DrKev
Moderator
It's Sunday morning. The sun is shining, I have a strong cup of Irish tea, the urge to write, and a puzzle.
My entire career as a pro musician has been either SSS or HSS. I just love a bridge humbucker and neck single coil. That's "me". It's been 30 years since I last had a guitar with a neck humbucker (and that was single coil-sized) and that was just for two years. Right now I spend half of my time with my Cutlass and half with my Silhouette Special, both HSS. And I was really happy with them until recently I realized that my two guitars are similar enough that I cannot tell in a recording which one I played. I'd like that be different. It may be time I had that neck humbucker woody thickness in my life.
I keep thinking of the Peach Guitars demo of a Velveteen St Vincent Goldie. (Video linked at the end of this post). Those gold foil clean tones are SO beautiful. They're not "true" gold foils, they're low output mini humbuckers but wow. With many hours of interweb deep diving it seems that some sort of lower output, brighter humbucker tones could be just what this doctor might order.
At first I was thinking I could modify the Cutlass for a set of the St. Vincent Goldie pickups or other mini humbuckers. I'd avoid the too-thick muddiness that so many neck humbuckers do when played clean while still having a tone that's obviously a humbucker. I have little fear of making a permanent modification and Music Man might sell me a set of the Goldies, and Chandlers might make a custom pickguard. It would be unique and look cool as hell.
But there are other pickup options. There are of course standard mini humbuckers (as featured on the Original St V), and Firebird mini humbuckers, which may be closer to the goldies if I can't get them? Maybe a brighter single-coil sized humbucker could get me tonally where I want, or Filtertrons, but I hate the way both of those options look so I'm probably not going there. P90s don't do really do that humbucker thickness I'm after. Maybe a full size PAF humbucker would make me happy?
However, getting the pickups, routing the body, and having a custom pickguard made would be expensive when I haven't worked in 4 years due to Long Covid. So then I'm thinking how about trading the Cutlass for a different Music Man guitar? If keeping the cost down is the goal, I'd be looking for a trade of similar value so I may have to expand my choices to full sized hums. But what?
Silhouette? Albert Lee HH? Maybe I could find a 20th Anniversary Silo? A Gold Roller would be cool but they were only hard tail, right? I need my whammy bar. Maybe an Axis? I'm not a fan of Stingray or Stingray II guitars body shapes but am I being silly? I am also really wedded to the idea of both 1 5/8" nut width and 10" radius, but could I be happy with a HH LIII (12" radius)? Or Sabre (1 11/16" nut)?
So what the hell am I doing here? I am looking for bright humbucker sounds that sound great for clean to medium overdrive tones. But I think I'm maybe overwhelmed with possible options but underwhelmed with actual ones.
What I would like from you, dear reader and friends, is your experience and knowledge, or even just gut feelings.
What would you do? Modify or trade?
What are your favorite humbucker options for clean medium overdrive tones?
What is your experience of mini humbucker-sized pickups vs full sized?
Will coach Brady get the Bills to a Super Bowl? Can the Sabres win the Stanley Cup?
Here's the Peach guitars vid.
)
Kev.
My entire career as a pro musician has been either SSS or HSS. I just love a bridge humbucker and neck single coil. That's "me". It's been 30 years since I last had a guitar with a neck humbucker (and that was single coil-sized) and that was just for two years. Right now I spend half of my time with my Cutlass and half with my Silhouette Special, both HSS. And I was really happy with them until recently I realized that my two guitars are similar enough that I cannot tell in a recording which one I played. I'd like that be different. It may be time I had that neck humbucker woody thickness in my life.
I keep thinking of the Peach Guitars demo of a Velveteen St Vincent Goldie. (Video linked at the end of this post). Those gold foil clean tones are SO beautiful. They're not "true" gold foils, they're low output mini humbuckers but wow. With many hours of interweb deep diving it seems that some sort of lower output, brighter humbucker tones could be just what this doctor might order.
At first I was thinking I could modify the Cutlass for a set of the St. Vincent Goldie pickups or other mini humbuckers. I'd avoid the too-thick muddiness that so many neck humbuckers do when played clean while still having a tone that's obviously a humbucker. I have little fear of making a permanent modification and Music Man might sell me a set of the Goldies, and Chandlers might make a custom pickguard. It would be unique and look cool as hell.
But there are other pickup options. There are of course standard mini humbuckers (as featured on the Original St V), and Firebird mini humbuckers, which may be closer to the goldies if I can't get them? Maybe a brighter single-coil sized humbucker could get me tonally where I want, or Filtertrons, but I hate the way both of those options look so I'm probably not going there. P90s don't do really do that humbucker thickness I'm after. Maybe a full size PAF humbucker would make me happy?
However, getting the pickups, routing the body, and having a custom pickguard made would be expensive when I haven't worked in 4 years due to Long Covid. So then I'm thinking how about trading the Cutlass for a different Music Man guitar? If keeping the cost down is the goal, I'd be looking for a trade of similar value so I may have to expand my choices to full sized hums. But what?
Silhouette? Albert Lee HH? Maybe I could find a 20th Anniversary Silo? A Gold Roller would be cool but they were only hard tail, right? I need my whammy bar. Maybe an Axis? I'm not a fan of Stingray or Stingray II guitars body shapes but am I being silly? I am also really wedded to the idea of both 1 5/8" nut width and 10" radius, but could I be happy with a HH LIII (12" radius)? Or Sabre (1 11/16" nut)?
So what the hell am I doing here? I am looking for bright humbucker sounds that sound great for clean to medium overdrive tones. But I think I'm maybe overwhelmed with possible options but underwhelmed with actual ones.
What I would like from you, dear reader and friends, is your experience and knowledge, or even just gut feelings.
What would you do? Modify or trade?
What are your favorite humbucker options for clean medium overdrive tones?
What is your experience of mini humbucker-sized pickups vs full sized?
Will coach Brady get the Bills to a Super Bowl? Can the Sabres win the Stanley Cup?
Here's the Peach guitars vid.
Kev.
Last edited:
