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I'm unhappy with the over-bright, almost tinny sound my '87 American Standard Strat produces. I'd like to get rid of the hum, keep the Strat quack (although a little chunkier would be nice) and push up the output just a little - the stock pickups seem a bit weak to me (and when I try to compensate with the amp, well, the hum just goes up too...).

I'm thinking of vintage rails or cool rails because I like the sound samples on the SD site. Does anybody have any advice about how their output compares stock single coils?

I've got a Carvin SX300 and a Champ 12, both of which do fine with my humbucker guitar (has '57 reissues in it), and fine with Fender Noiseless. I play blues and some chunky rock, not metal or shred.

Thanks!


Originally Posted by strings attachedI'm unhappy with the over-bright, almost tinny sound my '87 American Standard Strat produces. I'd like to get rid of the hum, keep the Strat quack (although a little chunkier would be nice) and push up the output just a little - the stock pickups seem a bit weak to me (and when I try to compensate with the amp, well, the hum just goes up too...).

I'm thinking of vintage rails or cool rails because I like the sound samples on the SD site. Does anybody have any advice about how their output compares stock single coils?

I've got a Carvin SX300 and a Champ 12, both of which do fine with my humbucker guitar (has '57 reissues in it), and fine with Fender Noiseless. I play blues and some chunky rock, not metal or shred.

Thanks!

I use regular Duncan single coils in everyone of my strats,but I Know some users of the Duckbuckers and rail pickups for strat players will chime in for you.

If you like the traditional single coil sound, but you want a bit more warmth and no hum, I would go with either Kinmans, Bill Lawrence 280's, Lace Hot Golds, or Lace Holy Grails. In my opinion, those are the best noiseless singles on the market. Duncan has a new noiseless model in the works, several guys on the forum have tested the prototype and really liked it. I don't know how soon they will be out though, I'm guessing probably not before summer NAMM.

Ryan

any of the rails would toast stock singlecoils for output, they're technically humbuckers

interestingly, i've seen the guy from idlewild has a strat with 3 cool rails in, might be worth checking out any new material they have.. Twilightoddessy has a 70s hardtail strat with 3 rails in too, i forget if they're cool or hot hehe - i hope he chimes in here..

tom

Thanks all for your help. Still leaning towards the Vintage rails, I guess, although I'll look into the Lace as well based on Ryan's recommendation.

I'd read somewere that the duckbucker and vintage rails have lower output than the other humbuckers - possibly lower than singles? If it's a bit higher than singles, though, that should do it.

Thanks again for your repsonses.

A bit more chunk than standard singles and no hum?

I had a set of Dimarzio Virtual Vintage pickups in my MIJ 62 RI that did just that. I had a Blues in the neck, 54 in the mid (great quack with this one in the notch position), and a Solo in the bridge (hotter and fatter than stock strat, almost P-90 like).

I like them a lot better than the Fender Noiseless pickups for strat and the Gold Laces that I've tried.

The Cool Rails sounds great, but aren't terribly stratty.

Yep - exactly what I'm looking for - a bit more oomph, no noise. Thanks for the good advice.

Everyone says Kinmans are THE noiseless pups, so like ryan said consider that. But Duncan has re-designed their stack design. Lew, and some other guys have tried them, so you might want to ask them about they sound, supposedly a huge leap forward. Also some folks are saying they are beating out the Kinmans. I didn't think the Classic stacks sounded that bad.

I haven't tried a duckbucker but they are supposed to be the most stratty sounding of the mini hums.

I personally have APS' and conductive paint. The noise is negligible, there are a lot of guys here who have done complete shielding jobs on their strats and used regular singles and got strats quieter than some LP's.

Luke


Originally Posted by Luke DukeEveryone says Kinmans are THE noiseless pups, so like ryan said consider that. But Duncan has re-designed their stack design. Lew, and some other guys have tried them, so you might want to ask them about they sound, supposedly a huge leap forward. Also some folks are saying they are beating out the Kinmans. I didn't think the Classic stacks sounded that bad.

I haven't tried a duckbucker but they are supposed to be the most stratty sounding of the mini hums.

I personally have APS' and conductive paint. The noise is negligible, there are a lot of guys here who have done complete shielding jobs on their strats and used regular singles and got strats quieter than some LP's.

LukeI like the duckbucker sound on the samples - and had read that vintage rails were essentially similar in sound, but don't have the pole-piece problems with string bending.

I think I'm starting to overthink this thing...

Thanks again.

Right on the vintage rails have good quack as well, it's just eh duckbuckers go an extra step with adjustable polepieces as well.

Luke