Vintage Rails between HRn and HRb?

[Farkus]

Hey all,

I'm changing the pups in one of my old Strats to Hot Rails in the neck and bridge. Would the Vintage Rails be a good choice for the middle pup? I was thinking that would be a good way to turn down the heat a little for clean passages and such. I'm kind of worried about EQ differences and such. Any opinions?

Mark

 

[madguitar26]

Re: Vintage Rails between HRn and HRb?

if i wre you id ´put the vintage in the neck,
wonderfull for jazz,blues and hendrix.its good in the middle as well

 

[Farkus]

Re: Vintage Rails between HRn and HRb?

if i wre you id ´put the vintage in the neck,
wonderfull for jazz,blues and hendrix.its good in the middle as well

Hmmm...VRn, HRm, HRb? Could be interesting...I wonder how the output would match up...

Mark

 

[MikeS]

Re: Vintage Rails between HRn and HRb?

VR is also a great middle pup choice. Be sure to get a VRb for either position if you are mixing with the HR. I find that even the CRn greatly over powers the VRn in the middle position. Even with a VRb in the middle you may find the HR overpowers it. You may also try VRn-VRb-HRb if you aren’t set on two hotrails.

 

[Artie]

Re: Vintage Rails between HRn and HRb?

To reinforce what Mike said - I had a VR between two CR's in my Strat, and there was a substantial drop in volume when switching to the VR. So I put a bridge CR, wired in parallel, in the middle instead. That seems to work great. Nice balance, different tone.

Artie

 

[Travis]

Re: Vintage Rails between HRn and HRb?

The Hot Rails will definitely overpower the Vintage Rails in terms of output. There will be a noticeable volume drop. That being said, you will have some good versatility with the VR paired with a HR or two. If you're set on two HR and a VR, I would personally put the VR in the middle. But I tend to solo a lot on the neck pickup, and I like a hot smooth pickup in that position. The Cool Rails is also another great pickup. You could pair a VR in the middle with a couple of CR at the neck and mid and still have a very versatile Strat. The volume dropoff wouldn't be as apparent, but you would have to rely on your amp a little more in high gain situations.

That being said, I happen to have an extra black Hot Rails neck lying around. It is one of the new design ones with full factory lead. It was installed for less than 2 months.

 

[mariuss]

Re: Vintage Rails between HRn and HRb?

"For an incredibly versatile guitar, use an SHR-1b in the bridge position along with an SVR-1n Vintage Rails in the middle and an SCR-1n Cool Rails in the neck"
Isn't that cool?

 

[MikeS]

Re: Vintage Rails between HRn and HRb?

Sure, that’s versatile of you cover your bases… or if you can compensate for the lower output of the VR by using it only on a separate amp channel where you can compensate by increasing the volume. Forget about useful notch positions in the HR-VR-CR set.

 

[Artie]

Re: Vintage Rails between HRn and HRb?

One thing I keep forgetting, the "new" versions of the VR allow for series wiring of the coils. That will probably yield a bit more output and it may balance better that way.