Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

[Flaaffee]

Hello all! New to the forum here, so apologies if I do something incorrectly. I've never been happy with the pickups in my MIJ Mustang. I've never been concerned with keeping that authentic Mustang sound, I got one because I like how it plays, so that's never been an issue for me. I've never had mods done on any of my guitars except for maybe a pot change, so I have no idea what to do.

I've scoured the internet for days now trying to see what pickups would be a good replacement, I've seen recommendations for Hot Rails, JB Jr.'s, Lil 59's., SSL-1's, SSL-4's, SSL-5's, SSL-6's, Antiquities. In fact one of the forum users here has recommended SSL-5's and 6's very very often on a lot of the threads I've seen so I'm assuming they would be great and they have indeed been my first choice up to now, but I don't really know how they would sound like. There aren't a lot of Mustang pickup mod videos on Youtube, sadly. Any experiences on your Mustang pickups and the type of music you use it for would be great! Personally I don't play a lot of heavy stuff, usually a lot of poppy R&B, soul, funk, pop type stuff with a good amount of classic rock/blues/riff-y stuff thrown in for fun. Which of these pickups would help me cover the most ground? And if you could point me to somewhere where maybe I could hear it? I'm not trying to get it to sound dead on to a Strat, or Tele, or SG or anything, I just wanna cover as many bases as I can with the guitar I have.

Thanks!

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

I'd recommend a Hot Rails neck and bridge. They're noiseless since you don't need authentic single coil tones. They can do clean ish funky sounds. And they'd go well with the mustang to make skanky bluesy sounds also. There are like 6 demos on utube.

 

[bigcupholder]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

I'd recommend a Hot Rails neck and bridge. They're noiseless since you don't need authentic single coil tones. They can do clean ish funky sounds. And they'd go well with the mustang to make skanky bluesy sounds also. There are like 6 demos on utube.

Cool Rails would be more versatile though since it doesn't sound like the OP is doing a lot of high gain stuff.

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[Clint 55]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

A higher output pickup doesn't make you have to turn up the distortion box all the way any more than a lower output pickup would.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

Welcome to the forum!

I'd have to ask what you don't like about the current pickups. Do you need a different EQ, or power level? The pickups you listed are sort of all over the map power & EQ-wise. Is hum-cancelling important? Do you want it to sound like a humbucker? What kind of amp are you using, and what are the effects?

 

[Flaaffee]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

I'd recommend a Hot Rails neck and bridge. They're noiseless since you don't need authentic single coil tones. They can do clean ish funky sounds. And they'd go well with the mustang to make skanky bluesy sounds also. There are like 6 demos on utube.

Hi! I watched a few vids and it's definitely something I'm considering! Plus almost every modded Mustang I've seen has a Hot Rails in there somewhere

 

[Flaaffee]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

Cool Rails would be more versatile though since it doesn't sound like the OP is doing a lot of high gain stuff.

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Hi! Cool Rails seem interesting, what's the output on those?

 

[Flaaffee]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

Welcome to the forum!

I'd have to ask what you don't like about the current pickups. Do you need a different EQ, or power level? The pickups you listed are sort of all over the map power & EQ-wise. Is hum-cancelling important? Do you want it to sound like a humbucker? What kind of amp are you using, and what are the effects?

Thanks for the welcome! For me, they're a little too low output, a little skinny sounding. The sound has its place but I was thinking something with more versatility? I just need something that covers low to medium gain stuff. If it helps like P90-ish/esque sounds? Though I know it's a totally different thing. Hum-cancelling isn't that important, I just do jam sessions every now and again. I'm more of an in-house amp type of player (kind of the norm where I'm from), so I mostly do pedals mostly Bluesbreaker and TS style pedals. Thanks for your help!

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

Cool Rails is like the single coil sized Jazz humbucker. It is a scooped, clear, brighter sound.

 

[Flaaffee]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

Interesting! Would you say a Cool Rails for both positions? How does it compare to a Hot Rails or Lil 59?

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

The sinlgle coil size humbuckers with rails are smoother than the ones with screws so that might work better for your clean styles. The cool rails neck is a little lower output than the hot rails. The hot rails bridge is way hotter than the medium output cool rails bridge.

If you think you'd like some thicker true single coils, I had a ssl6 in the neck and ssl4 in the bridge of a mustang and it sounded good.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

Since you said you mostly play poppy R&B, soul, funk, and pop type stuff, I'd say a medium output bridge single coil mixed with a vintage output neck would work best for you. An SSL-1 in the neck with a SSL-5 in the bridge would work really well for what you want. Those pickups are tried and true choices for every genre you listed.

Edit: If you want the same combination, but noiseless, get the STK-S4 neck and STK-S6 bridge.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

A higher output pickup doesn't make you have to turn up the distortion box all the way any more than a lower output pickup would.

Yeah, but how are two thick high-output humbuckers going to help in genres that require snap and high end presence?

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

The hot rails neck is plenty glossy and snappy. Just not as much as a vintage single coil obviously. He said he didn't want a thin sound.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

That Hot Rails set is a great set, but I don't think it's what we're looking for here. The SSL-1/SSL-5 set is a lot closer from what I understand of the OP's requests.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

i think a hot rails bridge and cool rails neck would be a cool setup if you want a humbucker tone. i would switch the pots to 500k with those pups if it was me. if you wanted a strattier tone, id put ssl2 neck, ssl6 bridge and keep the 250k controls

The hot rails neck is plenty glossy and snappy. Just not as much as a vintage single coil obviously. He said he didn't want a thin sound.

you and i hear things so very differently.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

Interesting! Would you say a Cool Rails for both positions? How does it compare to a Hot Rails or Lil 59?

The Cool Rails is an opposite EQ of the Hot Rails or Little 59. The Cool Rails is scooped, while the HR and L59 have more mids. Also, the Hot Rails is HOT, with a good amount of compression going on, great for heavier rock where you use Distortion exclusively. The L59 & CR are more versatile, with a better clean and semi-distorted tones.

 

[TVFV]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

Interesting! Would you say a Cool Rails for both positions? How does it compare to a Hot Rails or Lil 59?

I run a trio of Cool Rails in a Stratocaster and they sound fantastic on a squeaky clean setting. You can run them in parallel for a thinner, more single coil-esque sound. I do this in middle so I can more quack in positions 2 and 4. In your case, I would run a pair of Cool Rails with series/parallel switching or put an SSL-1 in the neck and a Cool Rails in the bridge for a versatile HS setup.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

My long ago experience with hot rails was that it was ON.......and ALL THE TIME.

The beauty about todays rigs are that you have so much gain on tap, that you can let your amp end give you the heavy end for versatility. And the pickup is tweaked a bit toward the cleaner end of the spectrum.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Pickup recommendations and maybe sound samples for a Mustang?

There is that aspect.
Although you can also run hot pickups into today's amps and take it to the next level.

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