Swap magnets to brighten rail on PRail?

[billlorentzen]

Is it possible to boost and brighten up the “Strat” sound of a PRail? I don’t use it in series or even parallel, so I don’t care about the coils matching. I’d just like a brighter, louder “Stratier” rail coil.

 

[Clint 55]

The only options for more output would be A8, A9, or ceramic but I'm not sure those would be suitable for a strat sound. You could give them a try I guess. Those are your options for more heat.

 

[Mincer]

Well, I think it is essentially a Hot Rail, so that explains the mid-ness of that coil alone.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

I was talking to GuitarDoc a couple months back about Prails (thru PMs, not via a thread), and he said that he found that if you rotate the bridge Prail pup so that the rail coil faces the bridge instead of the neck, that that boosts the brightness of the Rail Coil w no significant change in tone to the P90 coil. Easy enough "mod" to try out. He did say however that it does weaken the output of the Rail coil, so he would also advise - in addition to the rotation of the pup - to replace the Rail coil magnet with an A8.

 

[alex1fly]

If the rail coil is indeed a Hot Rails, then you really can't juice the output any more, and you need to reduce the mids in order to get it to sound more Stratty. May be easier and better to fix this in your signal chain rather than at the pickup. Boost with gain on your amp or use a pedal, add brightness in the same way, reduce mids in the same way.

I also think that the goals of hotter output at the pickup and more "strattiness" are not complimentary goals. Hotter output typically means woolier fat mids and reduced highs, while Strattiness to me means sparkly highs and less mids. For classic single coil sound that isn't weak, I've had much more success running classic single coils into a boost pedal. Gets the extra punch without changing the fundamental sound. You may even LOWER the pickup, which can clean up and open up the sound, and then boost it with a pedal before your amp.

Another option since you aren't using the functionality of the P Rails is to swap for a regular 'ol Strat pickup.

 

[Clint 55]

I also think that the goals of hotter output at the pickup and more "strattiness" are not complimentary goals. Hotter output typically means woolier fat mids and reduced highs, while Strattiness to me means sparkly highs and less mids.

Right..

You probably won't like this idea, but what I do is use a spin a split to roll in a little bit of the other pickup in series and it boosts the output and gives it some cluck. It probably will conflict with your existing wiring but just throwing it out there. That's what I would do if I had prails.