Neck Single Coil Holy Grail by Duncan

Dr.Mavashi

Dr.Mavashi

neonderthalotonalogist
So, requirements:

1) super bright, opposite of Fender’s Texas Specials

2) fast clean up, on volume = 10 - as saturated as a single coil can get, on volume = 5 clean, just a bit of barely noticeable break up alas Dire Straits type staff.

3) Creamy low end, think shimmering, glossy low end alas intro solo of all along the watch tower

thank you dudes !!!
 
With this idea, realize that unless you use active pickups (or a boost), the super bright singles just don't have a ton of power to be all that saturated.
 
  1. Super bright makes me think things like Antiquity II Surfers, or ~6k types, like the Hendrix set or Psychedelic set.
  2. I've never had a problem with any traditional Strat singles cleaning up (unless we're talking rails or some other high-output type). Getting them saturated usually requires an external boost.
  3. For that, I just use stock low output Strat singles with the tone rolled off a touch. It's not all from the pickups, some of that tone comes from the guitar controls and the amp. Sometimes it's the character of a boost that isn't working too hard, like if it's running through an Echoplex or some other outboard gear or pedal that has a pre-amp in it.
Overall, it sounds like you just need a lower output traditional Strat single, something around 6k. Surfers, Hendrix, etc.

Something I haven't tried yet, but might be what you are looking for is the Scooped Strat neck. If it lives up to it's name, it should give plenty of brightness and lows like All Along The Watchtower.
 
I wonder if the Lipstick Tubes would fill this bill? I love mine, but they definitely benefit from some sort of boost or distortion. They have "bright" and "spank." Not so much power. In fact, they may be the weakest pickup I've heard. But still, have their own distinctive sound. (And cool look.)
 
Both guitars have Tex Specials from my 1999 MIA Lone Star strat. In Lone Star strat itself it’s not bad - dark but not as dark, as the same pup that was in the middle position on a lone Star that out in the neck of my warmoth mahogany Rhoads V with Kramer pacer neck. I would like to replace both for above description. If the song has a clean part I dial volume down on a single coil and switch between pups vs amp/pedal for clean/gain channels, that’s the main purpose but would want to have a nice break up for some runs during leads.
 
But I don't think most singles are 'buttery', in that the best singles (the lower output ones) are pretty scooped.
 
The intro solo in "All Along the Watchtower" was apparently played on a P90 (in a 55 LP Custom with Bigsby plugged to an AC30).

To deliver the same kind of "creamy / glossy low end", a Strat pickup would have to be associated to a strategy that Hendrix himself applied (at least on stage) and that Bill Lawrence has clearly explained in his "pickupology". See the 3d paragraph from the bottom in this link that I've already shared more than once here:

http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/Al...leandSound.htm

For a maximum brightness, one would have to follow the opposite strategy: the smallest possible cable capacitance and/or the lowest possible pickup inductance...

Lipsticks: I love them personally. They have probably the lowest inductance among popular pickups on the market: 1.3H. Twice less than a SSL1. But they are magnetically weak and subject to eddy currents so their effectively super bright tone is partly lost in a flattened resonant peak / rounded high end, as if the tone pot was constantly lowered. A no load tone control and a 1M volume pot might solve that but the 1M volume would have to host a treble bleed circuit to avoid to darken the sound once lowered.
Also: lipsticks with CERAMIC magnets would exhibit less eddy currents and more power for a same (or for even more) brightness.

Brightness and power: a Stratoblaster preamp IN THE GUITAR should give that. Even with Texas Special, since it would nullify cable capacitance. Listen Hughie Thomasson (The Outlaws) playing his mocha brown hard tail Strat in the 70's if an example is needed.
Building a Stratoblaster from scratch takes a few minutes. Here is the schematic:
http://beavisaudio.com/schematics/Al...-Schematic.htm

If I had to fulfil the needs expressed by the OP, I'd mount such a Stratoblaster and a tone control as the one described by Bill Lawrence, with the kind of low output PU's evoked by fellow members above. I'd add a treble bleed circuit or not, depending on the tone obtained once the volume lowered (there's other factors at play there so it's not possible for me to predict if a treble bleed would be needed or not).

FWIW. YMMV. HTH.
 
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id say the psychedelic strat pup is about as close as youll get to that, but as mentioned, low output strat pups dont hit the amp hard so a boost would help with saturated tones.
 
IMO the solution to this conundrum is a low output classic Strat pickup and a Fuzzface.
Gives saturation when wide open and distinctive Jimi-tyle semicleans when rolled back.
And for pristine & chimey, you simply disengage the Fuzzface.
 
with the right fuzzface, you can get very clean tones when the guitar volume is rolled way back. i have a red dot sunface, always run the fuzz knob full up, and can get great cleans with the pedal on
 
freefrog said:
Lipsticks: I love them personally. They have probably the lowest inductance among popular pickups on the market: 1.3H. Twice less than a SSL1. But they are magnetically weak and subject to eddy currents so their effectively super bright tone is partly lost in a flattened resonant peak / rounded high end, as if the tone pot was constantly lowered. A no load tone control and a 1M volume pot might solve that but the 1M volume would have to host a treble bleed circuit to avoid to darken the sound once lowered.
Click to expand...

Interesting observation. Neither the Duncan Lipsticks in my Strat, or the Lipstick 'buckers in my Danelectro suffer any loss of highs. I need to play these again and remind myself.
 
ArtieToo said:
Interesting observation. Neither the Duncan Lipsticks in my Strat, or the Lipstick 'buckers in my Danelectro suffer any loss of highs. I need to play these again and remind myself.
Click to expand...

Let me reword and contextualize my statement: lipstick have far less eddy currents than Tri-Sonic's, for instance. But the use of AlNiCo bars inside coils themselves "encapsulated" in metal tubes is not neutral: it causes some eddy currents. Without the related loss (moderate but noticeable enough to act like a lowered tone control), their high pitched resonant peak would be pointier and they could seem unbearingly bright. :-P

Conversely, the response of a lipstick can be approached by an underwound Strat SC fitted with a metal cover (in order to obtain eddy currents) and associated to a slightly lowered tone pot for a rounded resonant peak. I've exactly that configuration in a Strat: 2 lipsticks and a bridge CS69 + metal cover + tone pot.

Frequency response below, FWIW. Resonant peaks measured directly from the output jack of the guitar (through a normal guitar cable, their rounded resonances would be lower pitched). BTW the lipstick has a no load tone pot in this case but its peak is still noticeably rounder than what a normal Strat PU would give without eddy currents + added resistive load. :-)

LipsVsStratMtlCovTonePot.jpg
 
The OP sounds like he needs a clapton circuit or some other boost circuit and a set of vintage sounding pickups, noiseless or standard.

Its funny how the OP mentions holy grail.

I run a set of lace holy grails through a clapton setup in my strat.

The tbx tone control is similar to a no load pot, but allows you to go from 250k to 1meg and all points in between instead of 250k to no load, and that's it. I ise this on 7 to 10 to add more glass in the 2 and 4 positions mostly.

The midboost adds 12db of gain, which can bring a standard fender single coil to vintage humbucker territory. i rarely go above 5 here. I add just enough to fatten the low end and add a touch of gain.

The volume pot adds 12db of gain as well ( add the 2 to get the 25db of gain advertised). 7 is like 10 on a passive strat. Pushing to 10 adds body to your sound. The mids and bass boost a bit to my ears. This is often enough for most guy's needs. This also puts the gain in vintage humbucker territory. Perfect for cleaning up as the volume drops.

The full 25db at once is like a high powered humbucker, gainwise. Not good at all.

There is no tone loss as the volume drops as well. You can set everything up at full gain, and clean it all up from the guitar.

Cable capacitance is less of an issue too.

The best part is that I can get everything that the op is asking for.


Since I like fatter single coil sounds, I run my midboost at 2 or 3 max, the tbx at 3 (this is like 6 on a regular tone pot), and the volume to taste (usually around 5 to 7).
If i want standard sounds? I got 'em covered.
Bright sounds? roll the tbx past 5 to taste
Fat sounds? Roll up the mids
High gain? Goose the volume past 7, turn the mids up, or both.

Just never use more than 12db, or half of the available gain, and things will never get muddy.

There is tons of variety available to experiment with using this set up. It's not an everything on 10 type of thing.

you could also use some emg eq add ons like the one in the dg20 set, or their bass eq modules that allow boost or cut for bass, muds, and treble.


fender
demeter
Gfs (I think)
Emg

All make boosts that will work.

there is another company that I can't remember the name of that makes 2 or 3 (maybe 4) different kinds of boosts.
 
freefrog said:
The intro solo in "All Along the Watchtower" was apparently played on a P90 (in a 55 LP Custom with Bigsby plugged to an AC30).
Click to expand...

In that case, I would use a DiMarzio Injector neck. Mine sounds like a Gibson neck pickup, but has some brightness and can sound Fendery also. It has a quality like a Duncan Jazz also, bright with some thump to it. One of the Duncan dual coil singles I've read sounds like a Jazz (can't remember which one, Lil 59?), maybe that would work also.
 
Yeah, I've a guitar with a Cool Rails bridge mounted in the neck slot... 'cause in series, it has the inductance of a P90. ;-)

It gives a decent single coil emulation once wired in parallel.

i've not evoked this solution since the request was about a "neck single coil". But if it was for me, a series/parallel switch with a SC sized HB exhibiting adequate specs is something that I'd certainly consider.
 
It may not be 100% but I'd just toss a STK-S4n in there and call it done. Or a SSL-1n if you want a traditional single-coil.
 
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