796

The Pickup Place / Re: Successful Strat extreme makeover

« on: March 20, 2017, 04:56:50 AM »

I use the Virtual Solo and the VV HB2 but not in the same guitar. In any case your description is spot on.

Now have some fun with that axe,

Stephan

797

The Pickup Place / Re: Too boomy Evolution neck

« on: March 20, 2017, 04:55:16 AM »

Depends on the humbucker itself. Sometimes you then have a severe imbalance of volume across the strings. In most cases IME, it's better to just remove all the screws instead

Indeed. With some pickups it worked well, with some the difference was only subtle and did not solve the issue.

Cheers Stephan

798

The Pickup Place / Re: Too boomy Evolution neck

« on: March 17, 2017, 05:18:38 AM »

What I did to some neck humbuckers to de-muddy them was to remove either the screws under the 6th and 5th strings on the neck side coil or to remove the screws under the bass strings from the neck side coil. This has worked well for several pickups. However, if the pickup is covered I found the effect to be minimal and not enough.

This is a trick that was posted here by RayBarbeeMusic before.

Good luck,
Stephan

799

The Pickup Place / Re: Cruiser problem

« on: March 16, 2017, 05:05:59 AM »

What Lelik said - the Cruiser is low output even in series mode so making it even lower in output by splitting it seems not to be the best option. I would guess that the volume drop is normal even though I have not tried it myself.

The parallel mode has usually a bit more output than the single coil (split) mode but you have to check whether there are enough terminals on your switch to do it. Splitting can be done with a simple SPST (single pole, single throw) switch that has three terminals. For parallel wiring you need a DPDT (double pole, double throw) switch that has six terminals.

Cheers Stephan

800

The Pickup Place / Re: Neck Pickup for Modified Strat (HSS)

« on: March 10, 2017, 09:27:19 AM »

If the Virtual Solo was too midheavy for you I would consider either the Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues 2 or the Injector neck model. Both have enough output to keep up with a medium output humbucker at the bridge. And even though my memory of the HS-3 is faint now I would be willing to bet that either pickup I suggested would blow it away.

Cheers Stephan

801

The Pickup Place / Re: Humbuckers for a mahogany ibby

« on: March 06, 2017, 07:22:11 AM »

No experience with the Transition set but I think buddroyce has written an excellent review about them in the "Everything you wanted to know" section.

Cheers Stephan

802

The Pickup Place / Re: Tele wiring help!

« on: March 06, 2017, 07:17:38 AM »

Hi,

I am putting together a HS tele and would like some input on the wiring.
I ordered NOS Virtual Hot T for the bridge and an Air Classic for the neck.
I was planning on using a 500k audio for volume and a 250k audio for the "no load" tone control.
I may bypass the tone control completely for the neck HB.
My questions are;
Would this be the correct way to go?

I have a Virtual Hot T myself and I can recommend it to anyone looking for a hotter sound from the bridge position that still sounds like a Tele. The humbucker would not be my preferred choice, though. I prefer a minihumbucker, firebird or strat style pickup. Nevertheless the Air Classic should balance well with the Virtual Hot T.

Would you change pot values?

No, they should be fine, definitely for the neck pickup. If the bridge pickup is too bright you can add a 470k resistor from the bridge pickup connection at the switch to ground, which makes the bridge pickup see a load closer to 250k.

What would be the proper tone cap to use?

The one you like best. Caps are cheap, get a few different values and experiment. Standard for a tele would be 0.047uf, for a humbucker equipped guitar normally 0.022uf but for me these values are too dark, and I end up with something like 0.0022uf to 0.0047uf.

With these pickups would an added resistor be necessary?

See above - only if the bridge pickup is too bright to you.

Would you bypass the tone on the HB?

With a 250k no load pot that is not necessary as the tone pot is disconnected from the circuit when turned up.

Cheers Stephan

803

The Pickup Place / Re: DiMarzio pickup advice - Strat

« on: March 03, 2017, 11:23:57 AM »

Alternatively you could try the Area 61 in the neck position - that one would surely work well with 250k pots.

Cheers Stephan

804

The Pickup Place / Re: DiMarzio pickup advice - Strat

« on: March 03, 2017, 11:22:27 AM »

Virtual Solo is an excellent choice for the bridge position if you want vintage look but a slightly hotter sound. While it still sounds like a strat bridge pickup it does not have any of the icepick you encounter so often with strat bridge pickups, and it balances well output and tone wise with an Area 58 or 67 in middle/neck.

Area 58 is my top choice for the middle position.

Both the Virtual Solo and Area 58 work well with 250k pots.

I have the HB2 in the neck position of another guitar but that one is HSS with 500k pots all around. It sounds absolutely ace in that set-up - fat yet bright and cutting at the same time. Whether it works with 250k pots I don't know since I have not tried. If the neck and neck/middle combo are too dark with the 250k pots you could use a 500k volume pot and add resistors to ground for the bridge and middle pickups. With two 1 meg ohm resistors in parallel (= 500k ohms) the bridge and middle pickup see a load closer to a 250k pot.   

So yeah - definitely worth a try.

Cheers Stephan

805

The Pickup Place / Re: HFH/PafPro or BB/FRED

« on: March 03, 2017, 11:13:58 AM »

It was long ago that I had the PAF Pro and the Fred - even in the same guitar. I slightly preferred the PAF Pro but the Fred was fine, too.

Never played the HfH but I still enjoy my Bluesbucker.

Good that you found a winning combination.

Cheers Stephan

806

Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: The AT-1

« on: March 02, 2017, 07:10:26 AM »

I have a covered AT-1 in an alder bodied telecaster with maple neck and a Pau Ferro board. The guitar is rather bright sounding acoustically and the AT-1 fills the low end and midrange nicely to balance the inherent brightness. I love it for crunch to high gain lead tones - never harsh, never muddy, never bloaty or tubby in the mids, just a sweet warm singing tone with enough bite. Since I have not tested this pickup in a different guitar (and I don't think I will because changing bridge pickups on that guitar is a genuine PITA - you have to take the bridge off ...) I cannot say whether the bite comes from the guitar or the pickups but I guess that the guitar contributes a lot.

The original wiring in the guitar offers split tones, and the AT-1 does that OK but I use the humbucking mode mostly and the split tone only for cleaner stuff.

The neck pickup is a Bluesbucker which is a nice match to the AT-1.

Cheers Stephan

807

The Pickup Place / Re: Stacked Humbucker to pair with Crunchlab

« on: March 02, 2017, 07:01:44 AM »

The Cruiser is indeed a low output pickup. I can imagine it being swamped by the Crunch Lab in the bridge at anything but high gain sounds.

All pickups you listed are louder than the Cruiser and should match better volume wise with the CL. The only one of those I played is the Chopper, and I used that one only in the bridge. It is basically a hot PAF in a single coil size so it should work as a neck pickup with a higher output pickup in the bridge. Personally I would go brighter than that and of the list you suggested try the Satch Track. The other two would probably be too dark for me but others have used and liked them in the neck.

Cheers Stephan

808

The Pickup Place / Re: Medium-output buckers that split well?

« on: February 27, 2017, 04:06:10 AM »

My favorite humbucker for the neck position when I also want split tones out of it is the Bluesbucker. I have also found that the Bare Knuckle Abraxas neck does excellent split tones.

For the bridge position I have had good results with various medium output pickups. DiMarzio AT-1, Duncan C-5, Bare Knuckle Abraxas bridge, Crawler bridge all come to mind.

Cheers Stephan

809

The Pickup Place / Re: Humbuckers for a mahogany ibby

« on: February 27, 2017, 04:01:47 AM »

AT-1 is a great pickup, especially for brighter sounding guitars.

Of the pickups you mentioned for the neck position I played the Air Norton, which is quite dark, and various PAF types (even though not the 36th Anniversary) which were too dark for my taste as well. Currently I use a Bluesbucker together with the AT-1 which works quite well and splits well.

Cheers Stephan

810

The Pickup Place / Re: PAF 59 Set

« on: February 09, 2017, 04:28:00 AM »

That's what I remembered as well. But the 36th looks like a typical DiMarzio so maybe they wanted to add something to the line that looks vintage original.

Cheers Stephan