Rails type pickups for strats - opinions please?

Megii

They've been around a fair while now I know, but I've never really tried one - I guess I'd be interested in one for the bridge position on a strat, but would still want it to be capable of good clean tones, and not a one trick pony for overdrive use only.

So what's the consensus? - are they a poor substitute for a "proper" full-size humbucker, and only of use because they fit into a single coil slot, or are they worthwhile in their own right?

agibbo

I've got an old JB junior in the bridge position of my Strat and it's really good for overdrive and distortion, but a bit less impressive for clean tones. It's by no means bad at clean sounds, it's just not what it was designed for.

I'd definitely recommend one. I got mine used from eBay for £30 about 10 years ago, and it's been in that guitar ever since!

Lestratcaster

I put the "Everything Axe Set" in my strat about 7 years ago. They're basically humbuckers in the size of a single coil and although they made it sound better than the stock ones they didn't keep that Stratty tone I was after. One of them was the JB Junior but the overdrives sounded weak and thin to me.

ToneControl

The Barden brand has a reputation for very crisp strat-sounding  blade HBs:

https://jbepickups.com/product/s-styles/

jdgm

I actually have a cheapo Artec one in the mid-position on my Strat which has its own 3-way toggle......sounds great.

Funkfingers

In my opinion, there are constructional reasons why a pickup consisting of two skinny coils, rail or threaded screw polepieces and an underslung bar magnet can not possibly reproduce the tones associated with one coil wrapped around six rod magnet polepieces. 

The more that these pickups make a high output Rock sound, the less that they succeed at the low output sparkly sounds.

My favourite compromise pickup of this type is the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Li’l Pearly Gates. Of the production line range, check out the Red Devil model.

TTBZ

I liked my old Dimarzio Chopper, quite thick sounding IIRC. 

ICBM

TTBZ said:

I liked my old Dimarzio Chopper, quite thick sounding IIRC. 

I like the Chopper a lot too. It doesn’t sound like a full-size humbucker really, it’s more defined and clear, but still a lot more midrangy and aggressive than any single coil.

OilCityPickups

Funkfingers said:

In my opinion, there are constructional reasons why a pickup consisting of two skinny coils, rail or threaded screw polepieces and an underslung bar magnet can not possibly reproduce the tones associated with one coil wrapped around six rod magnet polepieces. 

The more that these pickups make a high output Rock sound, the less that they succeed at the low output sparkly sounds.

My favourite compromise pickup of this type is the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Li’l Pearly Gates. Of the production line range, check out the Red Devil model.

This

DrBob

OilCityPickups said:

Funkfingers said:

In my opinion, there are constructional reasons why a pickup consisting of two skinny coils, rail or threaded screw polepieces and an underslung bar magnet can not possibly reproduce the tones associated with one coil wrapped around six rod magnet polepieces. 

The more that these pickups make a high output Rock sound, the less that they succeed at the low output sparkly sounds.

My favourite compromise pickup of this type is the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Li’l Pearly Gates. Of the production line range, check out the Red Devil model.

This

That said Ash, the prototype one you gave me leaves the Seymour Duncan/Dimarzio etc competition for dead and other than possibly the Brassknuckle is easily my all time favourite pickup to stuff into the bridge position on a Strat

martinw

I'm a fan of the Chopper too.
Not remotely "high output rock sound".
Of course it doesn't sound like a good single coil. It sounds like itself, but why is that automatically considered a bad thing?

TTBZ

That's how I feel about them too, they're their own thing which is nice too. Been a while since I used it but it was like a singlecoil with more fatness and humbucker-like compression. I did find mine a bit dull with 250k pots though. I'm not a fan of any bridge pickups for any type of cleans so I'd rather something that sounds good with a bit of dirt.

Megii

Much appreciate the replies and wisdom thanks all. Having thought a bit more, I guess I'm not necessarily after a hot-wind rock pickup kind of thing - perhaps something more akin to a classic PAF humbucker, although obviously not the same. The DiMarzion Chopper sounds interesting I must say, will investigate that one further.

ICBM

Megii said:

Much appreciate the replies and wisdom thanks all. Having thought a bit more, I guess I'm not necessarily after a hot-wind rock pickup kind of thing - perhaps something more akin to a classic PAF humbucker, although obviously not the same. The DiMarzion Chopper sounds interesting I must say, will investigate that one further.

The Fast Track 1 is closer to a PAF. I’ve got both in my Strat-type guitar, the Fast Track in the neck and the Chopper in the bridge. The Chopper is definitely more middy and ‘rock’ sounding, just less so than something like a Duncan Hot Rails.

ChuckManual

ToneControl said:

The Barden brand has a reputation for very crisp strat-sounding  blade HBs:

https://jbepickups.com/product/s-styles/

I have a Joe Barden Tele bridge pickup (the Danny Gatton model) and a Joe Barden Strat bridge pickup (common or garden variety) and I can confirm that they are astonishing quiet.

...although, that's mainly because they're both still in their boxes, waiting to be fitted into appropriate guitars... 

Yamaha77

I loved the little 59 for Tele for years not sure how much difference the strat version is.

If you wire with a push pull pot you can wire split coil or parallel.

The only traditional Stratocaster bridge single pickups I've liked aren't exactly traditional. Duncan SSL 5 or 6 or a Dimarzio Red Velvet and that's about it.

Dimarzio  Chopper is a great rail pickup for strat bridge. Fast track 1 was too weedy, Fast Track 2 too overblown. Pro Track was just ok a little bit different to a chopper and the mids are slightly different. 

Yamaha77

See the difference between putting a full size humbucker is like what was suggested above. 

A full size humbucker effectively samples the string at points further apart than a single double rail coil and features more lows because of the 2nd coil is closer to the neck. The great thing about full size is the availability of after market full size humbuckers and the ways we can tune them to different guitars with magnet swaps.

The huge part of the strat sound is based on the slant of the bridge pickup and you lose that when you install full size buckers. Hendrix played a righty flipped over so the coil positions were reversed bass strings were brighter high strings were smoother. 

Wonky

I've got a guitar with a Seymour Duncan STHR-1N in the neck position and it really awesome.  Humbucker sound is very think and full, good for jazz clean or great for sweep picking with distortion.  The split sound is for me the best I've heard from anything and I've got Dimarzio, Lace, Bareknuckle.  The most stratified neck sound ever for me

Branshen

@Megii I was just looking at modding my SSS strat with a humbucker bridge. I reckon it makes more sense to get a new pickguard and drop in a real full sized humbucker. Especially if you already have any suitable humbuckers lying around.

andy1839

I've got a SD Red Devil in the bridge of a strat and it sounds great. 
Loads more character than the hot rails it replaced.

Megii

Appreciate the further replies, all good stuff and food for thought, cheers all!

ICBM said:

Megii said:

Much appreciate the replies and wisdom thanks all. Having thought a bit more, I guess I'm not necessarily after a hot-wind rock pickup kind of thing - perhaps something more akin to a classic PAF humbucker, although obviously not the same. The DiMarzion Chopper sounds interesting I must say, will investigate that one further.

The Fast Track 1 is closer to a PAF. I’ve got both in my Strat-type guitar, the Fast Track in the neck and the Chopper in the bridge. The Chopper is definitely more middy and ‘rock’ sounding, just less so than something like a Duncan Hot Rails.

Cheers, and noted, thanks.

Yamaha77 said:

I loved the little 59 for Tele for years not sure how much difference the strat version is.

If you wire with a push pull pot you can wire split coil or parallel.

The only traditional Stratocaster bridge single pickups I've liked aren't exactly traditional. Duncan SSL 5 or 6 or a Dimarzio Red Velvet and that's about it.

Dimarzio  Chopper is a great rail pickup for strat bridge. Fast track 1 was too weedy, Fast Track 2 too overblown. Pro Track was just ok a little bit different to a chopper and the mids are slightly different. 

I confess I did once have a strat Lil '59 in the neck position of a guitar, and it wasn't terrible, but I found it a bit brittle and cold-sounding somehow. I preferred a Lace Blue pickup that I tried after that, and I do have a strat with a Lace Red-Silver-Blue combination, which is good. But I'm looking more towards a rails pickup for the bridge position at the moment, for a new partscaster build which is in the offing.

Branshen said:

@Megii I was just looking at modding my SSS strat with a humbucker bridge. I reckon it makes more sense to get a new pickguard and drop in a real full sized humbucker. Especially if you already have any suitable humbuckers lying around.

I guess you're right about that - it's probably a bit weird and  of me, but I just don't like the look of strats with a full size humbucker in the bridge - I like to see that slanting bridge pickup. Also I have a really lovely surf green strat body to use, and it's not routed to take a humbucker. So maybe not the strongest of reasons, but I'm thinking it is the sc size rails pickup for me.