what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

[stonabus]

hello all,
i have a hot rails in the bridge, and a cool rails in the neck pos. i was going to get a fender noiseless for the mid, but i was wondering if anyone has a pickup combo recommendation. any thoughts?
btw, these are in a strat.

damn! the hot rails pickup was a SWEET investment!!

thanks

 

[stonabus]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

the guy at the shop said to "just put another cool rails in the middle, you'll like it"
i was thinking about a lipstick pickup.....
crap, this is a tough choice.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

You will probably like the CR in the middle. I had a three lil59 loaded Strat for quite awhile and the mid, mid/neck and neck positions all sounded very nice.

I now have a JB/Hot Stack/lil59 in that guitar and I prefer the hot Stack in the middle. It adds a little more of the notched/glassy/single coil tone to the middle positions without adding hum and the extra output of the Hot stack helps to keep the #2 and #4 positions from getting too whimpy.

So, Cool Rail for fatter notched positions or Hot Stack for a bit more chime.

 

[joelap]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

So, Cool Rail for fatter notched positions or Hot Stack for a bit more chime.

+1

 

[stonabus]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

any other suggestions?
i think im gonna get a cool rails for the mid and a little '59 for the neck.........

 

[Robert S.]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

The Cool Rails and the lil59 are fairly simular sounding. There isn't anything to gain by changing the CR in the neck to a lil59.

 

[stonabus]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

so, what do you suggest? the cr compliments the hr. im looking for something blues and warm. something that will be completely different than the hr. i have heard too many bad things about the lipstick pickup.

 

[Robert S.]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

I suggest the Hot Rail in the bridge and Cool Rails in the mid and neck for the tones you are going for.

Lipstick pickups and Tele neck pickups can be very cool for clean work and pushed blues tones but I wouldn't stick one in between a HR and a CR. I think you'd run into some hard to get past balance issues and the HR especially will tend to overpower a tube pickup.

 

[stonabus]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

thanks!

 

[Eblis]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

You will probably like the CR in the middle. I had a three lil59 loaded Strat for quite awhile and the mid, mid/neck and neck positions all sounded very nice.

I now have a JB/Hot Stack/lil59 in that guitar and I prefer the hot Stack in the middle. It adds a little more of the notched/glassy/single coil tone to the middle positions without adding hum and the extra output of the Hot stack helps to keep the #2 and #4 positions from getting too whimpy.

So, Cool Rail for fatter notched positions or Hot Stack for a bit more chime.

Im having difficulties deciding what pickups to put in my strat.

With your set up JBjr bridge, Hotstack mid, and 59 in neck:
Is the guitar quiet when you got the distortion turned on?(this means alot to me)

I was thinking of JBjr Bridge, 2 duckbuckers, 2 59s, or 2 cool rails (Mid and neck)... Now with this hot stack thrown in the mix i really cant decide.

 

[stonabus]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

Lipstick pickups and Tele neck pickups can be very cool for clean work and pushed blues tones but I wouldn't stick one in between a HR and a CR.

hey, what about
lipstick/coolrails/hotrails?

 

[stonabus]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

if i was to get two cr pickups, which should i get for the mid? the cr neck or the cr bridge? pardon my stupidity, im new at guitar building... :smack:
thanks

 

[Imp]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

Im having difficulties deciding what pickups to put in my strat.

With your set up JBjr bridge, Hotstack mid, and 59 in neck:
Is the guitar quiet when you got the distortion turned on?(this means alot to me)

I was thinking of JBjr Bridge, 2 duckbuckers, 2 59s, or 2 cool rails (Mid and neck)... Now with this hot stack thrown in the mix i really cant decide.

its more to do with how well you sheild them - with coppertaping or some other blanket sheilding, should be lovely and quiet :burnout:

all of the 3 pickups you said are hum-cancelling, unless we're talking total meltdown filth (say two grunge pedals in series or something stupid) - in which case, its the pedal making the noise

i got a HRn/Stock USA SC/Lil '59b - the middle pickup is susceptible to hum, the others are pretty much silent. go for it!

 

[Robert S.]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

Eblis,

Im very picky about hum and my main rig is not hum friendly. I have a JB in the bridge, not a JB jr. The guitar is completely hum cancelling. I also have a series/parallel switch on the guitar so that I can thin out the JB when combined with the Hot Stack. It makes for a more realistic #4 position, though the JB full on with the Hot Stack also sounds very nice.

The JB jr and 2 Vintage Rails will make for a very cool Strat, no doubt about it. Going with the Cool Rails or lil59s is also a cool way to go if you want a thicker and louder tone from the mid and neck pickups. I've tried a few different combinations in my Strat (Hot Live Wires, 3 Hot Stacks, 3 lil59s, CC + 2 lil59s, Custom + 2 lil59s, C-5 + 2 lil59s, JB + 2 lil59s) and the JB/Hot Stack/lil59 is by far my favorite so far. The series/parallel and bridge pickup on/off switch with those 3 pickups give me quite a few very useable tones from metal to blues.

Stonabus,

There are an endless variety of combinations that can work. I don't normally put a hotter pickup in the mid positions of Strats, but that doesn't mean you couldn't. The HR/CR/Lipstick combo might be very cool depending on what you wanted from that guitar. There is no reason to not put the lipstick in the middle, other than you may run into balance issues and the Lipstick pickup may get a bit overpowered, especially by the HR. That doesn't mean you won't like the tone though.

It is generally recommended to use neck model pickups in the mid positions of Strats.

 

[stonabus]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

Stonabus,

There are an endless variety of combinations that can work. I don't normally put a hotter pickup in the mid positions of Strats, but that doesn't mean you couldn't. The HR/CR/Lipstick combo might be very cool depending on what you wanted from that guitar. There is no reason to not put the lipstick in the middle, other than you may run into balance issues and the Lipstick pickup may get a bit overpowered, especially by the HR. That doesn't mean you won't like the tone though.

It is generally recommended to use neck model pickups in the mid positions of Strats.

thanks man! i really appreciate your replies. as you can see, i dont know **** about this. i havent been playing guitar very long- about 5 years. im going for a blues tone, kinda yardbirds (with page) and a little rock. i want to have a hot tone for harder stuff, thats why i got the hotrails. but i want to put two warm (anythings better than stock!) pups in the neck/mid spots. thanks again for your words.

 

[Boston Joe]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

HS-2 by Dimarzio.

On its own it's has a pretty good traditional Strat tone, but warmer due to it being humbucking. In the second positon with a Hot Rail, you can wire it in series for a fat P.A.F. sound, or wire it in parallel for a throaty Dire Straits tone. Should do the same in the fourth position.

 

[Rainmaker]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

The Hotrails sounds heaps different in neck compared to the bridge right? And they're both quite, bottom heavy, right? That being said...

What about
n: Hotrails
m: Jb Jr. (to compensate for the lack of highs)
b: Hotrails

???

Bee

 

[Eblis]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

Im mostly playing Floyd and Phish type stuff so id like to try to compromise somewhere in the middle of that. The occasional Slayer riff comes out so there is my concern with distortion and hum. Also id like to keep it simple since im new to this...After reading some of these posts and researching this ive realized that this is a serious topic with guitar players. One that i havent given much thought about before since ive been playing banjo for a while now ..thats a whole different thought process in itself...try talking to real banjo players about "tone rings" that will make you insane.
Thanks for the help fellas...

 

[SOLO GUITAR STEWIE]

Re: what pickup should i use in the middle?!?

I would say vintage rail for the middle it can go clean/spanky as well as decent overdirive sounds.... MHO...

chris