Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

[STRATDELUXER97]

I removed the .002 cap across the tone control as Fralin's drawing must be a misprint showing a .002 tone cap! :yell:

I went with a .022 cap(might try a .047 also) and it removed that shrillness that the small cap was adding.A .047 would actually give me a better tone pot taper in my case and it might help bring the bridge pickup around even better?..These pickups sound really great...After spending some time listening to the Surfers vs the Texas Hots,I've come to the conclusion that the Surfers have about as much low end as the Texas Hots,but at the same time these pickups are more articulate to me..I also think the Surfers are punchier and chimier with a bit more presence over notes..These remind me more of the actual vintage tones we're used to hearing on the old records...

The only thing that I Might call a negative,is that the Texas Hot bridge pickup seems to be a little bit bassier and I attribute the small difference solely on the A2 vs A5 poles...The 2 bridge pickups are pretty close in tone..Maybe I wish the Surfer bridge was a bit darker and fatter sounding..I picked up my other strat with the Texas Hot bridge thinking it was going to be alot fatter,but it was pretty close to the Surfer..

Both bridge pickups are adjusted to the same heights...I'm at like 6/64" with the 2 E strings depressed at the highest frets from string bottom to pole tops..

I really like these pickups alot just because they really sound like great strat vintage pickups...The 2nd and 4th position tones are pretty amazing,but I Like the way the middle pickup on it's own is very usable for a change..

The blender pot is pretty cool also and it does add that extra bit of meat to the bridge pickup,but it changes the "character" of the bridge pickup also by adding the neck pickup in with it...Not sure if I truly like this alot,but it may grow on me?

Anyway...Hope this helps? :dance:

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

yea, i recently got ant II's off a friend of mine's strat that he was selling. I must have messed up in the grounding or something because even in the hum cancelling positions i get alot of hum (not 60 cycle, just crappy grounds). They're pretty amazing pickups, as many times when i cover a steely dan song like reeling in the years i feel like im actually playing the record because it's such a good replica of the classics. I'm running a .02 tone cap i believe, but no blender pot. The bridge does sound kind of bright, but it distorts in a much heavier manner than the neck and bridge. I guess it's because most middy pickups make great metal pickups, but it adds to the incredible versatility of my strat. Is it possible to run 2 differently valued tone caps on the neck tone and bridge tone? I was thinking of throwing a separate tone cap for the bridge to make it fatter, what value would you recommend? Im running a .022 right now for both

 

[beandip]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

Man, John!!! Now I want the Ant II's even more!!! thanks alot, where do you expect me to get all this money? I hate GAS!!!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

These pickups sound really great...After spending some time listening to the Surfers vs the Texas Hots,I've come to the conclusion that the Surfers have about as much low end as the Texas Hots,but at the same time these pickups are more articulate to me..I also think the Surfers are punchier and chimier with a bit more presence over notes..These remind me more of the actual vintage tones we're used to hearing on the old records.

I really like these pickups alot just because they really sound like great strat vintage pickups...The 2nd and 4th position tones are pretty amazing,but I Like the way the middle pickup on it's own is very usable for a change..

Hi John, that's exactly how I feel about the Surfers. As for the Blender Pot, I use it to shade the tone of the bridge pickup or neck pickup and I rarely add 100% of the other pickup....just a little. With the Blender Pot on about 4 the little bit of neck pickup that's added to the bridge pickup fattens it up and removes a little of the bite.

Try this too: with the Blender Pot all the way down, both pickups are combined equally and when you switch back and forth from your neck pickup to your bridge pickup the tone should be about the same. But with the Blender Pot turned down 1/2 way, when you switch back between your neck and bridge pickup you'll hear two differant tones! Cool!

I think the next pickup to try is the TWANGBANGER. It's fat and sassy! It's about 1/2 way between an Antiquity Tele Lead and Jerry Donahue Tele Lead in terms of tone.

I love it. :dance:

Signing off...


Thanks! Lew

 

[Falstaff]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

Thanks for the update...they sound great!

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

yea, i recently got ant II's off a friend of mine's strat that he was selling. I must have messed up in the grounding or something because even in the hum cancelling positions i get alot of hum (not 60 cycle, just crappy grounds). They're pretty amazing pickups, as many times when i cover a steely dan song like reeling in the years i feel like im actually playing the record because it's such a good replica of the classics. I'm running a .02 tone cap i believe, but no blender pot. The bridge does sound kind of bright, but it distorts in a much heavier manner than the neck and bridge. I guess it's because most middy pickups make great metal pickups, but it adds to the incredible versatility of my strat. Is it possible to run 2 differently valued tone caps on the neck tone and bridge tone? I was thinking of throwing a separate tone cap for the bridge to make it fatter, what value would you recommend? Im running a .022 right now for both

What I normally do is put a .015 on the neck,neck/middle tone pot and either a .022 or .033 on the bridge,bridge/middle tone pot...I usually use a No Load tone pot in both positions,but I think I'm going to just use a regular 250k tone pot with this Surfer strat...The pickups have plenty of chime and presence and won't benefit from a no load tone pot...As usual Lew was right and told me to remove it! I'm going to spend alot more time with my new pickups and the blender pot before going back into my guitar again..

I Like the sound of the Twangbanger from the way you guys describe it,but I don't want my strat's bridge position to remind me of a Tele...I have 2 Teles!

I like the Surfers and I need to spend alot more time with them...

John

 

[Curly]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

John,
thanks,
I'll be interested to hear what you have to say after using them a while. I've been interested in the Surfers, but for now, I'm not in too big a hurry, since I'm satisfied with the pups in my strats for now. Like you, I'd consider trying a Twangbanger, too.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

John,
thanks,
I'll be interested to hear what you have to say after using them a while. I've been interested in the Surfers, but for now, I'm not in too big a hurry, since I'm satisfied with the pups in my strats for now. Like you, I'd consider trying a Twangbanger, too.

Curly...I'm almost thinking about buying a TwangBanger to try out...One thing I see as a possible problem though...The Surfers are South polarity magnets..Most of the Duncan pickups for strats are North polarity...If you don't get the polarities correct between say the Surfer and the Twangbanger,we're going to run into possible phase problems...

The neck Surfer is South
Middle is rwrp north
Bridge is South..

If the Twangbanger is North polarity and you try matching it with the north Surfer middle...Problems? :smack:

The Texas Hots are North polarity magnets...

 

[Curly]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

John,
I want to try the TB with my APS-2s, like the others here who like that combo. I love the SSL-3 "Hot" in the bridge, but I think the TB might balance just a bit better.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

John, The only problem you might have with the north/south polarity difference is predicting whether the two coils combined will be hum cancelling or not. Phase wouldn't really be a problem as you can always reverse the white and black wires to put the pickups in phase.

IMPORTANT: If you reverse the black and white wires on a pickup with a bassplate, you'll also have to move the ground wire attached to the bassplate from the black wire to the white wire on the pickup bottem.

Know what I mean Jelly Bean?

Lew

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

John, The only problem you might have with the north/south polarity difference is predicting whether the two coils combined will be hum cancelling or not. Phase wouldn't really be a problem as you can always reverse the white and black wires to put the pickups in phase.

IMPORTANT: If you reverse the black and white wires on a pickup with a bassplate, you'll also have to move the ground wire attached to the bassplate from the black wire to the white wire on the pickup bottem.

Know what I mean Jelly Bean?

Lew

Lew..I was told not to switch wires on single coils as it puts the coils in the wrong relationships...I can't explain exactly why this is wrong,but I think one of the Duncan guys was against it...You can do this with humbuckers but not single coils...I Learned this a few years ago while trying to use a south polarity magnet set of Fat 50s with a North polarity SSL6..I had phase problems and the fix was to have Scott at Duncan change the SSL6 to South to match the Fat 50s...The middle Fat 50 had to be moved to the neck and the neck was moved to the middle..Drove me crazy but I Learned alot from this experience... :smack:

John

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

Lew..I was told not to switch wires on single coils as it puts the coils in the wrong relationships...I can't explain exactly why this is wrong,but I think one of the Duncan guys was against it...You can do this with humbuckers but not single coils...I Learned this a few years ago while trying to use a south polarity magnet set of Fat 50s with a North polarity SSL6..I had phase problems and the fix was to have Scott at Duncan change the SSL6 to South to match the Fat 50s...The middle Fat 50 had to be moved to the neck and the neck was moved to the middle..Drove me crazy but I Learned alot from this experience... :smack:

John

I've reversed the white and black wires a few times with no bad results. For example, the No Caster neck pickup in my '53 Tele was out of phase with the Jerry Donahue Tele pickup I had in it for a time. I just moved the ground on the bottem of the bassplate from the black wire to the white wire, and then connected the black wire to the switch and the white wire to ground.

I now have a set of Antiquitys in that guitar, but the Nocaster Neck and Jerry Donahue worked perfectly together after I reversed the ground on the JD.

I've also done that on some Strats when mixing pickups from differant manufacturers. Sounded fine.

Lew

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

I've reversed the white and black wires a few times with no bad results. For example, the No Caster neck pickup in my '53 Tele was out of phase with the Jerry Donahue Tele pickup I had in it for a time. I just moved the ground on the bottem of the bassplate from the black wire to the white wire, and then connected the black wire to the switch and the white wire to ground.

I now have a set of Antiquitys in that guitar, but the Nocaster Neck and Jerry Donahue worked perfectly together after I reversed the ground on the JD.

Lew

Yeah I guess that works...I Like to try and match up as much as I can...I'm always of the mind frame of keeping it the way it's supposed to be with stuff like this...Sometimes we have no choice and have to do things away from the norm.. :newangel:

John

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

Yeah I guess that works...I Like to try and match up as much as I can...I'm always of the mind frame of keeping it the way it's supposed to be with stuff like this...Sometimes we have no choice and have to do things away from the norm.. :newangel:

John

The only problem I've run into when reversing the white and black wires is with nickel covered Tele neck pickups or Tele bridge pickups with a bassplate.

If you don't get under the pickup and unsolder the ground wire from the black wire and resolder it to the white wire you'll get a loud buzz when you touch the cover of the Tele neck pickup.

And since the three adjustment screws for the Tele bridge pickup thread into the bassplate, you'll get a loud buzz when you touch the strings if you don't move the ground wire that connects to the bassplate from the the black wire to the white wire.

But the pickup itself is just a coil...no reason I can see that reversing the wires would make any diff.

Maybe I'm overlooking something, but I've never had a problem with it....

Lew

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

The only problem I've run into when reversing the white and black wires is with nickel covered Tele neck pickups or Tele bridge pickups with a bassplate.

If you don't get under the pickup and unsolder the ground wire from the black wire and resolder it to the white wire you'll get a loud buzz when you touch the cover of the Tele neck pickup.

And since the three adjustment screws for the Tele bridge pickup thread into the bassplate, you'll get a loud buzz when you touch the strings if you don't move the ground wire that connects to the bassplate from the the black wire to the white wire.

But the pickup itself is just a coil...no reason I can see that reversing the wires would make any diff.

Maybe I'm overlooking something, but I've never had a problem with it....

Lew

Thanks lew..As I said,someone in the know told me not to do that but just switching wires just changes the direction of flow through the pickup...This does make sense really....

Lew...I need to pull the No Load tone pot out of this Surfer axe and put a normal CTS 250k in it's place...Maybe I need to beef that tone cap up from .022 to .033 or .047 to get a quicker tone rolloff and a bit darker tone with the tone pot on 10...I'm not sure if this would help the neck and middle Surfers,but it might help the bridge postion? That pickup in the bridge is pretty bright..Not thin,but bright...With a .022 cap I have to roll the pot down quite a bit to get the correct cut I need...

John

 

[flank]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

i emailed scott miller and he said the twangbanger is top wound SOUTH polarity.....so i dont kno if youll have any problems

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

i emailed scott miller and he said the twangbanger is top wound SOUTH polarity.....so i dont kno if youll have any problems

Thanks Flank..Good news if I decide to go that route..I can literally sub one for the other then..I need to wait though..

John

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

Guys what would you say to the following question: Do you guys think that the differences between AntI and AntII custom bridges can be offset by the properties of the wood you are using? I mean would AntII in alder sound pretty similar to Ants in ash?

And what about the bass response. I loved my antI custom bridge but think that it lacked bass, that defined well pronounced strat bass. The same with my Lindy fralin vintage hots. That's why they made a great set, at least they are consistent among themselves, so that I can make some adjustments on the amp and not worry about that bass issue. But still, it does not have that room shaking bass that I get from van zandt vintage +'s.

Looks like I gotta get them AntII's pretty soon, huh?

B

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

Hi Doc, This is my take on the Ant I Texas Hots vs. the Ant II Surfers:

If a player has experience with vintage Strats or Strats with alnico 5 pickups and loves that classic, bright, somewhat glassy vintage tone but wants just a little more output all around and alot stronger tone from the bridge pickup, then go for the Surfers.

If a player has played vintage Strats or Strats with alnico 5 pickups and always found them to be a little to bright for his or her tastes and longed for a pickup that's similar but with smoother treble that's less sharp and less glassy and thicker chunkier mids, then try the Texas Hots.

I think either pickup delivers fabulous and classic Strat tone...

So sure: if your Strat sounds to sharp and edgey to you (because of the wood, playing style, or whatever!) and you'd like to warm it up a little and add some fat chunky mids, go for the Ant I Texas Hots first...they'll probably warm it up and make that Strat more pleasing to your ear.

Personally, I think SRV, like me, would have liked the Texas Hots alot, but eventually missed the bright, bubbley, jangle and chime of vintage alnico 5 Strat pickups and prefered the Surfers over the Texas Hots.

The Texas Hots have a bright, bubbley, jangle and chime too! It's just that the Surfers are even more so...like the pickups in my original '63 Strat.



Lew

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Updates On The Antiquity Surfers In My Strat

Lew....I fit into this category for sure!

"If a player has played vintage Strats or Strats with alnico 5 pickups and always found them to be a little to bright for his or her tastes and longed for a pickup that's similar but with smoother treble that's less sharp and less glassy and thicker chunkier mids, then try the Texas Hots"

I possibly see myself trading the Surfers for another set of Texas Hots? Maybe?

John