Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

[Lewguitar]

Years ago I called Seymour and asked him what humbucker he thought would be the best choice for use as a bridge humbucker with two vintage output Strat single coils and he advised the Jazz Neck humbucker.

Since this question of what to use comes up here constantly, I'd like to see Seymour design an alnico 5 bridge humbucker and Trembucker that perfectly compliments vintage output Strat pickups like the Antiquity Surf or SSL-1.

That humbucker would be along the lines of a 59 or Jazz, IMO.

I'd also like to see an alnico 2 bridge humbucker/Trembucker designed to perfectly compliment the Antiquity Texas Hot or APS-1 or 2 single coils.

Something with the output of a Seth Lover neck or Alnico II Pro neck but designed as a bridge Trembucker

How about it?

Lew

 

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

Thanks for the suggestion, Lew. Just curious as to what is lacking in the current bridge humbuckers in our line that would be solved with the pickup you're proposing.

By the same token, and in light of all the 10K PAF discussion (sorry if this is hijacking your thread), does anyone else think we're lacking in "hot vintage" pickups besides humbuckers? Like for Strats or Teles or bass or whatnot?

 

[Rev Donzo]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

I think they would have to be "Less" output, saddly thats not a very good selling point in todays market though.
also they would need to be tonal similar, in which the JB and the Jazz are closer to that nature.,

Lowering the Humbucker will brighten it up and it also lowers volume -- so that also works with Strat pups in the neck and middle -- Right?

 

[Rev Donzo]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

Hot Vintage pups in the production line?

Ya know now ya say it.. moving that 10k Texas bridge into production I'm sure would be a hit!

with the Teles I'm not as sure.. those guys usally go really hot or stock..

There is this "out of production" Broadcaster 10k with wire 43 thats brining in the big $$$ on e-bay, a 10k wire 43 is also Keef's bridge of choice. it adds fire yets still does all that Tele stuff.. just the intricacy of the upper highs is more flat-- but the increased output and fire is a nice trade off -- especially for Fat Teles which have the Humbucker necks.. No volume dip when ya switch back to the bridge.

as for a hole in the Strat neck production models a fat-boy 7.9k neck would be a real blues monster too!

Cheer's
Rev.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

Thanks for the suggestion, Lew. Just curious as to what is lacking in the current bridge humbuckers in our line that would be solved with the pickup you're proposing.

By the same token, and in light of all the 10K PAF discussion (sorry if this is hijacking your thread), does anyone else think we're lacking in "hot vintage" pickups besides humbuckers? Like for Strats or Teles or bass or whatnot?

Hi Evan! Well....Trembucker spacing for one thing. Seymour suggested to me the Jazz Neck pickup but used as a bridge pickup...and the Jazz Neck pickup doesn't come in Trembucker spacing so the E strings don't line up over the polepieces.

Also, as much as I like the 59B, Custom and Custom Custom in my Strats, all three are still a little bit to strong to use with SSL-1 or vintage style pickups. The 59 Trembucker is very good...but it still slightly overpowers a vintage Strat pickup, IMO, and if you have a single channel amp it's hard to find one volume and tone setting that works perfectly with both the SSL-1 or Antiquity Surf and the 59 Trembucker.

Just curious Evan: What does Seymour recommend these days for a bridge humbucker that allows you to take a cool solo on it, ala Clapton with Cream or EVH and then be able to switch to a neck 6.4K Strat pickup and get a great tone for rythym?

What I find is that in a S/S/H type guitar, when I solo on the bridge pickup and then switch to the neck pickup to play chords that I barely have to touch the volume control of the guitar because there's such a diff in the output of the bridge humbucker vs. vintage Strat single coils...and with the volume of the guitar close to full up, that feels and sounds a little to aggressive for me to get a nice comfortable rythym tone.

Thanks! Lew

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

If feasible, I think a little 59 sounding neck for a tele would be a very cool option that can be offered. I don't think any company has such a pickup, no?

I wouldn't use it but would expect that (even tho not huge) there'd be a demand.

Best,

B

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

Lew -- in the way of home-brewed mods, here's a thought, try the 59 trem-spaced with an Alnico 2 or 3.

And if that's not enough, open the coils up and take about 300 to 400 turns off each coil.

And of course, there's always the mighty Spin-A-Split that will mellow out any humbucker exactly to your tastes.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

So would offering the Jazz as a trembucker fit this need appropriately, or are we talking about something completely new?

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

Thanks for the suggestion, Lew. Just curious as to what is lacking in the current bridge humbuckers in our line that would be solved with the pickup you're proposing.

By the same token, and in light of all the 10K PAF discussion (sorry if this is hijacking your thread), does anyone else think we're lacking in "hot vintage" pickups besides humbuckers? Like for Strats or Teles or bass or whatnot?

Evan, To be honest, there is the Surfer Custom Bridge, the Texas Hot Custom Bridge and the Twangbanger...I feel that those 3 pickups cover a lot of space for Strat players that want a hotter bridge pickup, then there the Hot Tele lead as well as the JD for Tele guys...add to that all the rails as well as the Lil series and bridge pickups for Strats and Teles are pretty much covered.

I would like to ask about a vintagwe sounding noiseless pickup for Telecasters...to be 100% honest the hum from true singles doesn't bother me, so Im not even asking for me but Strat players have loads of SC sized buckers as well as 3 flavors of rails, plus the new Stack Pluses...Tele players don't have all those choices...just a thought, again...the hum doesn't bother me at all...I will never give up my Custom Shop Duncan single coils!!!

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

So would offering the Jazz as a trembucker fit this need appropriately, or are we talking about something completely new?

I'm not Lew, but a trem-spaced Jazz sounds like it would do the trick.

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

Is the A2 Pro the only production single with A2 mags? I am used to humbuckers and typical A5 mag singles are just too big a jump sound wise. The A2 antiquities were so smooth and warm that they really worked well as a compliment to the HB guitars. The 1/4 lb single has all kinds of output and sounds pretty good. All of that output really puts the spotlight on any hum or noise in the guitar though which is why I suspect most strat guys aren't jonesing that hard for really hot singles. If they need that much heat they pickup the HB guitar.

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

That's exactly what I need. Thanks Lew and Evan!
One could buy the Jazz and tilt it like in the Kramer Baretta and be set?

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

Now that were talking about "should be" pickups, I would like to see a Cool Rails set for tele.

Also, a slightly hotter bridge Phat Cat would be cool.

 

[Brow]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

A JBjr Bridge, for a Tele!

I remember this being spoken about at UGD UK, and Evan said that what is now the Lil 59 for Tele was intended to be the JB Jr for Tele, but it didn't seem to work. So they re-vooiced and re-named it and the Lil 59 for Tele was born.

I may be slightly 'off' here, but that's what I remember being said

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

How about the Custom Series as lil Buckers?
A lil' Custom or lil' Custom5 would do great lead sounds as neck Singlecoil sized Buckers for Strats.

 

[BachToRock]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

COOL RAILS for TELE... YEEEEES!

 

[MikeS]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

I would like to ask about a vintagwe sounding noiseless pickup for Telecasters...to be 100% honest the hum from true singles doesn't bother me, so Im not even asking for me but Strat players have loads of SC sized buckers as well as 3 flavors of rails, plus the new Stack Pluses...Tele players don't have all those choices...just a thought, again...the hum doesn't bother me at all...I will never give up my Custom Shop Duncan single coils!!!

IIRC, the reason that Duncan developed the Stack Plus for Strat and not for Tele was because they feel that they had gotten the noiseless vintage tele pickup right the first time, whereas the vintage stack for strat wasn’t as authentic as it could have been. I think the tele line being smaller than the strat line is fair, afterall the strat is world’s more popular than the tele. For those of you looking for a slightly-hotter-than-vintage tele pickup in the Duncan line, consider the QP tapped. It’s not a truly vintage voiced pickup, but the output is slightly higher than a vintage pup. With the entire coil working it’s a damn good option for a hot tele.

I think all these requests for more production line pickups are rather humorous. Duncan already has such a large offering of production pups that I’d be surprised if you can’t find what you are looking for. If your taste is that picky then drop the coin for a custom shop job.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

I think a tremspaced Jazz type pickup for use as a bridge pickup with vintage output Strat neck and middle pickups would be a nice addition to the Duncan line. Whether it should have the output of a Jazz bridge or a Jazz neck I don't know...but as I said, when I asked Seymour about this years ago he suggested that a Jazz Neck pickup would have the output that would balance best with the vintage Strat pickups I was using at the time. Lew

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

IIRC, the reason that Duncan developed the Stack Plus for Strat and not for Tele was because they feel that they had gotten the noiseless vintage tele pickup right the first time, whereas the vintage stack for strat wasn’t as authentic as it could have been. I think the tele line being smaller than the strat line is fair, afterall the strat is world’s more popular than the tele. For those of you looking for a slightly-hotter-than-vintage tele pickup in the Duncan line, consider the QP tapped. It’s not a truly vintage voiced pickup, but the output is slightly higher than a vintage pup. With the entire coil working it’s a damn good option for a hot tele.

I think all these requests for more production line pickups are rather humorous. Duncan already has such a large offering of production pups that I’d be surprised if you can’t find what you are looking for. If your taste is that picky then drop the coin for a custom shop job.

I don't think there's anything wrong with asking for this or that. The worst that could happen is Evan & Co. will say no, which they're not afraid to do.

But then again, I'm for home-based solutions whenever possible, so I vote for taking your favorite Tele pickup that you would like a little hotter and just opening it up and adding a few hundred turns to it. It's a lot cheaper than buying a new pickup.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Suggestion for the Duncan Company:

I think a tremspaced Jazz type pickup for use as a bridge pickup with vintage output Strat neck and middle pickups would be a nice addition to the Duncan line. Whether it should have the output of a Jazz bridge or a Jazz neck I don't know...but as I said, when I asked Seymour about this years ago he suggested that a Jazz Neck pickup would have the output that would balance best with the vintage Strat pickups I was using at the time. Lew

What do you think of taking a few hundred turns off a trem-spaced 59 with an Alnico 2 (or 3)?