Grateful Dead Music Forum

In the future I want to take the three single-coil pickups out of my Strat and replace them with two Humbuckers. Is ther anything special I'd have to do to the guitar its self in order to do this? I know that when Gibson puts duel humbuckers in they almost always have two tone controles and two volume ones, would I have to do that, or could I just wire both pick-ups to the one Volume pot and wire one pick up to each of the Tone pots?

Thanks.

Oh... I forgot, which is the better pick-up brand, DiMarzio or Seymour Duncan? Right now I'm looking at the: DiMarzio DP158 Evolution Neck Pickup.

Also when it says Neck Pick-up is it ONLY for the neck or can you use it in the bridge too, cause they only sell neck pick-up in that style.

you could wire 2 humbuckers to one volume and two tone no problem. you also wanna invest in an HH pickguard. as for whats the better brand, thats up to you. seymour is higher quality IMO but a little pricier. seymour has more oprions as well. both companies shodl have sound clips on their sites so check that out.

and as far as the neck pickup issue, im sure you could use a neck pickup in the bridge but i wouldnt. it probably wouldnt sound very good.

It's going to be a matter of taste as far as which ways to go. Both companies make pretty outstanding pickups. There are just a ton of options. I have used both the Dimarzio Super Distortions and the Duncan '59's, I stuck with the Duncans. I would probably find one pickup and stick it in both slots, might have some level and eq issues if you use an unmatched set but then again it may work for you. Like I said, matter of taste, no rules here.

That being said there are some smaller companies making some really nice products out there. Lindy Fralin makes great stuff. I think Joe Barden (known for epic single coils) makes a Humbucker sized single coil that can be split. Don't know much about it but Barden knows what he is doing so I imagine it's worth a look.

So as I said I was looking at the DiMarzio DP158 Evolution Neck Pickup and the matching DP159 Bridge pickup. It says that they work in most "Les Pauls and similar set-neck guitars". What is a set-neck guitar?

I just two pick-ups that will go goo together. The DiMarzio DP151 PAF Pro Pickup White Regular (for the bridge) and the DiMarzio DP213 PAF Joe Satriani Pickup (for the neck). One of the pick-ups only come's in "F-space" which is a little hole between the Low E and A strings and another between the B and high E strings. What exactly does the "F-space" do?

F Space Explanation

http://www.jag-stang.com/FAQ/index.php? ... &id=39&c=4

Set Neck is a guitar where the neck is actually set into the body in a joint and glued in to attach it. Generally yields more sustain. Les Pauls are set neck. A Strat is an example of a bolt on neck where the neck is exactly that, and uses bolts or screws for attachment.

b weird wrote:I just two pick-ups that will go goo together. The DiMarzio DP151 PAF Pro Pickup White Regular (for the bridge) and the DiMarzio DP213 PAF Joe Satriani Pickup (for the neck). One of the pick-ups only come's in "F-space" which is a little hole between the Low E and A strings and another between the B and high E strings. What exactly does the "F-space" do?

"F-Spaced" has nothing to do with a little hole. It's Dimarzio's trade term meaning that the poles are spaced wide enough to cover the wider string spacing of a Fender, as compared to Gibson for example. Duncan's term for the same thing is "Trembucker".

So F-spaced would be what I want since I'm putting the pick-ups on a Strat?

b weird wrote:So F-spaced would be what I want since I'm putting the pick-ups on a Strat?

Or "Trembucker" if you decide to go with Duncans.

I'm going to go with the DiMarzio's I think. They both have really good reviews and they're the only ones in stock.