Hey. I'm looking for a good single coil sized humbucker for the bridge position of my strat. I'm looking for a good hard rock tone(Guns N' Roses, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, AC/DC). So far I'm looking at the Seymour Duncan Little '59 and the Seymour Duncan JB Jr. Any suggestions?

I know I'll never be able to get quite that sound out of a strat, but I want something that can at least handle some distortion/overdrive better than the standard pups.

Also, ideally I'd like a pickup that will produce a good strat sound when coil tapped or with a series parallel mod.

get a VG strat because you can set it to humbucking with the baritone setting
Watch these vids
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA442Cqzaxk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EslpbFeLF8s&feature=related
Enjoy and rock on

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Squire Strat
Jasmine Takamine
Cherry Red American Standard Strat

That would be ideal. Sadly that's a little out of my price range.

The two you're looking at are both great places to start. If you want that really fat sound, you should get a new pick guard with the hss configuration and the full sized humbucker. The sc sized hb's sound good, but not 100% hb sound. You might like it, might not. I'd try out a fat strat before you make the switch though, that should give you a better idea of how it could potentially sound.

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-Classic 50's Strat.
-Std. Telecaster.
-Mike Dirnt P-bass.
-Custody of SE Strat.
-Peavey Predator/Dean Evo/Epiphone DR150/Gibson Slide (much older than me).

Rellik Productions Inc.

For whatever reason, I'm leaning away from a full sized HB. It's probably because of the aesthetic difference. I'm just going to have to get over that.

Hot rails are always good. I had one in my strat, I only took it out because i wanted to go back to a single coil bridge. Dimarzio make a bunch of different single coil sized humbucker, all with different tones. Here's a link to them. http://dimarzio.com/site/#/pickups/

I have the Duncan Quarter Pounders on my Strat. It works great with a tube screamer on a JCM 800 or a vintage Marshall.

I looked at the YJM and my main question was how much does it sound like a full sized humbucker? I'm looking for something that gives me a good humbucker tone. Not just a distortion-friendly single coil.

I'd look to dimarzio, especially for singlecoil sized buckers. Dimarzio dont just go for the same materials and coil winds when recreating their singlecoil versions of their full sized buckers. They match frequency response and tone, even if they have to use other materials.
For that reason alone based on what you like i'd look for a singlecoil sized Paf Pro, the king of humbuckers.

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No no and no

I was looking to do the same thing for my Highway 1 HSS....

Looking at a JB SH-4 for the bridge....and Little '59's for the neck and middle or should I get 2 different pups for the neck and middle? '59's and ????

I have the Seymour Duncan SHR-1 Hot Rails and I play Gun's 'N Roses. It's a great high output pup and has killer distorion tone. You can go to Seymour Duncans site at they have a page that lets you pick different pups and compare them. You can also listen to sound clips.

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2005 Fender American Stratocaster W/Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in bridge and Seymour Duncan SSL-5 in neck.
1995 Fender American Standard Stratocaster
Line 6 Spider II 150 watt head W/Ampeg 4x12 Cab
Laney Pro-Linebacker PL65R

I've got DiMarzio Pro Tracks in one of my Strats. I'm very happy with the tone and output.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

Do you guys have 3 of the same pups...or combinations of 3 different or 2 same/1 different?

I will need a Humbucker... and 2 single coils...but do I get the same single coils for the Neck and Middle...or will I get more tone range if I select a different Pup for the neck and middle? Does it really matter?

Thanks for the advise.

PB

Hi pbenson1167: it's a sensible question and there are several possibilities.

Some people like all three pickups to be identical and balance their output by adjusting their heights.

Many people like a hotter pickup in the bridge position for lead playing. Either a higher output single coil or a humbucker work for this. In that case, the other two pickups may be a matching pair or different.

When all three pickups have different outputs (such as the well known Lace Sensor Blue, Silver and Red set) then people often put the lowest output in the middle (with the hottest at the bridge, obviously). Fender used to offer Strats with that setup as stock.

The thinking there is that the guitar's sound is really governed by the bridge and neck pickups, and the weaker middle one is just there to color the tone in the "in between" positions. Presumably, people with that arrangement don't use the middle pickup on its own, because it would give a marked step down in output from the other positions.

But there's another possibility. I do use my middle pickup on its own, so I like a callibrated set to run lowest to highest, neck to bridge. I have a Strat with that Silver 7k, Blue 13k, Red 15k Lace set installed, and run them (unconventially) in that order from the neck. In that case, most of my sounds come from neck and middle pickups: I just go to the very hot bridge for occasional aggressive lead moments. It drives the amp harder and so has the effect of an onboard lead boost.

In other words, there's no rules. You can mix and match your pickups depending on how you want to use the guitar. Enjoy!

Cheers - C