ratherdashing
Kablamminator
It took me a month, but I finally got the new silver pearl pickguard installed in the #1 Strat along with the Crazy 8. Here is how I have it wired ... pretty nuts I know, but that's how I am 
Neck PU: Bill Lawrence L-298n
Middle PU: Bill Lawrence L-280m
Bridge PU: SD Crazy 8 Trembucker
Switch: standard 5 way
Knob 1: 500k volume, push-push series/parallel switch for bridge PU
Knob 2: 250k treble tone, push-push adds neck PU in parallel (allows neck-bridge and all three pickup combos)
Knob 3: 1 meg bass tone (G&L Legacy wiring)
The 8 replaced a JB trembucker that I liked very much. I wanted to try something with slightly less juice and a cleaner, more articulate tone, and when the 8 came along I decided to jump on the opportunity. I played around with it for about an hour yesterday, and here are my impressions:
1. It is definitely cleaner and more articulate than the JB. In that sense, I got exactly what I wanted.
2. It responds very well to the tone controls. Rolling back the treble a bit gives it a very nice rhythm tone. Rolling back the bass puts it into PAF territory. Both tones on 10 is a really excellent lead tone. I am really glad I went with the Legacy wiring, because the 8 has HUGE low end that isn't ideal in a lot of applications, and having that bass control there to attenuate it is awesome.
3. Not many reviewers have really talked about the clean tone of this pickup, so I was a bit scared. It actually has a really sweet clean tone. I love the sound of this pickup through the JC-120 model on my Pod XT. The BF Deluxe model also kicked serious butt. It definitely licks the JB in terms of clean, which is excellent because I was a bit tired of the JB always adding grit to my cleans.
4. Further to the above, the 8 in parallel with a clean or slightly overdriven tone is the best tone I was able to get from it. I get a serious Filter Tron vibe from it when I hit the parallel switch. It beats the JB in this regard as well. I could have played all day with the 8 in parallel into the Bassman model.
5. The more I played it, the more I got curious about what it would sound like with an Alnico 5. The low end can get a bit out of control with some of my presets, but as I said before the bass knob goes a long way in taking care of this problem. It also doesn't seem to have that "organic" feel I'm familiar with from other Duncan pickups. Maybe its the magnet, or maybe its the Parallel Axis poles, but it has a very different character from my other Duncans.
6. It matches phenomenally well with the Lawrences in the middle and neck. Again, it whomps the JB in this respect. My acid test for notch positions is Sultans of Swing, and I was floored by how well a humbucker (in parallel) with a single managed to cop this tone.
In summary: I am very impressed, and overall I prefer it over the JB that was in there. It is clean, present, articulate, and powerful. It drives the amp very well, but won't grind your clean tones like a really hot humbucker will. The apparent lack of "organic-ness" may simply be me not being used to a pickup like this, so I will see if it grows on me. If not, I will look into a magnet swap. I know ... blasphemy. Like I said, I'll give it some time.
EDIT: the new pickguard looks amazing, and I'll post before and after pics in another thread later.
EDIT PART DEUX: I'm not really sure about these push-push knobs ... they switch pretty easily and I'm kind of clumsy, so I may have to replace them with something else.
Neck PU: Bill Lawrence L-298n
Middle PU: Bill Lawrence L-280m
Bridge PU: SD Crazy 8 Trembucker
Switch: standard 5 way
Knob 1: 500k volume, push-push series/parallel switch for bridge PU
Knob 2: 250k treble tone, push-push adds neck PU in parallel (allows neck-bridge and all three pickup combos)
Knob 3: 1 meg bass tone (G&L Legacy wiring)
The 8 replaced a JB trembucker that I liked very much. I wanted to try something with slightly less juice and a cleaner, more articulate tone, and when the 8 came along I decided to jump on the opportunity. I played around with it for about an hour yesterday, and here are my impressions:
1. It is definitely cleaner and more articulate than the JB. In that sense, I got exactly what I wanted.
2. It responds very well to the tone controls. Rolling back the treble a bit gives it a very nice rhythm tone. Rolling back the bass puts it into PAF territory. Both tones on 10 is a really excellent lead tone. I am really glad I went with the Legacy wiring, because the 8 has HUGE low end that isn't ideal in a lot of applications, and having that bass control there to attenuate it is awesome.
3. Not many reviewers have really talked about the clean tone of this pickup, so I was a bit scared. It actually has a really sweet clean tone. I love the sound of this pickup through the JC-120 model on my Pod XT. The BF Deluxe model also kicked serious butt. It definitely licks the JB in terms of clean, which is excellent because I was a bit tired of the JB always adding grit to my cleans.
4. Further to the above, the 8 in parallel with a clean or slightly overdriven tone is the best tone I was able to get from it. I get a serious Filter Tron vibe from it when I hit the parallel switch. It beats the JB in this regard as well. I could have played all day with the 8 in parallel into the Bassman model.
5. The more I played it, the more I got curious about what it would sound like with an Alnico 5. The low end can get a bit out of control with some of my presets, but as I said before the bass knob goes a long way in taking care of this problem. It also doesn't seem to have that "organic" feel I'm familiar with from other Duncan pickups. Maybe its the magnet, or maybe its the Parallel Axis poles, but it has a very different character from my other Duncans.
6. It matches phenomenally well with the Lawrences in the middle and neck. Again, it whomps the JB in this respect. My acid test for notch positions is Sultans of Swing, and I was floored by how well a humbucker (in parallel) with a single managed to cop this tone.
In summary: I am very impressed, and overall I prefer it over the JB that was in there. It is clean, present, articulate, and powerful. It drives the amp very well, but won't grind your clean tones like a really hot humbucker will. The apparent lack of "organic-ness" may simply be me not being used to a pickup like this, so I will see if it grows on me. If not, I will look into a magnet swap. I know ... blasphemy. Like I said, I'll give it some time.
EDIT: the new pickguard looks amazing, and I'll post before and after pics in another thread later.
EDIT PART DEUX: I'm not really sure about these push-push knobs ... they switch pretty easily and I'm kind of clumsy, so I may have to replace them with something else.
