Single coils that will somewhat match a Super Dist

[jmartyg]

Hi guys,
I’m looking around for some opinions on the new strat copy. I want to cut the pickguard and put a F-spaced DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge position so it will match another strat I have. I’m completely undecided on what singe coils to put in the mid and neck. Over the years, I’ve used a slew of low end pickups I’ve gotten from project guitars and pawn shop deals. Seems that my favorite out of the bunch are the stock Mexican pups you’d find in a late 90’s Fender Strat. They have half decent power, but are missing the ‘sparkle’ that I’d like. Another set that I own that has the ‘sparkle’ is in use in another guitar – but doesn’t have the output that I need to balance with the super distortion.
So what I’m looking for are pickups that have that famous quack in the 4th position, high output to go with the Super Distortion, and bright sounding. Like I said, the stock fenders are close, but not quite there. And to make things more complicated, It’s a left handed guitar, so I’d prefer to have ‘reverse’ pole pieces if possible.
Obviously, I can’t get anything that is near as loud as that humbucker in single coil form, but if I can get close, then I’m happy. If the output on the humbucker was say, 10, the Fender single coils are about 8, the no name ones that sound good are about 6 and the ones in the new guitar are 2.
Generally looking around, DiMarzio seems cheaper than Seymour Duncan, but I’m not sure about the boutique brands out there as I’ve never went seriously shopping for a single coil before. I used to have a drawer full of them.
Fat , muddy and dirty humbucker, clean and bright sounding middle position single coil and a warmer, yet bright, neck position.
I don’t know if it’s 250 or 500k pots in the new geet yet as I haven’t cracked it open, but the other one of the same brand and model (different years) I have is 500k.
I wont be able to buy anything for a few months, as I’m broke beyond belief, but the more homework I do now, the better I’ll feel.
Thanks!
Marty

[cynical1]

Marty -

There's about as much agreement on pickups as there is peace in the Middle East...

Others will chime in here, but from what I've seen, if I were you, I'd take a look at the Rio Grande Muy Grande )Alinco 5) or a Dirty Harry (ceramic) pickup, which both come in normal and RWRP. The Dirty Harry will give you more of a P-90 sound. You can check them out here towards the bottom of the page. You can also browse their site for specs and sound clips.

I put a Halfbreed in the middle of project #2, which is an HSS.

They're gonna be more coin then SD or DiMarzio, but if you're looking for output these will suffice. You can always haunt eBay...I got my Halfbreed for $25.00 there.

Again, this is just my 2 cents, others will be by shortly with their options.

Happy Trails

Scott

[ChrisK]

Seems that my favorite out of the bunch are the stock Mexican pups you’d find in a late 90’s Fender Strat. They have half decent power, but are missing the ‘sparkle’ that I’d like. Another set that I own that has the ‘sparkle’ is in use in another guitar – but doesn’t have the output that I need to balance with the super distortion.

Yeah, well, welcome to reality (aka physics). On one hand you want to sparkle and on the other, arc weld.

When enough wire is wound on a coil to generate dangerously high voltages, the resulting self-inductance chokes (attenuates) the harmonics. Tesla involuntarily raised eyebrows for miles around, but no one ever complemented him on his tone.


Compare the specs (output voltage) for level, and the tone samples for, uh, tone. The journey begins....

[jmartyg]

it's a catch 22, i know. i dont want to go active either. I never ever remember to change betteries. EVER.

Maybe i can sweet talk the shop into a deal when i order the SD if i get single coils from them too. The good news is that i can't have any worse pickups then i have now, so anything is an improvement.

[ChrisK]

I also wonder if what you are wanting isn't mutually exclusive.

Using a DiMarzio Super Distortion seems to infer that you are seeking, uh, super distortion, usually created when a pickup overdrives an amp into (super) distortion.

If them spanking clean single coils had an output level close to the Super Distortion, it would seem that the amp would be driven into, uh, (super) distortion. The result would be a whole lot more mean than clean.

[ashcatlt]

Feb 19, 2009 18:26:48 GMT -5 jmartyg said:

I never ever remember to change betteries. EVER.

ever?

Luckily, there's a fairly easy way to power active guitar circuitry from a wall-wart.

[newey]

Another option is not to worry about matching the pups, and give the HB its own volume pot. You could use a concentric pot if you don't want to lose the separate tone controls.

[jmartyg]

Feb 21, 2009 8:50:01 GMT -5 newey said:

Another option is not to worry about matching the pups, and give the HB its own volume pot. You could use a concentric pot if you don't want to lose the separate tone controls.

That's an idea. Since i usually end up removing one of the tone pots on the righty guitars, might as well keep in the habit and see if i can have a volume on that empty hole.

Odly enough,
i use an uber clean and bright amp and am usually the last one to turn on the stomp boxes out of the group i play with. A fender Deville, JCM2000 60w full stack, some old roland tube amp compared to my Yamaha g-50.

I guess it just boils down to clarity without worring about the humbucker. Maybe dimarzio Red Velvet... if anyone used them. I can order lefty staggering. Or anything that is better than what you'd get out of a Jay turser.

The problem is that we play anything from Nirvana, Metallica, Megadeth, Ozzy (new and old), Pink floyd, Hendrix to name a few and havingto lug around 3 or more guitars is a hassle. i usally brng two with me so i dont have to make people wait if i break a string. I haven't broken a string in years, so one of them usually never leaves the car.



...oh if i had the experience i'd get a few single coil kits form stu-mac and wind my own

[Teleblooz]

Feb 21, 2009 2:12:31 GMT -5 ashcatlt said:

Luckily, there's a fairly easy way to power active guitar circuitry from a wall-wart.

LOL!

[jmartyg]

Feb 27, 2009 12:45:22 GMT -5 Teleblooz said:

Feb 21, 2009 2:12:31 GMT -5 ashcatlt said:

Luckily, there's a fairly easy way to power active guitar circuitry from a wall-wart.

LOL!

I- I don't get it...

[ashcatlt]

I'm not exactly sure what that means either...

What exactly is this "lefty staggering" of which you speak. I guess sometimes I tend to pull a little to the left after a couple drinks. Aside from possible (but not likely with new pickups) wire length concerns, is there any reason you can't just turn the things 180 degrees?

[jmartyg]

the pole under the B string is usually lower than it's counterpart. you can't reallf put the pickup in backwards, not in a strat at least, since the neck would be in the way and/or routing.

i've jsut lived with the different staggering in the past, but if i can do it, then why not?

oh yea, EMG's passive pups look interesting.

[dugg]

I've made two axes recently with Strat SC's flipped the 'other way'. The first one I wanted the middle coil to be right next to the bridge to create a 'slantbucker'. The tabs get in the way of normal placement, but flipping one coil around solves that, and the RWRP remains the same. The second one, (still in the oven) has a tele coil next to the bridge and a strat coil close, but not directly against, the T. Both have 1 strat coil reversed so that the pole pieces are under the 'wrong' strings. I'm not a very advanced player, but no less than 6 very good guitarists have tried the first one, and not a single one mentioned any thing about string balance being off. I guess Hendrix didn't mind either?

[ashcatlt]

Sorry, I talk (err...type?) about this stuff a lot more than I actually do any of it. Completely forgot about the fact that these pickups are not symetrical, with that "triangular" tab thing. I can see where that could be an issue, especially in the neck position.