What do you guys think of this combination?

[Catanduva]

The guitar is a mahogany body, maple neck and rosewood fingerboard superstrat with wikinson tremolo.

I'm thinking about this (HSH):
Custom TB-5 / Duckbuckers / '59

My point is that i want a little quack sound for some vintage tones, the duckbuckers in the middle is the right choice for this? The three together make a good versatile guitar?

[ItsaBass]

Sounds like a good combo for many things. But for more versatility with that setup, I would definitely make sure that the humbuckers can be split. Hard to get a classic Strat sound without a SSS setup. If you want mostly humbucker tones, and just want the classic Strat sound occasionally, the splitable humbuckers will help a lot.

[Catanduva]

I've been thinking about that too. The Custom and the '59 have good splitted sounds? Ever tried them?
I'm builting a custom guitar in the future, so it'll be easy to tell the guy to do this.
I don't need a real strat sound, just something closer to play with for some time.

[Despair]

If you're splitting, using a single coil (or stack with the hum-cancelling coil disabled and RW/RP from the coil it's being combined with) will cancel hum better when used in 2+4 positions. I'd probably go with the STK-S4 (Classic Stack Plus) myself, but it'd involve a megaswitch and puzzling out wiring.

Easier solution is the SSL-2 (or SSL-1 if you want a stagger to match a more curved fretboard).

The Duckbucker can't be split without losing half the strings, one of the quirks of that kind of split coil arrangement.

The Duckbucker isn't a bad choice for the task, but an SSL-1/2 or STK-S4 will be a more authentic middle single. There have been some recent threads with people raving about improved quack by moving from a duckbucker to STK-S4 in the middle.

Custom and '59 both work pretty well for notch position sounds. Ceramic Custom isn't as commonly recommended for strats, but where yours has the warmer mahogany and rosewood, it should work nicely.

[Catanduva]

Thanks for the tips, Despair.
My guitar model is very similar to the AT300 (Andy Timmons Ibanez signature)
http://i.imgur.com/PK69S.jpg

Same woods and same fretboard (12").
He uses Dimarzio AT-1 (Alnico V) and two Cruisers (Ceramic) and it works very well. So i figured that the ceramic would be okay in my case.
Do you think the Custom Five or Screamin Demon (both Alnico V) would be a better choice instead of the ceramic Custom?
I want a good lead song that pierces through the mix, but don't want that amount of mids of the JB, i prefer a little more bass.

And for the STK-4, i'll give it a try. But i don't think i'll need to split it so the wiring would be less confusing, correct? I'll just use it in the standard (non-splitted) way, because i want the hum cancellation working everytime. I don't really need a full authentic single coil song, just something close.
I'm thinking about splitting just the Bridge and/or the Neck humbuckers.

[Despair]

Yes, Custom/'59 are a great, versatile pairing. It's hard to recommend alternate options without a bit better idea of style/tonal tastes. What amp or pedals you use can't hurt, either.

The Custom is a solid pickup, in the right guitar it's one of the few ceramic humbuckers I like. It's a bit like a bigger PAF with more punch & bite. Strong for a lot of styles, but it's got a bit more of a snarl than scream on leads. If you want a punchy, slightly brash but not quite harsh pickup, it's a great choice. I particularly like it in all-mahogany Les Pauls for a heavier rock sound.

Custom 5 is a great option for some guitars, but in others it just has too little in the way of mids. I see it as more of a fix for a problem guitar, than a general pickup, but I don't have a lot of personal experience with it.

Screamin' Demon is an interesting pickup, it's a bit like a growlier '59, less treble overall but a bit more bite. Despite extended bass response, it's less prone to congestion because of the all-screw design. Very flexible due to mix of screws, can do things like shuffle the screws so all the hex heads are under the bass strings, to give smoother high strings and more bite on low strings. Or swap them all out for all 0.75" fillister or all 0.5" allen head. But it's not a high output pickup, output is similar to a '59. May not be what you want out of a bridge pickup.


I switched from a JB to a PATB-1b in my Ibanez RG570 (basswood, was just too thin and inflexible with the JB), and it was just perfect for my needs with that guitar. Can pull almost any tone I want out of it. Ridiculously more responsive to volume/tone control adjustments.

I love the way the PATB-1b crunches for low gain rhythm more like a lower output pickup, but grinds in high gain, and sweetens up for leads. Sings and has great harmonics, but not in the exact same way as the JB. It's sort of like a Custom 5 for rhythm with a bit more Custom Custom flavor on leads (with more treble yet still smooth), but higher output than either. Has a mild mid scoop, I found backing it away slightly from the strings gave a very even tonal balance.

PATB-1b's caveat is that up close it doesn't look at all like a conventional pickup, and covers wont fit it (and it won't fit in the pickup cavity of most guitars if you did get one that fit).


The problem with the STK-4 (or even worse with duckbucker) is that if you combine it with split humbuckers, you want to split it as well, so that it cancels the split humbucker's hum. Humbuckers only cancel their hum in series or parallel modes.

If you don't use the single by itself much, easiest solution is an SSL-2, that gives you hum-cancelling in everything but the middle position. Where the STK-S4 wouldn't hum by itself, but wouldn't cancel the humbuckers hum in the 2+4 positions.

That's why I mention the megaswitch, which lets you wire each position independently however you want, but is a bit more work to wire.

[Catanduva]

I understand. Thanks for the info about the hum cancellation.
Interesting things about the PATB. I like the JB, but that amount of mids doesn't work for me. I'll try to find some PATB samples or videos to see what i think.
My guitar will be custom made, so the pickups i choose will have no problems to fit.

[Catanduva]

Despair, have you tried the PATB splitted? How does it sound?