YJM neck tone (a little different... in a Charvel)

[ruger9]

Big fan of YJM's tone, I know he was using the Dimarzios and now of course he uses the SD Fury. Here's my deal: I have my old 80's Charvel, with a JB in the bridge (which I will never give up, love that thing.) But looking to inject some "YJM neck tone" into the axe, was looking to put a YJM Fury in the neck position... but, I read they are medium output? Will the Fury be able to balance with my JB? (I do coil-split the JB for Yngwie bridge tones, so the Fury would be competing with a SPLIT JB)...

Any other suggestions welcome... I see a couple of threads right on the first page on a similar question, but no answers, and some are old posts (like a year!)

disclaimer:
yes, I know without the DOD and Marshall cranked, I'll never get his tone lol. I'm not a purist, just looking to get in the ballpark with his neck tone.

[AlexR]

I would actually say they are low output, just above a vintage strat. Somehow they are a little thicker without driving the amp too hard. If you are looking for no volume/drive drop from a JB I think you'll be disappointed, but most singles are like that. The stack version of the ssl5 would be the better option for you there, and the tone will still be single coil-ish

[Ed Hunter]

you can use the fury in the neck with a JB no prob just set the height to balance volumes and outputs
A neck pup is ALWAYS naturally louder due to its being closer to the neck away from the bridge

[ruger9]

you can use the fury in the neck with a JB no prob just set the height to balance volumes and outputs
A neck pup is ALWAYS naturally louder due to its being closer to the neck away from the bridge

I thought the same thing. Just wasn't sure if the Fury was actually SO weak that it couldn't even compete with a spilt JB (which is pretty strong output).

[oilpit]

I thought the same thing. Just wasn't sure if the Fury was actually SO weak that it couldn't even compete with a spilt JB (which is pretty strong output).

Wait...you don't even want it to keep up with the full JB?

Oh dude....you'll be beyond fine...even the lowest output neck single can keep up with a bridge single (especially a split bucker) if you can turn a screwdriver a few times. It's when they have to balance with something like a full JB, a Super Distortion, Custom etc, etc that output becomes an issue. But even still, I've tried some pretty crazy mismatches and have always been able to fix it with nothing more than pickup heights.

[ruger9]

I would actually say they are low output, just above a vintage strat. Somehow they are a little thicker without driving the amp too hard. If you are looking for no volume/drive drop from a JB I think you'll be disappointed, but most singles are like that. The stack version of the ssl5 would be the better option for you there, and the tone will still be single coil-ish

Keep in mind, it's a SPLIT JB.... only one coil.

[xntrick]

i use the HS3 and i have to have it set quite high to get close in volume to a tone zone in the bridge position, might just have to try a fury just out of curiosity...

[Farkus]

A split JB? You should be great with a fury in the neck.

My main metal axe, when I was playing in the late 90's with a band, had a JB in the bridge and a hot rails in the neck and they balanced very well (just an idea of how hot the JB is non-split).

[DonP]

I have an HS-2, HS-3 and a J-80C in a Model 4, with the JE-1200 boost. The boost equalizes the outputs of the singles with the humbucker. It sounds really good.

[ruger9]

Yeah, I only use the split JB for the Malmsteen tones... otherwise, it's full-on for everything else. Whitesnake (Sykes), Vai, EVH, etc etc. But the split tone of the JB, since it's such a thick sounding pup anyway, is stellar, and does a great YJM in the bridge position.

Cool. I'll install a Fury neck.

[Strat111]

What pot are you using for the JB? I assume that it is 500K. With the Fury, Malmsteen uses 250K pots. If you connect the Fury to the 500K, it may become a bit bright. Just something to think about. I assume you only have one volume knob like most Charvels.

[ruger9]

What pot are you using for the JB? I assume that it is 500K. With the Fury, Malmsteen uses 250K pots. If you connect the Fury to the 500K, it may become a bit bright. Just something to think about. I assume you only have one volume knob like most Charvels.

you know, I don't remember off hand, but I do think it's a 500K. I'll have to check. It seems to be a rather dark-sounding guitar tho*, so maybe the 500K won't be a big deal, especially since it's the NECK pickup, which could always use a little help in the clarity dept anyway... ESPECIALLY on a short scale like the Charvel (I have experienced the same thing with Les Pauls- neck pup can get muddy when EQ'ing the amp for the bridge pup. I suspect the short scale has something to do with that).

*I have read alot of posts over the years about how the JB can sound shrill & harsh with a 500K... I have never found that to be the case AT ALL. My JB, even with a 500K is thick & meaty. So maybe my Charvel, for whatever reason, is simply a dark guitar. I know the Duncan '59 that is currently in the neck position is so dark in HB mode I can't use it. I HAVE to split the '59, and then it's so weak as to be almost unusable.

[IMENATOR]

Hello ruger9. Could you please share your comments about volume drop (if any) when switching from bridge to neck?

I have always loved YJM neck tone for soloing. Before I started using SD I tried the old HS-3 in neck with a DiMarzio PAF. I first tried setting the pickup height when playing clean so volume were nicely balanced among neck and bridge when playing clean. However when I switched to distortion (Boss Metal Core) the neck would sound a bit thin in a way that (for my personal taste) it was not a good match for that bridge PAF. What I did to solve this was that I lowered bridge and raised neck so the neck tone would properly match (for my personal taste) the bridge tone when playing thru distortion pedal. Unfortunately when playing clean the neck would sound louder than bridge but I said tried to live that way for a while.

After that I really wanted to get my tone heavier so I switched SD H2/TB4 and now I have STK-S6/TB4 and each combo has been a good balance of tone and volume both on clean and distortion. Now YJM Fury + JB is a combo I was interested to try but I am having some $$$ issues so I would really appreciate your feed back.

[ruger9]

Hello ruger9. Could you please share your comments about volume drop (if any) when switching from bridge to neck?

I sure will. Have to order the YJM Fury neck first tho... it'll probably be a couple of weeks. I have this thread bookmarked and will definitely return with a follow-up after install of the Fury in the neck.

[ruger9]

YJM Fury neck on the way... I'll get it installed and report back. I'm going to install it coil-splittable, but I may not keep it that way... if I don't like the tone of it split, I'll re-wire it full on all the time. But I'll check out both, and how they balance with the JB, both full & split, in the bridge.

[AlexR]

If I'm not mistaken, the 'full' tone will be lower output than 'split' Those stack designs I believe have the second coil wired so it subtracts (?output, tone) from the main coil but also cuts the hum.

Its one of the reasons that the K readings are so high. The main coil for a 25k pickup could be 17k, and the -ve coil 8k. Essentially you get the output of a 9k coil, but the resistances are summed.

[ruger9]

huh... which would mean don't bother splitting the YJM, just leave it full-on, as that's how it's designed. Makes sense. Yeah the K reading on the Fury was throwing me off! The JB's only 16.4K (factory specs) meaning 8.2K split, and the YJM Neck is 12.2K... since the neck pup is louder anyways, I was afraid the extra output on the neck would make for an imbalance.

Thanks for the info!

[gibson175]

pic when it happens! love those charvels!

[ruger9]

pic when it happens! love those charvels!

Will do. Unfortunately, I stupidly routed the neck single cavity out for a humbucker back in the late 80's... dumb, dumb, dumb. Rather than attempt to properly restore it, I bought one of those "conversion rings" to mount a single in a humbucker cavity. If I love the YJM Fury, I will attempt to fill that hole, and do a proper re-store of the single neck cavity.

[IMENATOR]

Hello ruger9, cab you share a url to take a look at one of those "conversion rings"? I never heard anything like that before but definitely sounds interesting.

And good luck with that YJM+JB combo test.