I was wondering about two things.

1st: Are the Singlecoil sized humbucking pickups (as made by S.Duncan and DiMarzio) any good? I've never heard such in action although they are described pretty neat. But considering it's advertisement ofcourse they'll describe them as the most awesome thing out there.

2nd: If I choose to replace the single-coils on my strat with such humbucking, are there any changes in the electronics that I need to make (especially about the switching) or everything can be left as it is with the single-coils?

oh and i just thought of a third: For a more rock than metal player like me, favouring the styles of David Gilmour, Petrucci, Gary Moore (may he r.i.p), Slash and so on... would it be better to get the humbuckers I talked about or a set of Fender Noiseless single-coils?

I have two Strats fitted with DiMarzio Virtual Vintage noiseless pickups and have been using them onstage since 2008. I'll never change them out for anything else. They're designed to work with standard Strat 250K volume/tone pots and most wiring configurations. The pickups look vintage and sound vintage, but with a skosh more sonic "beef" than a traditional single-coil pickup. And they're as quiet as the proverbial church mouse.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

It's interesting you brought up Gilmour...I have a set of EMG SA's and absolutely love them! I recommend them to anyone looking for noiseless.

Just a thought, didn't really answer your question I guess.

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CREDO ELVEM IPSUM ETAIM VIVERE

It's an interesting question. In looking at the influences you mentioned, Gilmour is the only sss user of the bunch (that I know of). His rhythms aren't the same style as the others mentioned. And that is the backbone of where you should base you decision. Too often I find that people base their decisions on solo sounds. The real question becomes "which pickups will achieve both for what I'm after."

Single coil sized hums may emulate a humbucker pretty much, but the bottom line is, the magnetic field is narrowed compared to regular sized hums. The poles are in different spots in relationship to where they pick up on the strings. It may not seem like it matters very much, but it did to me. That's why I opted to just go with a Hum/Hum configuration regardless of whether it's a Strat style guitar or not.

Of the 4 SD single sized Hums I've tried, I wasn't nearly impressed as I've been with regular Hums. I'm sure there might be better ones out there, but I decided to stop dealing with it, so maybe I'm not one to speak here. The JBjr and Lil' 59 are both extremely midrange heavy, and the cool Rail I tried was as bland as you can imagine. The only one I can say I didn't mind was a JBjr neck. Although it can get boomy if it's too close to the strings, it is quite thick and flavorful if you lower it a bit.

My personal advice would be to get yourself a new HH or HSH pickguard (you can get them as cheap as $12 or so), and go with regular sized Hums. Make sure you're guitar is routed to accomplish a HH configuration first though. I think in the long run, you'll wish you did if you delve into the Single sized hum department first. Of course, that's just my opinion.

After making that choice, my options broadened by a lot. I wouldn't replace any of the Hums I have in my guitars for a single sized hum if given the choice. You want Petrucci? Get some bomb DiMarzio hums. You want Slash? Moore? Get some bomb Gibsons. And so on.. The Single hums just won't get you there in my opinion.



That pickguard cost me $12 on ebay. Now it has a Gibson 498t and Benson Custom (10k A-4) in the neck. This guitar will do Slash and Moore and countless other rock sounds with ease.

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I had a Duncan Little'59 as the bridge pickup in one of my Strats and liked it a lot. It's a little more focused and tighter sounding than a full size '59, but it has the distinctive "humbucker" tone -- fat, somewhat compressed, with vowel-like mids. IMO, it matches with single-coil neck & middle better than a full size humbucker does.

Duncan voices most of his SC sized humbuckers to be bright so that they work well with Strats' typical 250K pots. The Lil'Screamin'Demon, JB Jr, and the Little'59 are very compatible with stock Strat wiring.

DiMarzio's ProTrack and FastTracks are in the same vein but I haven't tried them. IIRC they're voiced darker and prefer 500K pots like (most) full size 'buckers.

Most of the various "noiseless" pickups are voiced to sound like single coils. For Slash type humbucker tones you don't want those. (Lace makes a wide variety of noiseless models, some of which kind of sound like humbuckers, but nost of the other "noiseless" pickups try to sound as much like true single coils as they can.)

OTOH, you mention Gilmour and he's pretty much entirely a single coil man. Moore played both humbuckers and single coils, as does Petrucci.

So you might want to just put a and keep the stock neck & middle. Or a SC sized humbucker in the bridge and noiseless pickups in the neck & middle.

Of course there are near infinite options/combinations. The only real solution is to win the lottery and buy a million Strats.

I've gotta say that in my experiences with the Jb and Lil 59 (I still have a lil 59 in my Tele copy for the time being), they are not bright at all. A 500k pot only makes the midrange jump out even more. I have true hums that are brighter than these. Even if you look at the Tone chart on the SD website, it will show you a spike in midrange on the JB which in my opinion is just too much. The Lil 59 shows a little bump in treble, and slightly less midrange than the jb. But the midrange is still very prominent when you hear one.

There are Hums out there that do the same thing so I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it. If you're into that sort of thing then they'll work fine for you. I just can't describe these as "bright". There are a ton of true hums out there brighter than these. I have a DeArmond Goldtone bridge Hum that's as bright as a Tele single coil.

Anyway.. That's my opinion about it. I mean no disrespect in saying so.

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Dimarzio doesn't try to follow a eq curve of a full sized bucker when making a singlecoil sized equivalent, for that exact reason. The magnet placement.

Instead he only goes by sonic comparison. So the pickups end up being wound a little differently to their counterparts.

I don't like Seymour Duncan humbuckers at all. I find they all sound a tad indistinct.

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No no and no

I am not a fan of SD pups either.

I have used Bill Lawrence www.billlawrence.com single coil sized humbuckers in the past and they are very good. They are the dual rail design. I had mine set up to be split.
I have a set of WCR www.crcoils.com SR's that are extremely hot and into P-90 territory. They have never been listed on his website and he only made very few and only once a year. These pups are fab!!!

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

The other thing about Bill Lawrence pickups, that never gets mentioned.
Whilst being of comparable quality to any other boutique pickup manufacturers product, they have real world prices.

I do like Duncan singlecoils. It's just the humbuckers I don't get on with. I wouldn't ever call them a bad product though, that's just daft.

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No no and no

I have been a fan of the Duncan series pups for almost 30 years now.
and have a set in my Les Paul, yes SC hums in my LP, lol
JB jr in the bridge, and the little 59 in the neck, and it's got great tone.
a tad bit thicker in a LP than it would in a Strat.
I have tested almost every type of pup config you can think of in the last 35 years,
and just enjoy the crunch with the clarity of a SC HB,
but have the vintage noiseless in my strat.

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1986 Kramer Baretta
1989 Samick "The Samick" Les Paul
2007 Fender Strat MIM Deluxe / 1985 MIJ neck
1990 Epiphone Strat
Marshall JCM 2000 DLS 50 watt / Marshall 1960a 4x12

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