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I was wondering if anyone had any advice on which Duncan single coils I should put in a clear acrylic (lucite) Strat copy. The Strat is a limited edition made by Dillion guitars with clear acrylic body and headstock. The stock pickups are OK, but they're definitely not SD's!

I'm looking for a tonal and saturation range from blues to hard rock. Also, I would like the pickups to be less bright to compensate for the already bright qualities of the acrylic body.

I have a vintage 1960 Fender Strat with Duncan SSL-5 (Custom Staggered) single coils and LOVE the tone! I would like to get somewhat close to this tone on the acrylic Strat, but I know the (aged) wood vs acrylic is going to make a sonic difference.

Any suggestions?

Cheers, Ugg

welcome to the forum

man, that's a hard order lt;scratchin' headgt;

those guitars are a novelty, but i've never heard them get good tone ... IMO, just very dense with not alot of resonance ... i'd say you are going to have to aim for as dark a pup as you can get in order to try to balance out the brightness ... but even that is going to be a stretch, especially for the range of music you say you want to be able to play ... i wonder if some quarter pounders would get you there

what do the others think?

good luck and let us know how things turn out
cheers,
t4d

My friend likes acrylics. He says for some reason the only thing he could get to sound good in them were high output pickups but he doesnt play blues hes in a hard rock/metal band. An Invader maybe? I think a blues tone(thats decent) might take some time to find in an acrylic. Or you could have a really unusual blues tone lol. Good luck and welcome.

SSL-3 maybe? I always wondered how a full Set of them would sound.... or SSl-3 in the Bridge and SSL-7 staggered quarters in neckamp;middle...
I must say these are just ideas because I don't really know about acrylic bodies...

Livewire hots?

In dealing with guitars that are not made from wood pickup selection can be a areal *****! I have a Kramer with an aluminum neck...that guitar went through lots of pickups until I relized that no matter what I did, it was still gonna sound like a guitar with an aluminum neck!!! Acrylic's and metals tend to be pretty bright...I would start with something overwound, and maybe some Alnico II stuff...but that said, something very simple like SSL-1's might be juss fine! Duncan has a 21 day return policy...I say USE IT! But some pickups, try them, and if they don't do it...swap em!! As for suggestions, I would say start with something simple...say either 2 SSL-1's in the neck and middle and a twangbanger in the bridge, then use that as a reference point...that way you can post here and say what you did or didn't like about those pickups and then we can point you towards something else.

Good luck and welcome to the forum!

Wow, what an active forum. You guys rock!

I think everyone is pretty much on the money in recommending hotter (high output) pickups. I spent some time playing the guitar this weekend, and the stock pickups just seem too weak. They sound good for glassy clean type stuff, but they don't break up very well with distortion.

I realize the acrylic body is going to have that glassy / chimey sound no matter what pickups I use, so I'm not concerned about *completely* changing the sound of the guitar. I just want something that's going to sound good distorted as well as clean, with good sustain and not too bright.

There is one factor that I failed to mention... I have chrome (plastic) single-coil covers that I would like to use. I already have chrome vol/tone knobs and a chrome pickup selector knob on the guitar and they look NICE.

Of course the chrome covers limit my pickup selection to pickups with standard pole pieces. If this prevents me from getting a good tone, I am willing to sacrifice the covers in favor of pickups with rails or other non-standard design. However, I'm hoping there are still some good SD pickup choices that have standard poles... Any suggestions?

Thanks for welcoming me to the forum. I may be new here, but I'm a long time SD user and advocate!


Originally Posted by UggWow, what an active forum. You guys rock!

I think everyone is pretty much on the money in recommending hotter (high output) pickups. I spent some time playing the guitar this weekend, and the stock pickups just seem too weak. They sound good for glassy clean type stuff, but they don't break up very well with distortion.

I realize the acrylic body is going to have that glassy / chimey sound no matter what pickups I use, so I'm not concerned about *completely* changing the sound of the guitar. I just want something that's going to sound good distorted as well as clean, with good sustain and not too bright.

There is one factor that I failed to mention... I have chrome (plastic) single-coil covers that I would like to use. I already have chrome vol/tone knobs and a chrome pickup selector knob on the guitar and they look NICE.

Of course the chrome covers limit my pickup selection to pickups with standard pole pieces. If this prevents me from getting a good tone, I am willing to sacrifice the covers in favor of pickups with rails or other non-standard design. However, I'm hoping there are still some good SD pickup choices that have standard poles... Any suggestions?

Thanks for welcoming me to the forum. I may be new here, but I'm a long time SD user and advocate!

I say live without the covers and get white Livewire Hots.

Dude post some pics of this Strat...I have to see this!!!