lil '59 question

[rio]

What type of tone can you get with 59ers in all positions in a Standard strat (mexicaster)? And i'm not sure if this is true but i read somewhere ( i have forgoten where) that by having a lil 59 in the bridge and duckbuckers in the neck and middle, you can attain "'59 Les Paul/'57 Strat tone"

Any help will be much appreciated

-Thanks

 

[Imp]

Re: lil '59 question

i have a lil '59 bridge man, its not quite the sound of a full blown humbucker IMO (i have a screamin' demon in another guitar) - but it is still a very powerful tone. slightly more singlecoil like for the simple reason it's mounted closer to the bridge than a regular HB, i dunno if this is the case with neck and middle :burnout:

welcome to the board man!

tom

 

[Robert S.]

Re: lil '59 question

The lil and Jr series pickups are very cool. The definately sound like humbuckers and not like single coils but they aren't as powerful as their full sized counterparts. Like Imp stated, they do have a touch of single coil tone/vibe because of their smaller size. The apature (area of the string the pickup responds to) is smaller because the posts are closer together than on a full sized humbucker. That being said they are still fuller sounding and generally hotter than true single coils.

You'll still get you #2 and #4 notched position tones but they will be somewhat fuller and warmer sounding. It's a very cool hybrid tone. I had three lil59s in my Strat for quite awhile and liked them a lot.

 

[Boleslaw Gers 666]

Re: lil '59 question

i have a lil '59 bridge man, its not quite the sound of a full blown humbucker IMO (i have a screamin' demon in another guitar) - but it is still a very powerful tone. slightly more singlecoil like for the simple reason it's mounted closer to the bridge than a regular HB, i dunno if this is the case with neck and middle :burnout:

welcome to the board man!

tom

Do you like the LSD or the L59 better? Nobody will ever achieve the 59 Les Paul tone in an alder-bodied, bolt on neck, thin bodied guitar without true humbuckers. Hate to burst your bubble.

 

[rio]

Re: lil '59 question

Thanks a lot guys but i was wondering about what you thought of this combo:

a lil 59 in the neck, VR in the middle and a lil JB in the bridge

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: lil '59 question

This would almost be the "Everything Axe"-set or how it's called (which is a lil '59 n, Duckbucker m and JB jr. b)... except for the vintage rails, but they are quite similar sounding to the DB with just the Rail Design...
This would be a very versatile set and imo a very good choice.

 

[Artie]

Re: lil '59 question

All I can add to this is to say that I have a Lil59 in the neck of my Strat and a full size 59 in my Predator. (Strat-like.) I was surprised at how well the Lil recreates the sound of the full sized one.

I love it.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: lil '59 question

Rio, The Strat that had the lil59s in it now has a JB in the bridge, a Hot Stack In the middle and a lil59 in the neck. This is so far my favorite combo in this guitar since I bought it in 1997.

The JB jr won't be as high in output as the JB but the tone is very simular. With my full sized JB there is a fairly high drop in output when I switch from the JB to the Hot Stack but the combined tone is very nice if not quite a bit fuller than the #4 position of a Strat with singles. I aded a series/parallel switch to brighten up the JB and lower it's output and the JB in parallel combined with the Hot Stack sounds much closer to a traditional Strat tone. You'll get simular results with the JB jr.

While the VRs and Ducks do have an exceptional single coil type of tone I find them a little weak in output when combined with humbuckers and I prefer the Hot Stack as its extra output and mids sound complimentary to a full sized humbucker tone. Even next to the Hot Rails bridge pickup the VR can sound a little soft to me. Next to a lil59 neck or a JB jr though they do sound very nice so I think you'd be happy with those tones. The Hot Stack is worth considering though.

The JB jr and lil59 pickups have screw type posts simular to a humbucker and the VR obviously is a rail type pickup. The VR and Duckbucker are internally the same and they sound the same. The thing is though the Ducks are a screw type bobbin like the lil and jr pickups, so if you go with a Duckbucker instead of a Vintage Rail the look of your guitar will be more consistant.

The lil59 in the neck is a great sounding pickup, no worries there.

I went a little nuts with my Strat and wired it master volume and master tone and removed one tone pot. I then installed a dpdt switch in the rear pot opening and another between the new switch and the tone pot. One switch is the series/parallel switch for the JB and the other is a bridge pickup on/off switch so that I can combine the bridge with the neck pickup. I run the Bridge pickup in parallel with the Hot Stack for a better Strat tone, I run the JB with the lil59 for the mid position Les Paul tone and If I run the JB in parallel with the lil59 I get an almost passable fat Tele tone. I can also run all three pickup on at the same time with the JB in either series or parallel.

You can squeeze a lot of different tones out of a Strat with a little creative wiring and a couple of humbuckers.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: lil '59 question

.

 

[Imp]

Re: lil '59 question

Do you like the LSD or the L59 better? Nobody will ever achieve the 59 Les Paul tone in an alder-bodied, bolt on neck, thin bodied guitar without true humbuckers. Hate to burst your bubble.

i have a full-size screamin' demon in a les paul copy, and thats not really a classic '59 LP tone anyway... i wouldnt mind a nice PAF-loaded guitar, but it's not a tone im desperate for at the moment.. i never said i wanted an authentic '59 paul tone, i aint got no bubble there i just like the sound of the pickup, i couldnt care if it was mounted in a fence post (ask the dudes at taylor )

anyhow, as it stands, L59 and SD are chalk and cheese to me really - if you think of the area of string each humbucker tries to focus on, on a lil' series pickup focuses on an area much closer to a bridge.. IMO making it closer to a 'twang' tone.. the SD in a regular HB rout is a 'roar'

tom