Re: P-rail hot as a neck p/u?
as an owner of the p-rails hot I would probably steer clear of that idea.
It works great in the bridge position but it will drive anything even with the volume rolled back, it's kinda like a british amp it doesn't really get pristine cleans no matter how you set it (which I kinda like).
But typically I want a little bit more warmth and such from my neck pickups. I'd say go with a stock P-Rail neck now as to how it would pair up with your Bareknuckle I can't say for sure since I have yet to try any of their pickups.
Frankly I think if you are going to go through the trouble to wire up one P-Rail you may as well get a set. If you want versatility from clean-uber gain in both positions I'd stick with the stock set.
I'd kinda be curious to see how the neck p-rail would sound if you switched to an AlNiCo 2 or 3 magnet and used a stock bridge P-Rail (or maybe even had AlNiCo 4 magnets in the bridge).
And really for the triple shot to work for all 4 p'up options you'd need two installed because you have to be able to switch to 4 tone types. I'd suggest using push-pulls instead of spending $50 for triple shots unless you plan to wire your other humbucker to split to either coil, series humbucker, or parallel humbucker.
I went with the P-Rails hot because I wanted a darker and hotter bridge sound, I mostly play with my middle and neck pickups on most instruments the only time I really like using a bridge pickup is if I have a good P90 or humbucker in the instrument and I'm usually going for raw rude outta control sound. I sometimes wonder looking back on the purchase though if I'd have been happier with a stock P-Rail in the bridge just because it doesn't clean up that well and it does lose versatility for some of the stuff I sometimes play. The only other times I'm on the bridge p'up is playing certain stuff like country licks and rockabilly on a twangy bridge like in a tele or on a gretsch. Also a good strat bridge p'up with thick gauge strings works great for surf.
But that's why I'm looking at picking up two new electrics to replace the collection of seven I once had. I thinned out my collection of two tradition jerry reid teles, two fender us deluxe strats, dearmond m77t, prs se semi-hollow soapbar, prs santana se to just the santana se (which was my favorite of my electrics and threw in a set of the P-Rails hot).
In all honesty I'm tempted to get another Santana SE like mine only in vintage cherry and get a regular set of black p rails. I love the hot but really it's only useful for certain types of playing where as the regular p-rails rule at everything.
Not saying the hot is a bad pickup cuz I love mine I just probably would've been smarter to stick with the stock since I'm trying to make my one guitar to do the work of many.
