JB/JBJR and Quarter Pounders a good match?

[noisenet]

Hi All,
I'm going to do a 'refurb' on my old 1992-made MIM Strat. I love the neck on this guitar (small frets and finish well worn off) and the body with various pickups has always sounded great.

For nearly 10 years now I've been playing ESP LTD EC1000's with the JB/59 combo. I've grown to love the JB in the bridge, it's my sound. For the other two pickups, though, I really want to go more traditional-ish. The Quarter Pounder was recommended to me by Trace at Voodoo Amps and, listening to various clips/videos I really love the tone.

So my questions: I want to retain that JB Bridge tone - how much of a difference in tone will I notice between a JBJR (with standard Strat bridge P/U tilt) and the regular-sized JB's I've been using in my LTD's?

Second, will the Quarter Pound pickups in Neck and Middle positions match up volume-wise with the JB or JBJR?

And finally, with the JB or JBJR being humbuckers, in the aforementioned configuration, since the other two pickups are single coil, would it be worth it to coil-tap the JB? In my most used guitars I have the JB and '59 set up to split the coil via a push/pull pot - I use sincle coil mostly in Neck position and middle position (it's a 2 pickup guitar) - I rarely use single coil for the bridge pickup.

Thank you in advance for reading this and for your input!

 

[Mincer]

Re: JB/JBJR and Quarter Pounders a good match?

The JB Jr is pretty close to the JB. It isn't exact, but close. The Quarter Pounders have more bass and mids, but output-wise they should be OK. They don't sound like traditional Strat pickups to me, although I like their tone. A JB and JB Jr are pretty high output, so the QPs would be a great match output-wise. I don't know if I would bother splitting the JB-Jr though. If it was a regular JB, I might, but those Lil coils are so small, I don't know if a split Jr gives a super useful tone. Doesn't hurt to try and see if you like it.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: JB/JBJR and Quarter Pounders a good match?

I love the QP Strat. Fatter than regular Strat pickups for sure, yet it still has the feel of a singecoil. Loud enough to use with humbuckers and not have much discrepancy volumewise. I've never used one in neck position so i can't say whether it might be woofy in your guitar- it's pretty "big" but to me it doesn't feel particularly loose. I know some use them at the neck and I've haven't heard any complaints.

As for the JBjr, if you're going to use a switch and have concerns about skinnyness, you might consider series/parallel wiring rather than coil cut. I expect that would have a little more body, but still clean the tone up some.

 

[noisenet]

Re: JB/JBJR and Quarter Pounders a good match?

Thanks for the input. I think I'm going to go with a full size JB and two Quarter Pounds (with the reverse wound QP in the middle).