A do-it-all guitar ?

[Clifford_Guitar]

Hello all, I need input. I'm building my first guitar (a sunburst strat ) and I'm a big blues dude! problem is I like slowhand clean (Clapton) stuff and dirty texas (SRV) stuff. I'm thinking of cramming one really clean Seymor-Duncan pickup at the neck and then a really high output (almost humbucker) at the bridge, and inbetween inbetween. What are your views on this, I have no idea what it'll be like although I might be able to do some cool 5-way switching stuff. Feel Free to slam me, I just need advice.

Thanks

Graham

[Curtis P]

for the bridge, you cant go wrong with seymour Duncan 59's, even though they are humbuckers, it might be worth it if thats the sound you want, amazing clean and a crunchy distortion

Emg singles if it aint possible for hums?

Thats all I got, sorry

Curtis

[MzI]

for a super clean pickup in the neck id go with a duncan jazz, you can get em in the single coil size, as for the bridge and high output id go with a jb, then run a coil tap on em to get the single coil sounds you want

MzI

[Guitarfrenzy]

Although I'm a huge Seymour Duncan pickup fan, I'd look into some Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups. It comes with all the pickups, wire, pots, and wiring diagram. It's got that great early Fender sound without the noise. I pesonally loved the tone these gave the Strat we just built. And talk about some SRV tone.. yikes these bad boys have it. Actually I wouldn't be suprised if Seymour had something to do with the development of those anyway. But just that's my opinion. If your looking to do heavier guitar stuff, go for the Humbuckers though.

[Guest AlexVDL]

You could try the new Fender hot noiseless single coils... they're the ones jeff beck uses. The bridge is hot, and with a good distortion you can even use it for metal

The thing is when you combine humbuckers with single coils, you will get differences in volume.. a humbucker will sound louder than a single coil.

The hot noiseless is a perfect matched set. I have them on a strat which I began using in my band lately. I'd never considered using a strat because we mostly play metal. But these pups can do it all... from clapton to pantera

I must admid though, I also use a digitch VGS 2120

[daveq]

I did something similar on my black limba guitar. I used a screamon demon in the bridge, lil 59 in the middle, and a lil scremon demon in the neck position. Now, the demon's aren't actually a high output pickup so I added an onboard boost circuit (you can get them from EMG or SD,... plently of options) and I think it's a great combination.

I really like those single coil sized HB's for the middle and neck positions. I haven't tried them in the bridge yet.

When people give suggestions on pickups, I think it's hard to know if they will be what you want or not. There are so many different opinions on them - just look at harmonycentral - you'll usually see ratings all over the place for the same pickup.

The main thing I'm suggesting here is the possibility of using a medium output pickup with a booster. I think it gives you a little more versatility than just going with one high output. It's not a huge advantage but something worth considering.

(this is a pic of the guitar with the pickups mentioned - the guitar didn't have a finish on it at this point)

[frank falbo]

First, a free commercial: If you bought the Bartolini System 112( your search would be over. I know it takes a big step to try something different, something that Clapton never played, but it will give you everything you are asking for. There's a boost, a hum cancelled coil cut for the bridge humbucker, and a boost control knob, and the tone and clarity is pure perfection. Okay, commercial over.

Next, some basic ideas. I prefer to use a hot neck single, like a G&L or Duncan Custom. Some vintage single coil sets are calibrated for output, so the bridge model is the hottest of the three. I like to use the bridge model as the neck pickup. Then I use a very vintage, clear, and usually lower output middle pickup. What I want is the most complex quack tone when they're on together. If you use very similar (or same) pickups for N/M then it can be great, but I feel like it lacks the tonal variance I want. Plus when I go from both to just the neck pickup, there's a nice boost in there to really kick some butt. I prefer the output difference between the middle positions and the outer positions. It's very expressive if you know how to work it. A nice fat bridge pickup like the Rio Grande BBQ, Duncan Custom, or Pearly Gates would be good but you have to put a coil cut on it so you can get some SRV sounds when combined with the middle pickup.

If you need it noiseless (besides Bartolini) you can try a Tom Anderson stack setup. But go hotter on the neck and vintage on the middle like I said, especially with stacks. You need the neck stack to be pretty hot for it to feel powerful, because stacks have some phase cancellation between the coils that can thin the tone a little.

I have tons of guitars and various pickup combinations but they all follow that basic premise. Almost all my middle singles are bright, clear, and vintage sounding, regardless of brand. They are all extremely versatile.

[Clifford_Guitar]

Hey Guys,

I was gone for the weekend and couldn't check this out. Thanks a lot! I think I'll go with vintage noisless, but I like all the other suggestions so now I'm just gonna explore and figure out which ones I want.

Thanks again

Graham

[wing]

Hey for the neck peckup i recommend the seymour duncan 59, i put the humbucker version in my strat and i can get that sweet eric clapton "woman tone". If your not going for humbuckers theres also a single coil version even though ive never heard it but should sound the same.