Duckbucker in the middle?

[hareek]

I have yet another pickup question for everyone. ok, I have an american standard stratocaster. im about to put a little 59 in the bridge and neck and im looking for a good replacement pickup for the middle. seymour duncan recommends a Duckbucker in the middle to complement the 59 and JB Jr. Does anyone here have any experience with a duckbucker? how's it sound? should i just put another 59 in the middle? Someone in an earlier thread recommended a vintage rails, but that sounded a little too bassy for me and not enough high end. any thoughts? thanks for the help

[ArtieToo]

I'll be putting a Duck in this weekend, but I have had a Vintage Rails in the middle before. My understanding is that a Duck and a VR are the same pup except for the pole pieces. I would expect them to sound the same, or very close. That being said, I never thought of the VR as being "bassy" at all. I thought it did a pretty good job of producing single-coil jangle and chime, while being a bit more refined.

[tone4days]

i have duck in a middle and like it tonally very much for a snappy vintage-y tone .. if i had to do it again, i'd use a VR instead because i hear a volume drop off) when i bend single notes

t4d

[hareek]

i have duck in a middle and like it tonally very much for a snappy vintage-y tone .. if i had to do it again, i'd use a VR instead because i hear a volume drop off) when i bend single notes

t4d

is it a real noticeable volume dropoff or is it just like using a standard single coil pickup?

[jony]

The same as a normal single coil..

I too have a duckbucker in the middle.. you'll thank yourself for putting it in. I love mine.

[hareek]

The same as a normal single coil..

I too have a duckbucker in the middle.. you'll thank yourself for putting it in. I love mine.

i think i will. i listened to the sound clips for both the duckbucker and the vintage rails and i liked the tone from the duckbucker much better than the vintage rails.

[tone4days]

is it a real noticeable volume dropoff or is it just like using a standard single coil pickup?

to me, it was way worse than the regular single coil pickup it replaced as far as volume drop off during bends was concerned ... this is because the duck has those teeny tiny little screws as pole pieces ... when the string is bent out of the 'focus' of it's pole piece, the volume goes down considerably .. if it had a rail, it could never go out of 'focus'

like i said, the tone is very very good .. it is exactly what i hoped it would be, both alone, and in conjunction with the N or B humbucker ... i give it an A- where i think a VR would get an A+

[hareek]

to me, it was way worse than the regular single coil pickup it replaced as far as volume drop off during bends was concerned ... this is because the duck has those teeny tiny little screws as pole pieces ... when the string is bent out of the 'focus' of it's pole piece, the volume goes down considerably .. if it had a rail, it could never go out of 'focus'

like i said, the tone is very very good .. it is exactly what i hoped it would be, both alone, and in conjunction with the N or B humbucker ... i give it an A- where i think a VR would get an A+

will the little 59 have that same volume drop off or not necessarily because its a higher output pickup?