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Hi,

Once you've completed rewiring the pickups let's your bad guy scream like a banshee.

We would be glad to see this little naughty boy in action.

Me Too.

I can see where you're coming from. The HFH does seem to be a medium output. Unless you don't mind it being weaker in the bridge than the other pickups, you might want to think about finding a neck pickup that's medium output as well. I still think a Duncan Jazz is a good fit. Or possibly something like an Air Norton. Then think about lowering the middle to adjust to the balance.

If not, you can really run into a balance mismatch by trying to balance the neck output according to the GFS. Personally, for me, it's not a good thing for the neck to be hotter than the bridge. You'll start running into the problem of adjusting the bridge pickup to where it's almost touching the strings (losing sustain by string pull in the process), and adjusting the neck to below the pickup ring (sacrificing flavor) just to get them to balance.

5.8k- 12k- 7.7k, and you can just adjust the middle and neck easier.
5.8k- 12k- 12k, and you're probably in for a frustrating experience to get them to balance.

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Thanks. For some reason (if all three pickups were totally equal) I thought the bridge
pickup would be a bit more strong.

Thought I read where the Humbucker from Hell was 8(+)k? If less, PLMK. Thanks.
Thought I'd get a neck humbucker to match the middle GFS 12k

Then, I can simply play the HFH in the #1 position,
not use the #2 position.
and use the matched pickups in positions #3 #4 #5.
Just wondering. Tell me if I am off, especially regarding the 8(+)k HFHell.

Thanks. I can easily throw out all the pickups and get a pure matching set.
but before I do, I'm learning quiet a bit about the pickups just "trying" to match

Toppscore

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I thought also a JS7 7-string in addition to the full 2-octave JS2400.



Currently Ibanez doesn't have a general production JS7 in their product lines, though I saw Joe messing around 7-string custom shop models made for him by the same craftsmen who build the actual JS/Radius guitars.

Hi, Ceri. You are right, the guitar was purchased with a Fender
Mexican MIM Stratocaster Single Coil middle pickup . . . . which was removed.

So, with two humbuckers left, I took my Super Strat situation
to Guitar Fetish and told them (and sent a picture as well)
about the HFHell in the neck and the Super Distortion in the bridge.

Guitar Fetish told me the GFS 12k True Coil will be perfect.

Then, someone posted that the HFHell delivers a Les Paul tone/sound
and was an 8.5k humbucker. Since I decided to take out the overpowering
Super Distortion, I'm considering moving the HFHell to the bridge position.
None of my guitars by choice have the Gibson Les Paul influence, so, why not?

Also, (maybe in my dreams) I thought pickups were stronger/louder when installed
in the bridge positon and that they "lose" some energy/power/loudness when installed
in the neck position. I'd love some verification on that statement. Thanks.

Just getting some wonderful ideas.
Can always trash the current pickups and get a popular matching set.
Having fun discussing some theory ideas within this thread.

Thanks and take care. Toppscore

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You can look up the specs on the Dimarzio website. The HFH is showing an output of 228 mV. Thats roughly half the output of what their high output bridge pickups are clocking in at. Although typically people use the DC resistance number to gauge output, that's actually the more important number to look for. I love that Dimarzio lists their pickups that way as opposed to Duncan's "hot/moderate" tags. But you can still use the DC numbers to plan a good balanced set and have your plan work out.

When dealing with HH or HSH setups, I personally like to see a slight downward spike in the DC numbers as I go from bridge to neck. If you look at the tone chart on the Duncan site, you'll see a smaller DC number for neck models. When you look at their JB and Jazz set (which is a very popular set), the JB bridge is running at 16.4k and the Jazz neck at 7.7k. The lower number in the neck compensates for the different position on the guitar body and the larger circumference of string vibration in that position. If you were to switch the 2, you'd find it very hard to balance the two.

If it was me, I'd ditch the HFH. I personally like deep rich color in the neck by bass and mid. And by using the HFH in the bridge, you're most likely limiting yourself to vintage output partners. It can be more of a chore for vintage output stuff to push distortion than higher output. I'd suspect your GFS is already a higher output unless they're doing something really different concerning output and DC resistance. I'd try to look for a neck pickup, medium output, somewhere around 10k or lower (which shouldn't be too hard), and get a super hot bridge say 14k or higher ( which should be very easy as well). If you're going to build around the GFS, that would be what I'd recommend for balance purposes.

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Thanks againm Jah. Following scenario, what do you think?

I can remove the Seymour Duncan Live wire (11k or 12k) from the single "H" Strat
and install it in the HSH. That keeps the HSH bridge at (11k or 12k) and the
GFS 12k True Coil in the middle. Do you believe this would be a better match?
Better than having the GFS 12k currently matched with the 25k Super Distortion?
Does the "SD Live Wire" require an active setup?
Or is it good on it's own "without" active electronics? PLMK. Thanks.

If all is good, then just need to source a neck pickup that works with the GFS 12k.

The Seymour Duncan Livewire will be coming from my pictured Single "H"
"Faith No More" guitar. That guitar setup is already installed with
two (2) 9-volt battery active electronics.
But, of course it's (11k or 12k) compared to the 25k Super Distortion.

Interesting options. Thanks for contributing. Toppscore

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The LiveWire humbucker needs an external power source otherwise it might not work. Active pickups always require a battery in order to function.

Therefore the LiveWires cannot be matched with passive pickups.

Another solution is to purchase a LiveWire neck humbucker and a LiveWire Classic II single-coil pickup to complete the setup.

Well.. Here's a couple good examples of why you can't always go by DC resistance numbers.

Chromeface is right. Leave the active to be paired with other actives. But think about what you're dealing with when actives are involved. Believe it or not, actives by nature have a low magnetic strength. The DC resistance may be listed as a 12k, but I promise you that when a battery is hooked up to it, the output level doesn't react like what you would get from what would be the output of a passive listed as a 12k. Once that battery kicks in, you get high output with a low string pull. The idea behind that being better sustain and high output-like attack as a result. In these cases concerning actives, the DC resistance number doesn't make a good gauge to go by anyway.

The Super 3 is another one. It may show a DC resistance of 25k, but look at the mV output level. It's at 435. It's high output, but not as high as the 25k DC number would suggest. For example, the Dimarzio X2N has a DC resistance of 15.8k, but the output level is a higher value at 510 mV, and the result would be louder than the Super 3 if they were both set at the same height.

If you dont mind the midrange quality of the Super 3, it's a good fit in your scenario with the GFS. Although I personally haven't heard one to my knowledge, I have used a Super Distortion for many years. Still do. The output levels still look relatively close to each other, and I think it'll be just fine paired with Your GFS. My Ibanez had a Super paired with a Lace Silver with no balance problems. Based on that, I'd say you'd be good to go with that pairing.

I'm personally not a fan of Dimarzio neck pickups. I've never really been very impressed with the "Air Bucker" line. That's where I think Seymour Duncan's and Gibsons shine. I find their neck pickups to be more colorful and vibrant. I'd take a SD Jazz or Alnico 2 pro, or Gibson 490r or Burstbucker, over anything I've heard from Dimarzio neck pickups. That's just my personal opinion however.

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Btw.. Just to address the op given all of this, the Super 3 still won't brighten up to what you may want. It's a midrange heavy pickup, and lo and behold, that's what you'll get a lot of.

When you purchase a pickup that has a lot of Treble, there's a placebo effect to consider. So you can go lower in output and have it balance with hotter middle and neck pickups. The Trebly nature gives off a placebo of higher output in a lot of cases.

I took a friend's guitar and installed a Seymour Duncan '59 bridge which is listed as a moderate vintage output and DC resistance of 8.13k, and paired it with a Dimarzio Tone Zone modded with a weaker A2 magnet to create less string pull in the neck. The '59 bridge pickup had so much treble, that they were able to have a perceived balance by sound as opposed to what would be normally be done by the numbers. Turned out pretty sweet actually. The middle position sounded freaking amazing.

Going by the OP, I can see what you're trying to accomplish, and I'm just afraid that you're still going to end up right back to your same problem, which is "brightness". I don't think the #2 position with a Super3 and your GFS is going to do quite what you want it to. You should probably just look for another bridge pickup that lists more treble in the eq. Brightness problem solved.

In my experiences, a #2 switched position (in a HSH setup) never quite gives you the luster of a bridge pickup on it's own. To me, that #2 position usually sounds more bland by comparison. Unless that GFS has a lot of treble to offer on it's own, you're going to end up right back to square one.

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Got it. Thanks.

Is not there a humbucker (EMG?) that is "active" without battery electronics?

I was thinking that the LiveWire was it, but apparently not.

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