Messages

16

The Pickup Place / Re: PAF pro or FRED for a HSS Strat

« on: January 10, 2015, 03:35:44 am »

I also would suggest the PAF style pickups.
But Dimarzio has an impressive range of them, and they are all very interesting like the brand new Paf Master, the Paf 36th anniversary, the Air Zone (a warmer PAF, with a lot of harmonics) and Paf Pro (maybe it's my less favorite, because of that slight middy wah tone). Enjoy your choice!

17

The Pickup Place / Re: Humbuckers for Stratocaster

« on: January 09, 2015, 12:28:38 pm »

Hello Niels.
Did you already try anything?

The Bluesbucker was a good idea for me too, but when I tried it some time ago, it was even a little muddy for me. I must admit that I love single coils in the neck position.
So I'd suggest the Humbucker from Hell (a little more similar to a single coil tone) or the EJ Custom Neck.

In the neck I used the Air Classic for some years. I loved it, and its clean and acoustic tone... but I used it split (yes, just one single coil of it)! More recently I installed the small Cruiser bridge in the neck, and I can't think about any better tone from my neck position.
Using a humbucker pickup, I'd suggest also a wiring with a multi-pole switch, so that you can get also the parallel wiring for your neck pickup. It will cover a wider palette specially for clean tones (but it will have weaker output in parallel). Dimarzio website has a lot of wiring diagrams for any solution (I love the one with neck pickup + split bridge pickup).

About the bridge position, I like the Air Norton, but it's quite middy. It's the one I use now, even if maybe it will not be my definitive solution (anyway, I don't use a lot of very high gain). Maybe I'd suggest the more vintage PAF 36th Anniversary or the PAF Master Bridge. The latter is very interesting for me, but I haven't tried it yet unfortunately.
Or else if you want a much warmer pickup the AT-1 is another I like a lot.

18

The Pickup Place / Bridge in parallel or bridge split + neck?

« on: November 15, 2014, 05:23:12 am »

In my 2-pickups guitar, I'm going to put: BC-1 in the bridge (yes, in the bridge) and the Cruiser Bridge in the neck.
I will use a multi pole 5 way switch; and I found that the wiring options in the DMZ site are very interesting.

For sure I will have: neck (standard humbucker), neck in parallel, bridge (standard humbucker).
What would you suggest for the other 2 middle switch positions?

Bridge pickup in parallel? Will it be really useful?
Or split bridge + neck pickup?

And then, one coil of each pickup in series or parallel?

Thanks for any suggestion and comment.