Vintage rails seems really, really vintage. Too much so.

[HALENisking]

Hey guys,
I got a build together, and have the 59/Custom Hybrid in the bridge and the Vintage Rails in the middle. I'm feeling like the VR sounds pretty weak. I like the cleans, love its inherent tone... But sounds even too weak for like texas blues. It didn't seem that low output to me in videos. Does that seem true to the experiences of others on here who've used it? Maybe I wired the coils out of phase from each other- which I seriously doubt.

I do love its quack and lack of hum. Should I have gone for the bridge model to get a little extra output? Would that be the ticket?

Maybe we could talk through it, and if all else fails recommend something similar but with more oomph. Perhaps a dimarzio Area...

As always, much appreciated :yourock:

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Vintage rails seems really, really vintage. Too much so.

First, any pics? lol

Second, I have not tried the Vintage Rails but at Vintage Output I would think maybe an upgrade to a Cool Rails would be better...just a thought.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Vintage rails seems really, really vintage. Too much so.

Maybe accidentally wired to parallel? Meter it and check...

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Vintage rails seems really, really vintage. Too much so.

Maybe accidentally wired to parallel? Meter it and check...

I think those are meant to be wired in parallel, but yes he can try to wire in series to get more output.

 

[HALENisking]

Re: Vintage rails seems really, really vintage. Too much so.

First, any pics? lol

Second, I have not tried the Vintage Rails but at Vintage Output I would think maybe an upgrade to a Cool Rails would be better...just a thought.

Is the cool rails supposed to be more of a strat sized HB or a hum cancelling SC? I was always confused about that. I would be interested if the latter. Also I can't seem to understand the output rating for the VR on the website, it says 2.67k, which seems way too low. It sounded much more flexible in every video I saw! Such confusion I have :doh:

 

[HALENisking]

Re: Vintage rails seems really, really vintage. Too much so.

I think those are meant to be wired in parallel, but yes he can try to wire in series to get more output.

This is what I used. Did I wire it in parallel? I thought red + black to the selector would be series.

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Vintage rails seems really, really vintage. Too much so.

Yes, green-red is usually the inner coil (slug) and white-black the outer coil (screws) for full humbuckers. In this case there is no inner or outer but I think top half and low half but asuming SD uses the same color scheme for each half then your current wiring is in parallel, you can double check by continuity check with any affordable multimeter.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Vintage rails seems really, really vintage. Too much so.

I keep forgetting they went to the circuit board on the bottom of those things... I bought some waaaaaaaay tf back when, before they did that, and had leads like the regular sized hbs...

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Vintage rails seems really, really vintage. Too much so.

Is the cool rails supposed to be more of a strat sized HB or a hum cancelling SC? I was always confused about that. I would be interested if the latter. Also I can't seem to understand the output rating for the VR on the website, it says 2.67k, which seems way too low. It sounded much more flexible in every video I saw! Such confusion I have :doh:

I always thought of the Hot/Cool Rails as Single Coil humbuckers (someone please correct me if I am wrong.)

 

[DreX]

Re: Vintage rails seems really, really vintage. Too much so.

I'm feeling like the VR sounds pretty weak. I like the cleans, love its inherent tone... But sounds even too weak for like texas blues. It didn't seem that low output to me in videos. Does that seem true to the experiences of others on here who've used it? Maybe I wired the coils out of phase from each other- which I seriously doubt.

I have a feeling that the tone you're referring to is inherent in a low output SC sized HB, because I have Duckbuckers, which are just Vintage Rails with screws, they're wired in series, and I have Bardens, which are wired in series, but they also sound very quaky as-is, even out of the notch position, and I'm pretty sure it has something to do with comb filtering, where certain frequencies get cancelled out by virtue of having two coils oriented side by side. Comb filtering occurs in the notch positions with regular single coils too.

Maybe we could talk through it, and if all else fails recommend something similar but with more oomph. Perhaps a dimarzio Area...

It the blades look good in your guitar, also consider DiMarzio's offerings, such as the Cruiser or the Chopper.

This is what I used. Did I wire it in parallel? I thought red + black to the selector would be series.

Yes, that's parallel. Just rewire them to series and it should be a lot more to your liking.

 

[HALENisking]

Vintage rails seems really, really vintage. Too much so.

I have a feeling that the tone you're referring to is inherent in a low output SC sized HB, because I have Duckbuckers, which are just Vintage Rails with screws, they're wired in series, and I have Bardens, which are wired in series, but they also sound very quaky as-is, even out of the notch position, and I'm pretty sure it has something to do with comb filtering, where certain frequencies get cancelled out by virtue of having two coils oriented side by side. Comb filtering occurs in the notch positions with regular single coils too.



It the blades look good in your guitar, also consider DiMarzio's offerings, such as the Cruiser or the Chopper.



Yes, that's parallel. Just rewire them to series and it should be a lot more to your liking.

Ah, many thanks! Will it lose it's SC-like quality in series? Because I loved the tone, just needed a stronger output.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DreX]

Re: Vintage rails seems really, really vintage. Too much so.

Yeah it will get darker, I bet it will get into Little '59 territory in series. IMO, there's no passive noiseless single coil like tone. You'd have to go active to get both the output and the clarity at the same time.

 

[HALENisking]

Re: Vintage rails seems really, really vintage. Too much so.

Yeah it will get darker, I bet it will get into Little '59 territory in series. IMO, there's no passive noiseless single coil like tone. You'd have to go active to get both the output and the clarity at the same time.

Darn, I'm conflicted now. which wires go to hot for series?

 

[DreX]

Re: Vintage rails seems really, really vintage. Too much so.

Darn, I'm conflicted now. which wires go to hot for series?

I think it's the usual 'Duncan scheme, black hot, green ground, white and red doing the nasty under that heat shrink tubing.