Pickup Advice needed (strat quack on a Tele)

[Jeff_Miller]

Hi all,
I'll be putting together a new custom Tele for myself in the near future and I'm looking for some pup suggestions. I've used Seymour Duncans for many, many years and I love the Little '59 in the bridge of my Teles since I have to cover a wide range of tones (country, jazzy stuff, rock etc...). I also use a mini toggle on the Little '59 and switch between series/parallel.

Anyway, I want to choose a middle pickup (maybe others) and get the most strat quack as possible when I switch to position 2 & 4. I can get a decent quack out of my current Duncan setup, but I'd like to get more if possible. I'm not sure if I'm even choosing the right pickups for the task.

I know the strat quackyness in 2 & 4 is probably limited by having the Little '59 in the bridge and the SM-1N in the neck, but I want to try and get the most quack for the buck in 2 & 4 I can possibly achieve while still maintaining a good volume balance between the bridge and neck pickups. I'm open to using any combination of pickups, but I have to be able to get some decent humbucker chunk and Tele twang with the bridge pickup when needed too. I love the Little '59 and it'd be really hard to give it up, but I'm willing to try something different if I can get a better tone in 2 & 4.

I'm thinking the solo in "Sultans of Swing" has one of my favorite quacky type tones. The studio version of "Sweet Home Alabama" has some good tones too. Of course, I realize that I'm probably not going to come close to that tone with a FrankenTele, but I'm looking for something close I reckon. Maybe I should just play a damn strat, but I like my Teles too much! lol...

Questions -
Would the SSL-1 be the best thing to use in the middle?
Should I use a different pickup in the bridge besides the little '59?

Thanks! Any help appreciated!
Jeff

 

[tone4days]

Re: Pickup Advice needed (strat quack on a Tele)

welcome jeff

folks, some of you know who jeff is ... for those of you who don't, check out his web page ... not only can this cat SMOKE on guitar in just about any style you could name, but he BUILDS guitars that are INSANELY cool to include transplanting line6 variax guts into real electric guitars to get the best of both worlds and everything blended in between

jeff, i wish i could give you rock solid advice based on first hand knowledge of those exact pup combos in that exact kinda guitar ... all i can do is get as close as i've experienced ... namely, i really like combining my 59n with a duckbucker for quackiness ... granted, it is in a tiny little ibanez body and a full size 59, not a mini ... if i had to do it over again, i'd go for a vintage rails instead (and i recommend that you consider that given your style) ... when i bend notes, the sttring travels far away from the pole piece of the duck and gives a very pronounced drop in output ... with a rails, its not a problem

the new classic stack plus pups are on my radar to try ... i think a RW/RP middle one could sond very cool when split and combined with a lil59 ... you can mess with pickup height to get the balance you want ... and agreed 'sultans' and 'sweet home alabama' are holy grail tones in that family

again, welcome to our little corner of the web ... look forward to reading more as you share your experience and knowledge

cheers
t4d

 

[Jeff_Miller]

Re: Pickup Advice needed (strat quack on a Tele)

welcome jeff

folks, some of you know who jeff is ... for those of you who don't, check out his web page ... not only can this cat SMOKE on guitar in just about any style you could name, but he BUILDS guitars that are INSANELY cool to include transplanting line6 variax guts into real electric guitars to get the best of both worlds and everything blended in between

jeff, i wish i could give you rock solid advice based on first hand knowledge of those exact pup combos in that exact kinda guitar ... all i can do is get as close as i've experienced ... namely, i really like combining my 59n with a duckbucker for quackiness ... granted, it is in a tiny little ibanez body and a full size 59, not a mini ... if i had to do it over again, i'd go for a vintage rails instead (and i recommend that you consider that given your style) ... when i bend notes, the sttring travels far away from the pole piece of the duck and gives a very pronounced drop in output ... with a rails, its not a problem

the new classic stack plus pups are on my radar to try ... i think a RW/RP middle one could sond very cool when split and combined with a lil59 ... you can mess with pickup height to get the balance you want ... and agreed 'sultans' and 'sweet home alabama' are holy grail tones in that family

again, welcome to our little corner of the web ... look forward to reading more as you share your experience and knowledge

cheers
t4d

Thank ya for the kind words! I'm glad to be here!

I was thinking about the ducks. I've used them before on a strat I put together. I do a lot of string bending too, so I was afraid of the vol drop prob. I guess I'm just not sure what to try. I know they'll all offer some sort of quack, but I'm going to try to nail down the best choice so I can try to buy the right one the first time.

I'll check out the new stack plus you mentioned. I've never heard one before. I guess use the RW/RP and split the 59 when in bridge/middle is selected?

Thanks again!
Jeff

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Pickup Advice needed (strat quack on a Tele)

The vintage rails is essentially the DB without the dropout. Its really thin and glassy sounding, IMO the key to maximum quack. In your case, your outsides are thicker than any traditional strat, so the middle needs to contrast that as much as possible. The VR is a better choice than the SSL-1 IMO. Otherwise try tapping the lil59 instead of running it parallel. Yes I know it's not that great of a sound by itself, but with the middle pickup, a tapped lil59 will quack up a storm.

 

[Jeff_Miller]

Re: Pickup Advice needed (strat quack on a Tele)

The vintage rails is essentially the DB without the dropout. Its really thin and glassy sounding, IMO the key to maximum quack. In your case, your outsides are thicker than any traditional strat, so the middle needs to contrast that as much as possible. The VR is a better choice than the SSL-1 IMO. Otherwise try tapping the lil59 instead of running it parallel. Yes I know it's not that great of a sound by itself, but with the middle pickup, a tapped lil59 will quack up a storm.

Thank ya for the great advice. Yeah, I was thinking I should probably split the 59 when the middle is selected to achieve maximum quack. I agree 100%on needing the thin glassy tone in the middle. Hmmm... I'll check out the vintage rails too! I haven't ever tried one of those either. Decisions, decisions... I think I need a Seymour Duncan sampler platter! hehe... I need a Seymour Duncan "Quack Pack" for the Tele!

Take care!

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Pickup Advice needed (strat quack on a Tele)

In my opinion you get the best quack from a middle single coil that's fairly thin and bright even by single coil standards. Something in the 5.8-6.3k range works best for me. Magnet type depends on how hot the other two pickups are. If they are more or less vintage single coil, Alnico 2 or 3 will do the trick. If they are hotter singles or humbuckers, Alnico 5.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Pickup Advice needed (strat quack on a Tele)

i wound myself a set of strat pups. i like a strong warm neck tone, a hot thick bridge tone and a clean spanky middle tone.

i wound a 7k tall a2 magnet neck pup, 5.8k short magnet a5 middle and 11k tall a5 magnet bridge. the cluck i get is really nice with the low output bright middle pup

 

[Jeff_Miller]

Re: Pickup Advice needed (strat quack on a Tele)

i wound myself a set of strat pups. i like a strong warm neck tone, a hot thick bridge tone and a clean spanky middle tone.

i wound a 7k tall a2 magnet neck pup, 5.8k short magnet a5 middle and 11k tall a5 magnet bridge. the cluck i get is really nice with the low output bright middle pup

Wow, that'd be cool to be able to wind your own pickups!:bowdown: I don't know anything about that subject at all. What you describe tonewise is what I like too. I like a jazzy, full sounding neck, a quacky bright middle and the bridge has to be able to cover tele and humbucker tones.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Pickup Advice needed (strat quack on a Tele)

Hi Jeff,

I hope all is well with you and yours. My personal opinion from my own experiences is that I prefer a middle pickup with a little extra output without giving me any more mids than possible. That way, I can keep the middle pickup down at a lower profile. It tends to sound better by being lower and it doesn't get in my way as middle pickups ususally do for me. Good luck...

 

[Jeff_Miller]

Re: Pickup Advice needed (strat quack on a Tele)

Hi Jeff,

I hope all is well with you and yours. My personal opinion from my own experiences is that I prefer a middle pickup with a little extra output without giving me any more mids than possible. That way, I can keep the middle pickup down at a lower profile. It tends to sound better by being lower and it doesn't get in my way as middle pickups ususally do for me. Good luck...

Hi Butch,
Things are pretty good here. I hope all is well with you! Yeah, I'm with ya on the low profile preference. I forgot to mention that. I have to keep the middle pickup almost flat with the pickguard. I pick right over top of the middle pickup most of the time.

Take care!
Jeff

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Pickup Advice needed (strat quack on a Tele)

i wound a 7k tall a2 magnet neck pup, 5.8k short magnet a5 middle and 11k tall a5 magnet bridge.

What gauge wire did you use for the bridge?

the cluck i get is really nice with the low output bright middle pup

We are of one mind...

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Pickup Advice needed (strat quack on a Tele)

I have to keep the middle pickup almost flat with the pickguard. I pick right over top of the middle pickup most of the time.

That's a prime reason why I like the middle pickup to be a higher output type. The Texas Special I had in my Nashville B-Bender Tele was great for that.

 

[Jeff_Miller]

Re: Pickup Advice needed (strat quack on a Tele)

I have ordered the SVR-1 and the STK-S4 to try in the middle. I've never tried either of these pups. I couldn't decide which one to get so I just ordered them both! I'll see which one sounds best.

Thanks a lot for the help and recommendations!

Jeff

 

[tone4days]

Re: Pickup Advice needed (strat quack on a Tele)

great! - let us know how it turns out

cheers
t4d