PAF or Burstbucker Neck tones in Single Coil Size?

I

Infi-del

New member
Before anyone goes there... I know it won't be the exact same thing... I know it won't sound exactly the same... I'm trying to get close.

With that being said... I have an HSS guitar that I want to achieve some PAF Burstbucker type tones in the neck position. Right now it has Lindy Fralin Split Blades in the Middle and Neck and I'm likely to leave the middle one unless I find something with a P90 tone I like better. But they're straty and plucky sounding. And I'd like to get something closer to a PAF or Burstbucker sound. I plan to put a Burstbucker in the bridge position.

The guitar has a substantial Mahogany block body with maple top and a Canary Wood neck and is a hardtail. So the instrument is capable of Gibsonish tones. I eventually intend to replace the hardware with brass (including the nut).
 
Re: PAF or Burstbucker Neck tones in Single Coil Size?

youll never get it exact but a lil 59 or cool rails gets some of that flavor
 
Re: PAF or Burstbucker Neck tones in Single Coil Size?

I get some surprisingly close humbucker tones from a cheap rails pickup which isn't too dissimilar to a cool rails in metrics.
 
Re: PAF or Burstbucker Neck tones in Single Coil Size?

jeremy said:
youll never get it exact but a lil 59 or cool rails gets some of that flavor
Click to expand...

I find them both interesting. They both have the same resistance. But the Cool Rails seems to have a significant mids boost while the 59 has a slight treble boost. Which would you think would work best in which position were I to go with both for Middle.Neck positions? Maybe the Cool Rails would work best in the middle to add some midrange punch when combined with the Bridge or Neck pickups.
 
Re: PAF or Burstbucker Neck tones in Single Coil Size?

i think the lil 59 is fatter than the cool rails actually. either would work depending on what you are looking for. do you use the middle pup by itself? if so what for?
 
Re: PAF or Burstbucker Neck tones in Single Coil Size?

The hot rails neck is actually surprisingly PAF "class". It is a bit more HiFi than a real PAF, however overall I like it better than the little '59.
 
Re: PAF or Burstbucker Neck tones in Single Coil Size?

I also believe rails get closer to a full humbucker tone. I haven't tried the Cool Rails, but I've tried the DiMarzio Chopper, and I'd say it gets closer than the Little '59. The reason, IMO, is that the rails are physically larger, and come a little closer to fillister slugs and screws in terms of overall flux, where as the tiny screws of the Little 59 have more cosmetic value, and don't bring as much magnetic flux to the strings.

Having said that, no single coil sized pickup will voiced like a PAF, because the smaller pickup sees a smaller area of the strings. You'd need to use a full sized humbucker in order to get that particular voicing. The single coil sized pickups will all tend to sound a lot like a regular Strat pickup with the tone knob rolled back.
 
Re: PAF or Burstbucker Neck tones in Single Coil Size?

A Cool Rails (more open) or a Little 59 (more mids + gain) would be my choices. But even if a pickup we made sounded exactly the same, if the scale length is different from an LP, that would contribute to differences.
 
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