Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

[Shooweri]

Last time I asked about what bridge pickup to go for and finally found a perfect one. Thanks again for recommendations, ideas and comments!

I'm definitely set on Perpetual Burn(bridge) and SSL1 rwrp (middle) but I haven't yet found a perfect neck pickup. The guitar is very bright and punchy basswood bodied PGM301 with stop tail bridge, bolt-on maple neck with maple fretboard and 24 frets. The guitar is so bright acoustically that it made most neck pickups sound like a strat, even though wired as a standard humbucker. The pickup placement appears to be the reason but I'm pretty positive that there is a perfect pickup for this application.

List of neck pickups I've tried:
-Paf Pro
Too mushy and undefined when playing fast solos. Nice cleans and split tones

-Humbucker From Hell
Very focused sound, too bright for my taste

-Paf Joe
Bright and spanky but too bright, nice split tones

-59
Sounded very bland and low power with this guitar. Didn't like the split tones

-Liquifire
Too smooth and compressed for me. Cleans have natural compression which I don't like

-Air Norton
This is what's in currently. Still a bit stratty and twangy but I can just about live with it. Has nice sustain when soloing and notes get nice harmonic feedback. Full clean sound and super nice slit tone.

So, I'm looking for a darker pickup than AN, which is just a bit too bright. The ones I'm looking for are P-Rails, A2P, Breed neck and Air Zone.

 

[Joey Voltage]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

I would either go for the gravity storm neck, or throw a Fred in the neck. The gravity storm is my first choice though. The air zone in the neck would be too thick for you if you had problems with the PAF Pro. And then breed neck is a bassier PAF Pro

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

I second the Gravity Storm. Or if you want to stick with SD, an A2P bridge model might work well in the neck.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

I've never liked the sound of a neck pickup on any 24 fret guitar, ever. I suppose an Alnico II Pro might be close, but it is still in the 'wrong' place to me- you lose a lot with the pickup that close to the bridge.

 

[Shooweri]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

Thanks for quick responses!

Never had a chance to try Fred in the neck. How does it sound compared to AN or 59? Gravity Storm neck looks very promising, going to A/B it today at local retailer.

I've a friend with A2P set installed and he's gonna loan his guitar next week. I'll most likely get a hold on the P-Rails as well.

Yeah, 24th fret guitar neck HB has its own sound. Doesn't sound like 22 fret guitar at all.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

I'm the other way around, lol. I much prefer the sound of neck pickups on 24 fret guitars. Less boomy and easier to control. I find switching between pickups this way is more seamless while still taking advantage of the throaty, smooth tone that comes from the neck position. Each to his own.

I agree about the '59 being too low-powered. I have one in my RG570, and I feel that way too.

I'm surprised you find the PAF Pro mushy, though. I absolutely hate the PAF Pro in the neck position for the exact opposite reason. I find it way too attacky to the point of scratchiness/chirpiness. Not smooth enough for my taste.

Maybe consider the Sentient and the Whole Lotta Humbucker neck too. Perhaps the Saturday Night Special too.

 

[Joey Voltage]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

Thanks for quick responses!

Never had a chance to try Fred in the neck. How does it sound compared to AN or 59? Gravity Storm neck looks very promising, going to A/B it today at local retailer.

I've a friend with A2P set installed and he's gonna loan his guitar next week. I'll most likely get a hold on the P-Rails as well.

Yeah, 24th fret guitar neck HB has its own sound. Doesn't sound like 22 fret guitar at all.

The fred in the neck sounds dense with some extra harmonic bite, a mo-joe even more so. But if you want the clarity on the low strings like the air norton has, the gravity storm neck is my first suggestion. It’s in a similar catagory to the air norton and liquifier, but adds a slight nod to the hum from Hell.

 

[Shooweri]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

Yesterday I tried out GSn vs AN. Gravity Storm has more top end, less low end and bit more output in comparison. GSn probably works well in my LP due to it's tone and output.

I've Sentient installed in my 7-string Ibby RGD and really like it, suits that particular guitar exceptionally. RGD has much thicker, warmer tone (more lows and low mids, less highs) so it's not comparable to PGM tonally. However, I'm looking for a 6 string version second hand to try in PGM.

Got that A2P set last night from a buddy and will try them tomorrow if I've time. I will receive Prail during next week.

About Fred and MoJoe; which one is thicker and fuller sounding with less high end? Do they work well clean without overpowering Perpetual Burn too much?

 

[Joey Voltage]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

Yesterday I tried out GSn vs AN. Gravity Storm has more top end, less low end and bit more output in comparison. GSn probably works well in my LP due to it's tone and output.

I've Sentient installed in my 7-string Ibby RGD and really like it, suits that particular guitar exceptionally. RGD has much thicker, warmer tone (more lows and low mids, less highs) so it's not comparable to PGM tonally. However, I'm looking for a 6 string version second hand to try in PGM.

Got that A2P set last night from a buddy and will try them tomorrow if I've time. I will receive Prail during next week.

About Fred and MoJoe; which one is thicker and fuller sounding with less high end? Do they work well clean without overpowering Perpetual Burn too much?

So in other words exactly how I described it. The mo joe is the thicker of the two, but also slightly higher output. It probably won’t drown the perpetual burn, but they will be pretty close in output.

 

[Shooweri]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

I spent some time tweaking Air Norton. Tried swapping it other way around (screw coil towards bridge) which made it less stratty and felt like it had a bit more output. It had somewhat similar vibe to Liquifire with more natural compression and not-so-good split tone when used with middle single. I tried swapping the pot into 250k and while it made the pups feel more balanced the AN still had too much high end. So, I took it out and let the pickup swapping begin, yet again..

After educating myself for last couple months and after taking all things I've found out to consideration, I really like Alnico II neck pickups over anything else. I wired the A2P neck into neck slot of my PGM and was instantly blown away. It has darker natural tone and feels like LP neck pickup. It had a little more output than AN so it's great to shred on and is more fluid overall. I'm gonna try out A2P bridge model and P-Rail and make the decision afterwards.

Thanks again for your replys and help!

 

[Joey Voltage]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

The other thing you can do if you had a pickup that you liked otherwise but felt was too bright is move it’s resonance. You do this by placing a smallish cap, anything from say 470pf up to .0047uf (or a cap with a bit of resistance in series with the cap depending on how strong you want the effect) between where the pickup connects on the switch (red typically for DiMarzio) and ground. If you have a multi switch you can even wire it up so it disengages when splitting.

It would take a bit of tweaking to get exactly what you want, but will change the response of any pick up you do this to.

 

[Shooweri]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

Thanks Joey. I'll try this if I don't get get sound that I like without a capacitor. I'm probably gonna just stick with A2P since it's what I wanted both in tone and feel and try capacitors if the sound needs more fine tuning.

 

[Shooweri]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

It has been a while and I wanted to give you guys update of current situation. I started to modify my pickups in 2019 and been busy swapping magnets, trying out air mods and installing hex pole screws to replace philips heads. I also ordered Whole Lotta neck humbucker which I fell in love with. It's very big and bald sounding with just enough high frequencies to cut through when soloing. With philips head screws it was ok but hex poles made a huge difference! Hex screws shifted the pick attack to presence frequencies and made a very noticeable dip to high mids. The pickup is now very smooth and focused with perfect solo tone for my trusty PGM301. The wind reminds me of Duncan Distortion since it has similar warmth going on with less compression and therefore is less mushy.

To be completely honest, the WLH neck was just one piece in this puzzle. Another step in right direction was tuning to D Standard with gauge 11 strings. This did thicken up the tone a lot and got rid of too much high end-issue. The guitar has been with this setup for over 6 months and gives me tones I'm after. Overall I'm very satisfied with the results!

I would like to thank everyone who provided their ideas and suggestions to help me out in my tonal journey. You guys are awesome!

 

[Mincer]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

Thanks for the update, and I am happy you found a good solution!

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

Very cool. I'm also sold on D standard for that reason. I also have an A9 WLH/Demon in my 24 fretter!

 

[Shooweri]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

Very cool. I'm also sold on D standard for that reason. I also have an A9 WLH/Demon in my 24 fretter!

That's cool! I've tried degaussed A8's in my neck pickups with good results. Can you tell me how A8 and A9 compares to each other? Might be interested to try one out, especially if I can find one sale in Europe

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

Yep! A9 is like A8 with agressive mids but they're higher up. It also has brighter treble. It's a little less hot. I like it in the neck for rock to make the pickup more gritty.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

Yep! A9 is like A8 with agressive mids but they're higher up. It also has brighter treble. It's a little less hot. I like it in the neck for rock to make the pickup more gritty.

It's brighter and less hot than the A8, but would you say it's a little hotter and smoother than the A5? Maybe between an A5 and A8?

 

[Shooweri]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

Thanks guys! I'll try to find one from EU to minimize shipping costs and taxes, would be very interesting to try one in neck position. A8 and Ceramic are a bit too much for me in that position, would be nice to find something between A5 and A8. Can you comment how A6, A8 and A9 differ from each other? I like A6 in some situations but haven't been able to compare to A8 just yet. Too busy doing guitar maintenance, gigging and composing new material, lol.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Looking for fat neck humbucker for 24 fret super strat

Yes, A8 is very strong for neck for me too. But I love it in bridge with many (not all) pups.