Single coil middle help

[Reverie]

I'm sure you guys get lots of these kind of posts, and i have tried searching, but i didn't find anything that helped me too much. So i decided to post this.

I've finally decided to get rid of the stock pickups in my Ibanes RG 370 and ended up deciding i wanted some Seymour Duncans. I've chosen the SH-2 Jazz for the neck and the SH-10 Full Shred for the bridge. Now all i need to do is pick a single coil for the middle position and i'm set. Only thing is i have no idea which single coil to use. I've looked around at a few reviews but i'm still having trouble finding much help.

I play metal and jazz (often combined). The single would mostly get used for clean jazzy/funky stuff, but also the occasional distorted lick/riff/whatever.
Basically i'm looking for something with bite, but not too hot, and decent mids. Any help would be appreciated thanks :burnout:

 

[Artie]

Re: Single coil middle help

Hi Reverie; Welcome to the forum.

I never used to be much of an HSH kinda guy, but since I've put the humbuckers in the neck and bridge of my Strat, I'm coming around.

To me, the ideal HSH setup is to use an SC that has the "classic" sc sound in the middle, like an SSL-2 or APS-2. Then wire up a 5-way to give you standard HH selections in the #1, #3, and #5 positions, and the two best Strat sounds in the #2 and #4 positions. Like this:

1. neck
2. neck split with middle
3. neck and bridge
4. middle with bridge split
5. bridge

Its like the best of both worlds. Mind you, you can't do that with a "standard" 5-way. You'ld need to get one of the "Mega", or "Super" switches.

Just my 2-cents worth.

Artie

 

[Reverie]

Re: Single coil middle help

Thanks for that Artie. I had never even thought about the pickup wiring to be honest
That makes sense though. I'll have to look into the wiring setups

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Single coil middle help

I was looking at another manufacturer called SD pickups. No relation to Seymour Duncan. They had an interesting twist. The middle pickup in their sets are clean and clear and reduced power to accentuate the quack in 2/4 positions. Also I like the way they sound alone. I like to play clean on the middle pickup because it is a good compromise between bridge and neck. But most middles are muddy, nassaly and stronger than the other positions. They seem to have solved that problem.

Snowdog

 

[Imp]

Re: Single coil middle help

5/2 middle? i love mine, its not really got a particular niche, but its a nice 'in between' setting in a strat.. could be worth a look