Rail pickup for middle position

[Jacew]

I've been eyeing rail pickups for middle position of the upcoming birch bodied strat I'm building.

What would you consider to be main differences between Cool Rails bridge, neck and Hot Rails neck?

I know Hot Rails bridge would be too hot, but CR bridge and HR neck are very close in DCR (I know that's not necessarily relative to output, but it's what I got).

Meanwhile CR neck and HR neck have said to have mid spike, where as CR bridge is described scooped.

How realistic are those figures? I suspect birch to have snap, which is only reason I don't rule CR bridge out.

I'd like quite flat response (possibly?)...

EDIT: There will be Twang Banger in bridge. Want middle to be at least same in output. I don't mind more though.

 

[comstox]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

Jecew, I am asking similar questions about HR or CR in the neck position. Mabey you could glean some knowledge from this post I started yesterday: https://forum.seymourduncan.com/sho...lp-choosing-a-humbucker-in-a-single-coil-size

Good luck and remember... Seymour Duncan does have a 21 day pickup exchange if you do get a pickup you are not delighted with!

 

[Adieu]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

Many non-bridge pickups in the Duncan line, despite carrying different names, have very similar properties... possibly because they market most as one-name sets, or maybe just for no reason.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

Jecew, I am asking similar questions about HR or CR in the neck position. Mabey you could glean some knowledge from this post I started yesterday: https://forum.seymourduncan.com/sho...lp-choosing-a-humbucker-in-a-single-coil-size

Good luck and remember... Seymour Duncan does have a 21 day pickup exchange if you do get a pickup you are not delighted with!

Didn't notice that... thanks!

21 day exhange doesn't apply in Europe as far as I know...

EDIT actually I did notice that, but thought it to be different question. I don't mind punchy single coil tone and was was really interested the rails specifically.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

On my guitars with a middle pickup I like a bright sounding pickup. That way you get a good quack in the 2 and 4 positions. I’d go with a Cool Rail neck.


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[Blille]

Rail pickup for middle position

On my guitars with a middle pickup I like a bright sounding pickup.

This.

I still have a HR in the middle of my HsH and I don't really use it.

If you want quack with the others split most singles will work. If you must have a humbucker, the duckbucker is designed afaik to be a middle pickup.

Of the two mentioned, the cool rails.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

Good advice.

I don't really need or prefer the quack, but I'm not against it either. I'd like to try the rails + single coil combo in both series and parallel, and would like to preferably have punchy humbucker tone when middle only as well. Hence the options.

How would you say HR neck is compared to CR bridge? DCR is very close, but very different eq graph on the page?

 

[Blille]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

I haven't compared both in the same position but the CR is much more clear IME.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

I haven't compared both in the same position but the CR is much more clear IME.

Yes, the cool rail is brighter because it has less wire on it. The vintage rails even more so.


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[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

Anders Osborne uses a Lil Screamin' Demon in the middle of a Strat with regular singles in the neck & bridge. Seems like a cool setup that I'd like to try.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

Wayne Kramer used a full sized '59n in the middle of his signature Strat. I think a Lil' 59n might work well for you, but that's just speculation, I've never tried one in the middle position myself. What do you plan on putting in the neck?

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

With the Twang Banger in the bridge, I get the impression you are likely to use a 250k volume control. I would recommend the Cool rails neck as you will probably find the brightness to be better matched to your setup.

If you want it to maximum quack and more added brightness in position 2 you could consider splitting the Cool rails to the North coil (custom wiring installation). It should be quacky like a Duckbucker, and be add hum-cancelling in combination with the bridge pickup.

 

[Teleplayer]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

Yes, the cool rail is brighter because it has less wire on it. The vintage rails even more so.

I'm not sure that's correct. My cool rails with production date of Aug 2018 has the following specs.
Green-Red (south coil) = 4.76k
Black-White (north coil) = 4.93k
Total = 9.69k

It seems similar to the wind of the SL59-1n that I owned previously. My guess is the blade design has lower eddy current loss so it produces more high frequencies.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

With the Twang Banger in the bridge, I get the impression you are likely to use a 250k volume control. I would recommend the Cool rails neck as you will probably find the brightness to be better matched to your setup.

If you want it to maximum quack and more added brightness in position 2 you could consider splitting the Cool rails to the North coil (custom wiring installation). It should be quacky like a Duckbucker, and be add hum-cancelling in combination with the bridge pickup.

I use 500k pots. With 250k pots I would definitely go for CR neck.

I planned to split the rails in 2 and 4 so bridge/middle and neck/middle go series or parallel with one blade only, and have hum cancelling.

Yes, the cool rail is brighter because it has less wire on it. The vintage rails even more so.


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DCR is same... Is HR neck different wire gauge than CR bridge then?

Wayne Kramer used a full sized '59n in the middle of his signature Strat. I think a Lil' 59n might work well for you, but that's just speculation, I've never tried one in the middle position myself. What do you plan on putting in the neck?

I have broken coil QP I'll try out in neck as tapped only. If that doesn't work it could be anything...

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

DCR is same... Is HR neck different wire gauge than CR bridge then?

The blades are split, so no string is sensed by both coils. That eliminates the upper harmonic cancelation.



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[Jacew]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

The blades are split, so no string is sensed by both coils. That eliminates the upper harmonic cancelation.



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No they aren't:

https://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/cool-rails-strat-bridge

https://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/hot-rails-strat-neck

Vintage rails are only split blade Duncans I know of.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

i dont know how different the hr neck and cr bridge are. im in the process of wiring a hr neck into the bridge of a guitar to see how it sounds but dont have a cr bridge to compare it to.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

No they aren't:

https://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/cool-rails-strat-bridge

https://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/hot-rails-strat-neck

Vintage rails are only split blade Duncans I know of.

I was talking about Vintage Rails


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[Jacew]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

After scavenging info there really is surprisingly little about Cool Rails bridge out there...

Is there anyone who could chime in their experience about it?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Rail pickup for middle position

To me, it sounded a lot like the Jazz bridge: bright, scooped, and open. Not particularly hot. It doesn't sound like a single coil, nor respond like one, but it has chime to spare. For me, it was perfect in one mahogany guitar and one walnut guitar.