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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup options for HS superstrat

« on: May 03, 2026, 11:41:34 PM »

While I agree, the Cruiser Bridge is an excellent Neck pickup, it does not balance well with hotter bridge Humbuckers IME.
I tried it with a Breed Neck in the Bridge and the volume and "fatness" difference was just too obvious. In the end, the Fast Track 1 was a much better match and is the minimum I would choose for a medium-hot Humbucker in the bridge.
With a ToneZone, you might need something even more, like a Pro Track or Air Norton S.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck Position: Fast Track 1 vs. Injector bridge vs. Virtual Solo

« on: December 19, 2025, 12:55:19 AM »

Actually no, the Satch Track uses Dual Resonance as well, see the patent number (from their webpage back in 2014)

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The Pickup Place / Re: Neck Position: Fast Track 1 vs. Injector bridge vs. Virtual Solo

« on: December 18, 2025, 06:20:14 AM »

To push back a bit on the Satch Track sounding “too fat,” it’s actually pretty tight, the problem is that it’s dull.

There is one easy fix for a dull pickup - it's disconnecting the neck tone pot.
It was the cure for a Steve Morse neck Humbucker, which was super warm and dull. Upon disconnecting its tone pot, it became a totally articulate and clear Humbucker for me.
Try it for the Satch Track and it will totally transform it.

If you're set on trying other Pickups, the Fast track 1 is definitely great, nicely bright and sounds like a cross between a humbucker and Singlecoil. I love it in the neck and it balances great with hotter Humbuckers. I ran mine with a Breed Neck model (which I use in the bridge) or with a SuperD.

The Cruiser Bridge is another great option for the neck for brightness but if you play a lot of cleans, there is definitely a big volume spike when switching from the Cruiser Bridge in the neck spot to a hotter bridge Humbucker.
I wish the Cruiser Bridge was louder, it would be one of the best Single Coil replacement pickups in the neck spot IMO.
It balances fine with a Humbucker up to PAF Pro hotness, but nothing hotter than that IME.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Dimarzio Virtual Hot PAF (DP214) Review

« on: October 14, 2025, 04:06:43 AM »

Yes, here's mine I bought.
Nice black matte cover, brass back, black plastic wire tubing and F-Spaced.

I removed the cover and it had double black bobbins, which I prefer. I also removed the wax on top of the bobbins (as DiMarzio double-wax pots after installing the cover).
If I had a black Les Paul Custom, I would have used it with the the black matte cover and would have installed gold screws - I just love that look in a black LP Custom (I had one like this 10 years ago).

The DCR of mine measures at 9.33K

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The Pickup Place / Re: Dimarzio Virtual Hot PAF (DP214) Review

« on: October 08, 2025, 06:59:41 AM »

Yes, I have a DP214 with brass plate and the plastic tubing is also the standard black and not clear as usual.
I bought this from an online retailer. When I asked DiMarzio, why my DP214 has golden brass plate and black plastic wire tubeing (not sure of the exact term for this part of the humbucker) they replied with:

"The pickup is authentic. It is an OEM version of the DP214 that was made for LAG Guitars."

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The Pickup Place / Re: Mellowing out Air Norton neck in Charvel So-Cal?

« on: November 17, 2023, 09:39:00 AM »

Funny enough, back then I found that flipping it brought it from "well, I guess it sounds ok" to "ok, now we're talking!" territory!

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The Pickup Place / Re: Mellowing out Air Norton neck in Charvel So-Cal?

« on: November 06, 2023, 07:03:52 AM »

Have you tried flipping the Air Norton?
When I had one, I found flipping it made a serious difference in tone.

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The Pickup Place / Re: JP Neck Pickups

« on: February 21, 2020, 03:27:15 AM »

Also not a fan of the Air Norton. Was just too "airy", warm and muddy.
I half-Air modded mine and it improved to the point where I really liked it. The output increased, and the flutey-ness and airyness was gone with much improved pick-attack.
I prefer the stock Liquifire over the stock Air Norton. But for me the Liquifire needs to be wired straight to the volumepot with no tone pot connected and there it's usable. Otherwise it's again, a tad too warm.
Haven't tried the other JP pickups yet.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Press Release : DiMarzio releases Fortitude Pickup

« on: February 20, 2020, 07:58:20 AM »

...the neck pickup is a low output mudbomb.

Absolutely, I agree 1000%!!! It was so muddy in my first PRS Singlecut (2006) that I almost thought the guitar was a problem. When I changed the 7's to Bareknuckle SILO's, I really discovered how well the neck pickup can sound.
My newly acquired '00 Singlecut, had exactly the same mudbomb neck pickup problem (and uninspiring bridge). I just wanted a different flavor for the '00 (hence the Fortitude & Bluesbucker).

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The Pickup Place / Re: Press Release : DiMarzio releases Fortitude Pickup

« on: February 17, 2020, 07:31:48 AM »

I just bought the Fortitude yesterday for the bridge of my 2000 PRS Singlecut together with a Bluebucker for the neck position.
The current stock PRS Pickups No. 7 bridge and neck suck bigtime.
But I'm in Europe and I ordered them from banjomikez in the US so it will be another 7 - 8 days before I can drop them in.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Wax Potting

« on: January 23, 2020, 08:43:11 AM »

Unpotted pickups!!

Trust me, I tried a few of the Bareknuckle Pickups unpotted - the squeal you get is unbearable... I sent them back after two days of trying and now I request potted pickups only.
There is almost no audible difference (and I say "almost", because guys like Eric Johnson will hear a difference - the rest of us won't!).
if you play with "any" sort of gain - don't even go there.... you'll be in *a lot* of trouble!
I'd never go for unpotted pickups again in my lifetime.

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News & New Guys / Re: Happy Holidays!!!

« on: December 17, 2019, 04:33:32 AM »

Happy holidays!

What's the issue??

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The Pickup Place / Re: Need a chunkier pickup than the Paf Pro

« on: April 17, 2019, 05:11:23 AM »

Breed neck in the bridge is a killer pickup!
I would never again consider a Paf Pro for the bridge position as the Breed Neck is chunkier and perfectly balanced! It's my all time favorite since trying it about 2 months ago for the first time...

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The Pickup Place / Re: D activator (neck) vs Illuminator/Liquifire (neck)

« on: March 09, 2019, 03:04:05 AM »

Initialy i was thinking about the superD for the bridge but i found them to be a bit more warmer sounding than the d-act and i want sometning that cut through the mix because i am more focused on the modern stuff and occasionally ill go for the classics just for fun. As for the neck i am pretty much in unknown territory thats why i came here.

Fair enough. Keep in mind, if you think the SuperD is too warm for you, then you definitely will not want a Illuminator / Liquifire. The liquifire is almost muddy sounding - it's really warm! The Illuminator is ever so slightly brighter (I own both) but still has that flutey voicing going on. So if you're set on bright and cutting through you're only option is a set of DActivators. Or a Super 2 neck. But since you're more into modern metal, you really can't go wrong with the DActivators neck and bridge.

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The Pickup Place / Re: D activator (neck) vs Illuminator/Liquifire (neck)

« on: March 08, 2019, 04:41:26 AM »

Well it's going to be a less spectacular recommendation from me.

But IMHO, Maiden, Dio and Priest scream for a classic SuperD bridge, Paf36th neck combo.
Or you can also go SuperD bridge / Paf 59 neck.

I have both combos and play in an 80s/90s metal tribute band - and both combos are exactly what is needed for those... I slightly prefer the Paf 36th over the 59 though... but this is personal