Strat Options....

[PUCKBOY99]

I see they box an "Everything Strat set" which is the Little '59 neck/Duckbucker middle/JB Jr. bridge.

I'm not a big fan of the regular '59 or JB, so...............

Anyone using this set-up or any of the below:

Cool Rail/Cool Rail/Hot Rail
Cool Rail/Duckbucker/Hot Rail
Duckbucker/Duckbucker/Hot Rail
Vintage Rail/Vintage Rail/Hot Rail

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Likes....dislikes???

Thanks....:beerchug:

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Strat Options....

I'll tell you this...the Cool rails an the Lil 59 are pretty much the same pickup as are the duckbuckers and vintage rails. I have tried the Lil 59 and it's a cool pickup, it is very much a humbucking tone...not very single coilish IMO, but still a good sound. The Duckbuckers/Vintage rails are great...I really like them alot. I think that the sound clips of the vintage rails give a pretty good idea of what they sound like

 

[jeremy]

Re: Strat Options....

the cool rails/vintage rails/hot rails would be another everything strat set. loads of tones in there with a little extra punch in the bridge and rails so there is no string spacing issues and the rails do have a little different tone to them. maybe a little smoother

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Strat Options....

Sounds like the ticket there Jeremy!

Thanks TGWIF.....that Duckbucker looks interesting. Looks like SD's version of the G&L "Z" pickup.

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Strat Options....

ALSO.......curious: Do these sound like Strat pickups (esp. in #2 & #4 position) minus the hum or like a Strat wishing it was an LP?

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Strat Options....

I think that the Vintage rails and Duck Buckers sound pretty Stratty to me, but the CR and HR do not...

 

[Artie]

Re: Strat Options....

I'll tell you this...the Cool rails an the Lil 59 are pretty much the same pickup . . .

This is one of those little things where we just disagree. I think the Lil 59 is warm and smooth, while the Cool Rails has a distinctive mid-range "punch".

I think that the Vintage rails and Duck Buckers sound pretty Stratty to me, but the CR and HR do not...

I agree here completely. I've gone through a fair number of pups in my Strat, and I'm pretty sure that the CR/VR/CR combo is "the" one. Great "Knopfler" tone with all three on.

Artie

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Strat Options....

Thanks Artie...that sounds good!

 

[Artie]

Re: Strat Options....

Heh . . . I just realized how that sounded. I meant "the" one for me, with my setup. Your mileage, of course, may vary.

 

[Mewmender]

Re: Strat Options....

i have a cool rails, vintage rails , lil 59' setup in mine... u might wanna try it out

 

[Amateur]

Re: Strat Options....

I have a neck Cool Rail, a bridge Cool Rail at the mid and a Hot Rail at the bridge and I use one Push/Pull to split both the Cool Rails and the second Push/Pull pot to split the Hot Rail. I think it sounds great with my Strat. It covers all styles I wanted to play; Jazz, Blues, Rock, Ballad, Country and Metal.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Strat Options....

Not to sidetrack here, but, what kind of single coil middle pickup jives with rail pickups?
I'm assuming that a Duncan SSL1 rw/rp middle pickup?

Tonight, I was wiring up a regular Custom 5, a vintage middle, and Hotrails neck.
Nothing in my pile of single coils were the right polarity. I think I'm going to end up putting a Cool Rails in the middle, since I'm now forced to buy another pickup.

Is it better to stay with rails, rather than mixing them with single coils? Anyone?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Strat Options....

if you stick with the rails youll have hum free in all positions. unless you split the buckers in pos 2 & 4 you wont get humcancelling using a real single coil. if you are using the black as hot then i believe that you want a normal (non-rw/rp) pup in the middle.

by putting the duck or vintage rails in the middle, youll get more quack in the notch positions. the hot rails doesnt really sound like a strat pup, the cool rails has some stratty qualitys but with a meatier voice. the vintage rails sounds pretty bright, spanky and stratty

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Strat Options....

I think I'm going with a nickel C-5 and two Hotrail neck/middles. It's on my G&L Legacy Deluxe. The vintage singles sound tiny and thin on that guitar, so I'm just turning it into a beefy sounding super strat. I'm just going to buy another Hot Rail for the middle.

I'm using the hotrails because they're the closest thing to 59 necks I've found.
I wonder if the 'new and improved' Hot Rails sound any different than the originals.
The new ones have a plastic shell, so the high E can't get stuck under the bobbin top.