More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

[Aceman]

I may have found "The" guitar I want to put P-Rails in. An Epiphone Dot Studio that I have been envisioning for a bit...

Anyway - my idea is P-Rails, triple shots, and concentric volume / tone knobs. But there is a lot of P-Rail discussion. Some love them, or hate them, or love the P90 or wait it, or love the bucker or don't, etc...

So tell me what you like, what you don't and WHY.

 

[Mincer]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

I like em a lot. My favorite sound is the P90 sound, and the others are a bonus. In other words, they are worth it for the P90 sound alone.

 

[jeremy]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

I like the p90 sound best but all of them are useful. I use concentric knobs on one dual hb guitar and I got
Used to it quickly and really like the seperate controls

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

I like the parallel best, but the other 3 are all very useful as well. The series setting is thick, hairy, and powerful... so they have some real balls when you want them to, but the parallel gets you back into PAFish territory. P-90 is a great P-90 and the rail, while not particularly Stratty, still gives good single coil.

I tend to switch between the parallel, Rail, and P-90... they’re all pretty close in output so there’s no need to adjust volume levels between them. This leaves the series setting for something akin to a solo boost.

By the way, mine are in a 335-style guitar as well (Ibanez Artcore AS83) and it’s a tone machine!

 

[Securb]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

Bob, have you ever played them? A lot of people do not like the humbucking position. However, I find the hummy great for a Steve Clark type of tone. I really think this pickup is going to be in your wheelhouse. I am not sure how it will sound in an ES but it screams in my strat. One of my favorite humbuckers.

 

[Aceman]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

I have never played any, which is probably why I ask about them often!

This is not a guitar that I would be going heavy metal with (Have a Tomato Red Dot Studio w/ JB for that!)

I would want to do jazz/blues/pop/rock whatever. That Parallel comment makes me think good things. Of course, even if the bucker is hot, there is a volume knob....

 

[Artie]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

So tell me what you like, what you don't and WHY.

Well, since you asked. For me, the perfect P-Rail application would be either a standard Les Paul, or any "sweet" dual-humbucker, 2-Vol/2-Tone axe. But, (and it's a big butt), rewire so that the "neck" vol/tone become master vol/tone, and the "bridge" vol/tone be replaced with high quality, (Grayhill, etc.), DP4T rotary switches. These rotary switches would use standard 1/4" knobs so that the guitar would look stock, but they could select series/parallel/P90/Rail for either pup. This wouldn't interfere with the regular 3-way. The wiring is surprisingly simple. It might be the perfect LP. Way better than JP wiring. IMHO

My 2-cents worth.
Artie

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

Well, since you asked. For me, the perfect P-Rail application would be either a standard Les Paul, or any "sweet" dual-humbucker, 2-Vol/2-Tone axe. But, (and it's a big butt), rewire so that the "neck" vol/tone become master vol/tone, and the "bridge" vol/tone be replaced with high quality, (Grayhill, etc.), DP4T rotary switches. These rotary switches would use standard 1/4" knobs so that the guitar would look stock, but they could select series/parallel/P90/Rail for either pup. This wouldn't interfere with the regular 3-way. The wiring is surprisingly simple. It might be the perfect LP. Way better than JP wiring. IMHO

My 2-cents worth.
Artie

Genius. I'm going to have to steal your idea for my Epi LP.

 

[Artie]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

Just too much time on my hands. I'll give you the diagram tomorrow. :beerchug:

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

You are aweeome, man! Now...do I want black P Rails, or Creme...?

 

[Discharged]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

Ace, the P-Rails/TripleShot combo is the way to go, specially in a semi-hollow, where you want the easiest possible way to install that harness.

IME, the people that complain about the HB tone of the P-Rails are the ones that thought they'll have both the PAF and the P-90 sound at the flick of a switch. Which, of course, can simply not happen in a world where the laws of physics do apply,

/Peter

 

[Securb]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

I would want to do jazz/blues/pop/rock whatever. That Parallel comment makes me think good things. Of course, even if the bucker is hot, there is a volume knob....

The humbucker is going to be a bit hot for Jazz but you can always roll back the volume as you said. I use my neck pick up 99%of the time for Jazz and Blues, I can't remember ever using the P-Rails bridge for that purpose. I am going to dig out my Strat this afternoon and dial it in for some Jazz. I will give you a call later in the weekend and let you know what I think.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

Don't forget to test out plenty of magswaps in them, they have two magnets each. You might also find it useful to flip the pickups in one or both positions.

 

[Blille]

More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

I would think of them as a P90 pickup with some additional usable tones.

Which ones is really up to you. I liked parallel. The rail only when combined with another pickup. Series was too hot for me, maybe not for you. You could consider a neck humbucker in bridge if you plan to use series.

I tried mag swaps, liked it better standard but others liked them.

 

[dystrust]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

I have mine in an SG and it's my swiss army guitar.

The bridge in series sounds similar to a Gibson Iommi 'bucker and is very useful for heavier styles though I prefer a Custom or JB. I probably use mine in parallel about 80% of the time.

 

[Aceman]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

Ace, the P-Rails/TripleShot combo is the way to go, specially in a semi-hollow, where you want the easiest possible way to install that harness.

What? Me change that? oh hell no.....

 

[Aceman]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

Seriously though, the Parallel comments are giving me a chub. That is exactly what I need to hear. I would likely use P-90 a crap-ton any way, because, P-90 goodness.

But then to be able to have something PAF-ish with parallel, and maybe a single rail, or to be able to crank it up....great. I used to use my X2N in parallel a lot for all around guitar playing. I'm not expecting a 59 or a Seth or whatever. Just something in that output zone a little more articulate / transparent than say a Distortion/Custom/JB

I will definitely do concentric volume/tone though....so I will have a full set of controls.


What is say Neck bucker, or P90 + bridge rail like? I sometimes dig dialing in cut to a fat tone like like.

 

[dystrust]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

Seriously though, the Parallel comments are giving me a chub. That is exactly what I need to hear. I would likely use P-90 a crap-ton any way, because, P-90 goodness.

But then to be able to have something PAF-ish with parallel, and maybe a single rail, or to be able to crank it up....great. I used to use my X2N in parallel a lot for all around guitar playing. I'm not expecting a 59 or a Seth or whatever. Just something in that output zone a little more articulate / transparent than say a Distortion/Custom/JB

I will definitely do concentric volume/tone though....so I will have a full set of controls.


What is say Neck bucker, or P90 + bridge rail like? I sometimes dig dialing in cut to a fat tone like like.

I typically mix like coils since I prefer to keep hum-canceling (the neck is RW/RP from the factory); both P90s, both rails, and both in parallel are useful tones.

Regarding the parallel tones, IMO it's similar to what an A5 Pearly Gates would sound like. PAFish, but bright and better overall frequency balance than a '59.

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

You are aweeome, man! Now...do I want black P Rails, or Creme...?

Seriously, do you even need to think about this? There is only one possible choice, and it rhymes with cream. No, it is cream.... seriously.

 

[Artie]

Re: More P-rail discussions in a 335 style

That thing is cool. The combination of P-Rails, Triple-Shots, and Bigsby almost give it a subtle steampunk look. Sweet!