but yeah; Go for it.

Lower it and see how you like it. Too loud? try a split. Too noisy? Try parallel.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Hot rails in the middle position?

I had a Lil' 59 in the middle of an Ibanez. It sounded just as described above, thick & chunky, but more focused than the Custom that was in the bridge.

 

[lord.cabot]

Re: Hot rails in the middle position?

Wow, thanks for the insightful and friendly comments, I see I'll be hanging around here...

I will absolutely do that then. I think it will look sick, it's a JEM7WH. Will upload pics when I go trough with it.

I am your typical high gain metal and shred guy that spends 95% (or 99% probably) playing in the bridge position.
Recently I've am trying to expand on this and see all the tones I can get from my guitars so who knows, maybe this config is exactly what I want.
I am tuning pup height and pole pieces and what not daily so no worries, I'll get it balanced.

All my life I've been using stock DiMarzio pups and while there's nothing wrong with them, everything changed when I tried the SH-5.
I am becoming a major Seymour Duncan fanboy, fast.
There is something about these pickups that just feels "natural" to me.
It's like the tone I am hearing from the amp corresponds a lot more directly to the acoustic tone of the strings.
Also they are so precise and clean it's unreal. Got SH-5 in 6 an 7 string versions and these are my main axes.
The JB seems to sound amazing, want to get one for my Les Paul.

I got the Sentient in my 7 string neck position and while it's very solid I think I'll be swapping it for something less modern like the 59 or whatever.
Being a metal head I've never considered anything below "super high output" but I am starting to see that might be holding me back.

If you guys want to give recommendations please do.
My main concern is middle and neck positions of a 7 string.

Basically I'm looking to move towards the "this guitar sings" but can also do metal (got plenty of gain in my pedals and amp so should be fine).

Much love!

 

[Mincer]

Re: Hot rails in the middle position?

The 59/Custom Hybrid is a good bridge between compressed high output and dynamic vintage output. It can do metal, but it can also do so much more, from blues to hard rock. It uses one coil from the 59 and one from the Custom.