Rich_S
HomeGrownToneBrewologist
I put a pair of Duncan Stacks in my Nashville Tele this weekend - it already had an SM-1 mini-humbucker in the neck, so now it has a Classic Stack Plus Strat pickup in the middle and a Vintage Stack Tele lead, making it fully humbucking. (Previously, it had an SSL-1 and STL-1).
In hindsite, this wasn't a well-controlled experiment - I also changed from a 2-volume control circuit to a standard 1-volume / 1-tone setup (250K + 0.022uF). So, direct comparisons between the old and new pickups are made more difficult by an overall drop in brightness due to the tone cap and pot.
STK-T3b Vintage Stack Tele Lead - This pickup is a work of art - it's very vintage-appearing, with the black string wrap, copper base plate, and slightly-staggered pole pieces. The only giveaways that it's a "cutting edge" pickup are the four-conductor cable and the fact that it's slightly taller than a normal Tele pickup.
One minor complaint: the surgical tubing Duncan provides as mounting "springs" is too short. With the pickup height adjusted properly, the tubing is doing nothing to hold the pickup in place. Fortunatley, I can push the pickup down into postion, and it stays, without flopping around.
The sound is fantanstic, fat and squawky and dead silent. It's a bit less obnoxious that the STL-1 it replaced, but that may be the tone control taming the highs a bit. Overall, I'm loving this pickup.
STK-S4 Classic Stack Plus - Outwardly, this looks like a normal white Strat pickup, but the plastic case is an integral part of the pickup, not a cover like on an SSL-1. Underneath, it's high-tech looking, with a small PC board substituting for the usual fiber base.
Tonally, I was slightly disappointed - I usually run my middle picklup down flat with the pickguard, and use it for cleanish rhythm with the volume all the way up. This maintains brightness and clarity while the overall voice of the middle position is a bit rounder than the bridge.
I think the Stack is lacking some of that brightness and clarity that the SSL-1 provided. It seems to be very sensitive to pickup height. Down low, it was very quiet and dull sounding. I had to raise it about half-way to increase both volume and brightness and get it to cut through. Combined with the bridge pickup, it doesn't really do the Strat Quack sound very effectively (my old SSL-1/STL-1 pair wasn't great in this department, either, but they were better than the Stacks).
I realize that the muted sound I'm getting from the STK-S4 might be paritally due to the load from the tone circuit. (I tried a .047 tone cap at first, but it was very dull and lifeless sounding, and the bottom half of the tone control's range was useless. So, I switched to its present 0.022 uF cap.)
I ordered a no-load tone pot today - I'll see if that improves the middle pickup's clarity. I might also wire my 5-way switch so that the tone pot is disconnected in the middle position.
All in all, great pickups for quieting down a noisy Telecaster. I highly recommend the STK-3Tb. The STK-S4 was slightly disappointing by comparison, but still a really nice pickup. In my seldom-used middle position, "it'll do".
I'll report back after I install the no-load tone pot and see if it restores the lost brightness.
In hindsite, this wasn't a well-controlled experiment - I also changed from a 2-volume control circuit to a standard 1-volume / 1-tone setup (250K + 0.022uF). So, direct comparisons between the old and new pickups are made more difficult by an overall drop in brightness due to the tone cap and pot.
STK-T3b Vintage Stack Tele Lead - This pickup is a work of art - it's very vintage-appearing, with the black string wrap, copper base plate, and slightly-staggered pole pieces. The only giveaways that it's a "cutting edge" pickup are the four-conductor cable and the fact that it's slightly taller than a normal Tele pickup.
One minor complaint: the surgical tubing Duncan provides as mounting "springs" is too short. With the pickup height adjusted properly, the tubing is doing nothing to hold the pickup in place. Fortunatley, I can push the pickup down into postion, and it stays, without flopping around.
The sound is fantanstic, fat and squawky and dead silent. It's a bit less obnoxious that the STL-1 it replaced, but that may be the tone control taming the highs a bit. Overall, I'm loving this pickup.
STK-S4 Classic Stack Plus - Outwardly, this looks like a normal white Strat pickup, but the plastic case is an integral part of the pickup, not a cover like on an SSL-1. Underneath, it's high-tech looking, with a small PC board substituting for the usual fiber base.
Tonally, I was slightly disappointed - I usually run my middle picklup down flat with the pickguard, and use it for cleanish rhythm with the volume all the way up. This maintains brightness and clarity while the overall voice of the middle position is a bit rounder than the bridge.
I think the Stack is lacking some of that brightness and clarity that the SSL-1 provided. It seems to be very sensitive to pickup height. Down low, it was very quiet and dull sounding. I had to raise it about half-way to increase both volume and brightness and get it to cut through. Combined with the bridge pickup, it doesn't really do the Strat Quack sound very effectively (my old SSL-1/STL-1 pair wasn't great in this department, either, but they were better than the Stacks).
I realize that the muted sound I'm getting from the STK-S4 might be paritally due to the load from the tone circuit. (I tried a .047 tone cap at first, but it was very dull and lifeless sounding, and the bottom half of the tone control's range was useless. So, I switched to its present 0.022 uF cap.)
I ordered a no-load tone pot today - I'll see if that improves the middle pickup's clarity. I might also wire my 5-way switch so that the tone pot is disconnected in the middle position.
All in all, great pickups for quieting down a noisy Telecaster. I highly recommend the STK-3Tb. The STK-S4 was slightly disappointing by comparison, but still a really nice pickup. In my seldom-used middle position, "it'll do".
I'll report back after I install the no-load tone pot and see if it restores the lost brightness.
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