Hi Scot06: well, there's exceptions to everything, but on the whole people would tend to feel that humbuckers drive an amp harder, giving a bit of a kick to the gain. A touch more break-up. On average they usually have a higher output.

Many people use the bridge pickup for lead/solo work - the bridge pickup is often called the "lead" pickup while the neck one might be called "rhythm". So when a player goes to the bridge pickup for a solo he might want a step up in output and also perhaps a thicker, warmer, more saturated sound. (There's folks here that will argue with that terminology, but...) That's the logic that sometimes places a humbucker in the bridge position even if the other two pickups are single-coils.

Of course, there's a single-coil route to a similar thing: the "calibrated" pickup set. This is where the bridge single-coil pickup has a higher output than the other two. You could also have all three pickups with different outputs.

A useful example of this is many sets of Lace Sensors, particularly where a Red Sensor is placed at the bridge. That is a pickup with a very high output (around 15k, from memory) which will give you a very boosted, attacking sound for a solo.

In some ways Sensors might be thought of as a middle route between single-coils and humbuckers. P90s would be a different kind of middle route...

Any of that help?

Cheers - C

That is exactly what I plan on doing BigJay! The more I play her the more she grows on me.

I did buy her specifically as a project guitar. But I am still in the very early planning stages of the project. So I wouldn't be doing anything to her for awhile. Other then changing the colors a bit.

I'm basically just asking these questions as research for the project. Kind of a fact finding type of thing I guess you could say. It's all part of the planning phase for now.

Yes, that helped greatly. That's the kind of answer I was looking for. Thank you

Is there a good humbucker you can recommend for a much heaver sound? So when I want to play something similar to Metallica I can switch to the humbucker and keep the Texas Specials (that are already installed) for everything (else) that is not as heavy

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2009 Fender Strat MIM
2002 Squire 20th Aniv. Strat
30 year old Les Paul copy which is currently in the process of being rebuilt.

Well, then you might as well use what Kirk Hammett uses for the exact sound.

Unfortunately, his guitars frequently seem to be fitted with active EMGs, which means tiresome (to some) wiring, and messing around figuring out where to put your 9 volt battery.

However, I notice that some of his sig guitars also use passive pickups made by ESP themselves - the ESP LH-301 humbucker. It would fit with the black livery your are chasing, too.

At a glance I don't see them for sale anywhere, except on Ebay. Here's one, at this moment very cheap:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ESP-LH-301(EMG-DESIGNED)-Bridge-Pickup_W0QQitemZ280391334876QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090831?IMSfp=TL090831173004r36948

Also, people are saying that is essentially the same as an EMG HZ pickup, so that would be another option.

Cheers - C

PS Dunno why this page won't display that Ebay link properly. But just copy and paste it into a browser window to find the listing.

Thanks Ceri

but I'd like to stick with the Fat Strat looking HB's I don't care for the soap bar look.

_________________
2009 Fender Strat MIM
2002 Squire 20th Aniv. Strat
30 year old Les Paul copy which is currently in the process of being rebuilt.

Humbuckers simply work better with high gain (not necessarily sound better). On just about any amp, with more gain comes more noise. The hum cancelling effect of a humbucker helps keep that noise in check, especially at higher volume.

Since humbuckers are hum cancelling by design (and hence their name), there is also some loss in the high frequencies as they also get cancelled like the noise. While this may seem undesirable especially if you play clean, it is a blessing under high gain. This high frequencies can become harsh under high gain. So the noise cancelling effect makes for a darker sounding pu, but sounds smoother under high gain where the distortion/gain is creating overtones and semitones of the underlying or fretted note(s) anyway.

Generally speaking:

Playing clean, a single coil generally sounds livelier and more dynamic and responsive to pick attack. A humbucker sounds more flat dynamically(compressed) and lacks the sparkle from the high end (darker).

Under high gain the single coils can feedback, create a ton of noise, and sounds shrill and harsh (something a good tone stack (eq) on your amp can help). A humbucker sounds more compressed and smooth making so you can pound out chords and notes without as extreme volume discrepancies.

If I plug my ESP and Strat into my half stack with the same settings under high gain, the ESP sounds smooth, focused and thick. The strat sounds noisy, buzzy and digital. My strat has to have completely different settings from my humbucker equiped axes

Playing clean, my ESP just does not sound as inspiring, and the strat shines and the notes sound bigger and fuller. Different tools for different jobs

_________________
Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

Scot do you mean you prefer open coils rather than encased pickups?
Trust me mate for high gain humbuckers you need covering especialy when playing metal and attacking the strings. If you cant find esp 301's (which are great pickups without the active woes btw) try a EMG HZ.

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No no and no

Don't fear active pickups, there are many benefits. I have both. The only downside I know of is battery placement problems, which has not been a problem on my guitars.

They do not have the noise issues that come with stage lighting and other noise sources, and the tone and volume pots are more useable in my opinion. The battery life is long, and against popular belief, it is not that important that you bring a back up battery everywhere you go. The pickups still have output when the battery goes, you just start to lose the output and pickup more noise. But you are not dead in the water like some think. I get some excellent tones with the volume rolled off on the guitar under slight breakup on the amp. I can clean up the sound with the volume pot and then crank it for more bite or to make a lead cut through. You don't get that tone loss as you roll off the volume pot

_________________
Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

yes, that's what I'm saying. I would like to stay with a humbucker that still looks like the Diamondback one that came on the Strat. I just don't like the soap bar (covered humbucker) look on a Strat.

Question - in the fifth position on the selector switch (bridge only) my Diamondback pick up Screams. Actually to much. With the p/u selector all the way down my humbucker is WAY to Bright! Uncomfortably so. Even after rolling off the highs with the tone knob she still screams more then I'd like.

Can someone explain why that it? Is it just this humbucker that does this? Would changing to another HB get rid of that? Or will all HB's be that way? What I want out of the HB is a nice thick chunky growl.

_________________
2009 Fender Strat MIM
2002 Squire 20th Aniv. Strat
30 year old Les Paul copy which is currently in the process of being rebuilt.

The bridge pickup doesnt have a tone control. Which I dont doubt is causing our troubles. Its a fairly easy mod.
Heres your switching diagram.
http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf_temp1/stratocaster/0134700_02C/SD0134700_02CPg4.pdf

Heres your wiring diagram
http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf_temp1/stratocaster/0134700_02C/SD0134700_02CPg2.pdf

You have 3 choices.
1 connect the wire from the tone pot to the switch lug that has the humbucker on it.
2 Wire in a jumper cable.
3 Take it to someone else to sort out.

If you want a open coiled humbucker that does high gain and sounds good, your not going to get much better than our diamondback. I think the problem is nailed with moving te tone control. If you still want a different open coiled pickup that can sound good clean and driven, try a dimarzio PAF. Certainly not metalica sounding. The only way to go for that is EMG. You could try a Dimarzio super distortion, you'd lose clean sound quality though.

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No no and no

I'm thinking about using the humbucker mainly for high gain. Sticking with the neck and mid for clean tones and hitting the humbucker at the bridge for the heavier stuff.

Does that sound like a viable option?

_________________
2009 Fender Strat MIM
2002 Squire 20th Aniv. Strat
30 year old Les Paul copy which is currently in the process of being rebuilt.

Thats what most people usually do.My one strat was a Texas Special Fat Strat until i converted it into a SSS configuration.It was good for raunchy , hard driving rock and roll.I changed it cuz i am not really a humbucker guy, but I am sure there are some good choices out there too.I also used a different overdrive pedal for my humbucker too.You might want to look into that as well.Find out what kind of pedals Kirk Hammett uses and try them out .Good luck.I am not trying to discourage you from changing out the pickup, just trying to help you see there are other options as well.

I was understanding the game plan here until you said you wanted to play Metallica with a single coil in the bridge? Definitely a humbucker would serve
you better for high gain music. I`m not saying you couldn`t do it but I would think the noise from the single coils and high gain settings would be a pain.
Tolerable at home playing levels and intolerable at performance levels.

I would use a noiseless pickup of some sort for the bridge if you want the SSS look.

I didn't say that. I want to use the singles for cleaner tones and the HB for the heavier stuff.

_________________
2009 Fender Strat MIM
2002 Squire 20th Aniv. Strat
30 year old Les Paul copy which is currently in the process of being rebuilt.