Neck humbucker - for a violin sound

C

CarlosG

New member
Hi!
I'm searching for Neck humbucker for my Strat (poplar body, maple Neck, rosewood fretboard, stainless steel frets and prs style tremolo)
On bridge I have JB but maybe I'll change it to Distortion or Custom Custom.
My inspirations are John Sykes and Kee Marcello.
I want to get these pouring, creamy violin neck sound.
John Sykes (Whitesnake, Blue Murder), Kee Marcello (Europe).
Kee Marcello used sh-1. Johns Sykes used old T-Top(i don't know specs). I like Slash tone too.
I tried sh-2 but it's too cut in the middle.
I used to have a superstrat with a 59 duncan. I cut the pole pieces off flush with the base and turned it 180 degrees. with a 15nf capacitor when i turned the tone knob i got a close sound.
I'm wondering whether to go with 59 at this point or maybe there's something else worth considering?
 
I'm not sure if this is what you mean by "violin" sound, but I personally prefer how the Air Norton pairs with the JB better than the '59. I have the AN in my Gibson with the JB, and the '59 in my LTD with the Ant JB, and while I do like the '59 for some stuff, I just find the AN pairs "better" (for my taste) with the JB.

The Air Norton is not as trebly, so notes higher up the fretboard sound smoother, fatter, and more "liquid-y". But the AN is also not as bassy as the '59, so notes lower in the fretboard don't sound as boomy and uncontrollable.

The AN just takes gain better, IMHO. The downside, though, is you lose some of that clean sparkle and vintage-y openness that the '59 has clean.

The '59 is pretty much the opposite of the JB when it comes to EQ and feel. The '59 is attacky, scooped, and open while the JB is squishy and focused. That's cool, maybe you want that, but the AN is more like I would think an "SH-4N" would be like if it existed.
 
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Also, FWIW, I also tried the SH-6N that I swapped an A5 magnet in, which I would think would be the closest thing from Duncan to a designated neck pairing for the JB, and I didn't like. I found it too dark and bloated. The AN is a bit lower output, but it's also livelier and leaner.
 
CarlosG said:
Hi!
I'm searching for Neck humbucker for my Strat (poplar body, maple Neck, rosewood fretboard, stainless steel frets and prs style tremolo)
On bridge I have JB but maybe I'll change it to Distortion or Custom Custom.
My inspirations are John Sykes and Kee Marcello.
I want to get these pouring, creamy violin neck sound.
John Sykes (Whitesnake, Blue Murder), Kee Marcello (Europe).
Kee Marcello used sh-1. Johns Sykes used old T-Top(i don't know specs). I like Slash tone too.
I tried sh-2 but it's too cut in the middle.
I used to have a superstrat with a 59 duncan. I cut the pole pieces off flush with the base and turned it 180 degrees. with a 15nf capacitor when i turned the tone knob i got a close sound.
I'm wondering whether to go with 59 at this point or maybe there's something else worth considering?
Click to expand...

How did cutting the pole screws flush help you attain that tone? I figured it makes for a more immediate and sharper attack and reduced bass and lower midrange.
 
Securb said:
Yep. One of the first things I tried with my WLHn was SInce I've Been Loving You which I think has the tone he is looking for. Just the LP straight into my Marshall nailed it.
Click to expand...

It makes the most sense to me. Poly-wire neck pickups have been consistently the "smoothest" to me. This is most noticeable in single coils, but it's true in humbuckers too

Even the Jazz model has a smoothness to it. It's just also naturally bright and so while it's smooth, it's not very "creamy".
 
I've already shared a testimonial about the SH2 as being objectively the closest thing to an "old T-Top" in the Duncan line... but AFAIK, John Sykes (and Kee Marcello in the Europe days) used mainly Les Paul's : even if pots resistance and wiring capacitance are the same* , a SH2 in a Strat won't sound identical, mostly for a question of scale, because of the kind of bridge used etc.

The use of shortened screw poles makes sense in this context (by tightening the boomier bass and scoopier mids due to longer scale + tremolo cavity+ materials) but I agree with Bowtomecha about the tonal effects of this trick...

So I agree with the advices above: I'd try a warmer HB like those mentioned - especially if the guitar has stainless steel frets.


*FOOTNOTE - Concretely, wiring capacitance is not the same at all between the guitars aforementioned: with all the wiring between pickups, pots and switch, a LP has + 300pF to 1000pF of capacitive materials in its belly, by design... So, trying to mimic a LP with a Strat should involve at least a capacitor from hot to ground of the pickups in the guitar, IMO. And the capacitance needed might be well above the values that I evoke, if the goal is to mimic the mid-centric resonance due to structure + materials of a (real) LP. ;-)

FWIW.
 
freefrog said:
I've already shared a testimonial about the SH2 as being objectively the closest thing to an "old T-Top" in the Duncan line... but AFAIK, John Sykes (and Kee Marcello in the Europe days) used mainly Les Paul's : even if pots resistance and wiring capacitance are the same* , a SH2 in a Strat won't sound identical, mostly for a question of scale, because of the kind of bridge used etc.

The use of shortened screw poles makes sense in this context (by tightening the boomier bass and scoopier mids due to longer scale + tremolo cavity+ materials) but I agree with Bowtomecha about the tonal effects of this trick...

So I agree with the advices above: I'd try a warmer HB like those mentioned - especially if the guitar has stainless steel frets.


*FOOTNOTE - Concretely, wiring capacitance is not the same at all between the guitars aforementioned: with all the wiring between pickups, pots and switch, a LP has + 300pF to 1000pF of capacitive materials in its belly, by design... So, trying to mimic a LP with a Strat should involve at least a capacitor from hot to ground of the pickups in the guitar, IMO. And the capacitance needed might be well above the values that I evoke, if the goal is to mimic the mid-centric resonance due to structure + materials of a (real) LP. ;-)

FWIW.
Click to expand...

Also,

Kee used Larivee superstrats (and super Teles) during his first album, before moving more towards Floyded LPs and SG90s in the second.

Honestly the secret to his sound is to have a loud mid-boost goosing the front end of the amp. Pickups are very secondary, like bruh he was playing a 24 fret SG with an angled single coil "neck" pickup (more like a middle pickup even), and he still sounded very smooth and fat

https://youtu.be/wnYtq8SZ5Fs
 
Archer250 said:
Also,

Kee used Larivee superstrats (and super Teles) during his first album, before moving more towards Floyded LPs and SG90s in the second.

Honestly the secret to his sound is to have a loud mid-boost goosing the front end of the amp. Pickups are very secondary, like bruh he was playing a 24 fret SG with an angled single coil "neck" pickup (more like a middle pickup even), and he still sounded very smooth and fat

https://youtu.be/wnYtq8SZ5Fs
Click to expand...

Yeah, I did remember KM using other guitars, reason why I've linked his use of LP's to "the Europe days". :-)

What I had in my mind was this, for instance: https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/news/140470/

[Parenthesis: this article mentions Lundgren Heaven 57 humbuckers but I'm not sure I'd recommend these PU's for a Strat - even if Kee M has them mounted in a LP with a Floyd Rose, which probably gives different bass / low-mid ranges...]

Agreed about the pickups as relatively secondary in this case. In fact, I was about to write exactly this sentence in my previous answer. ;-)

Regarding the mid boost thing: agreed again but having a mid centered pickup doesn't harm. Reason why I was evoking low value caps from hot to ground, which are a way to drag resonant peaks towards the high mids and to diminish the tonal gap from Strat to LP (it even works with Epi LP's when one wants them to mimic real Gibson's, actually)... :-)
 
freefrog said:
Yeah, I did remember KM using other guitars, reason why I've linked his use of LP's to "the Europe days". :-)

What I had in my mind was this, for instance: https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/news/140470/

[Parenthesis: this article mentions Lundgren Heaven 57 humbuckers but I'm not sure I'd recommend these PU's for a Strat - even if Kee M has them mounted in a LP with a Floyd Rose, which probably gives different bass / low-mid ranges...]

Agreed about the pickups as relatively secondary in this case. In fact, I was about to write exactly this sentence in my previous answer. ;-)

Regarding the mid boost thing: agreed again but having a mid centered pickup doesn't harm. Reason why I was evoking low value caps from hot to ground, which are a way to drag resonant peaks towards the high mids and to diminish the tonal gap from Strat to LP (it even works with Epi LP's when one wants them to mimic real Gibson's, actually)... :-)
Click to expand...

I actually prefer his 2010s onwards LP tone tbh

Which is uh... LP Axecess with Lundgrens into a JVM410. I'm not sure which speakers, probs Greenbacks.

And yeah middy neck pickup, I'd go with either the A2Ps I recommended earlier or look into DiMarizios.

Actually I used to use DiMarzios for those songs even

https://youtu.be/AOAdwWnM22w
 
Thx for sharing, Archer250!

For CarlosG: honesty wants me to admit that my old brain has mixed memories from different eras: on live videos about Europe in the late 80's, Kee Marcello uses Superstrats often enough to make my stance about LP's a bit irrelevant. :-P

I'll leave my previous answers as they are, nevertheless, since it doesn't harm anyone.
 
Bowtomecha said:
How did cutting the pole screws flush help you attain that tone? I figured it makes for a more immediate and sharper attack and reduced bass and lower midrange.
Click to expand...
It became more pronounced and had a bigger signal. But I did that along with rotating it 180 degrees (so I don't know which had the bigger effect). When I put in the standard polepieces and mounted it in the standard position I didn't like it.

I think the 59 needs a lower tone knob otherwise it doesn't sound right.​
 
CarlosG said:
I mean sounds like this:
2:43
https://youtu.be/r_4us480K9M?si=OCfFXGHGEfWYmsBA&t=163

2:09
https://youtu.be/IEDo4rova_A?si=YLwvSyUT34TL7xeQ&t=129
Click to expand...
So I assume smooth and without too aggressive attack. Then the AN would work. :)

Check 1:15

I have come to appreciate the '59. I used to hate it before, but I have a new appreciation for it. It has a wonderful open vintage-y clean tone an can be made to sound good distorted. It has many qualities, but none of them are being smooth or tight distorted, IME.
 
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I think that tone is more about rolling back the tone control ala Eric Clapton/Carlos Santana. In fact Carlos is usually playing bridge pup with the tone rolled down, that gets pretty "violin" as well.
 
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