Looking for good humbuckers

R

Rolland

New member
I recently got a used Strat which I am thinking of putting in 2 humbuckers to replace the lousy stock. What's a good humbucker for getting the Santana-Gibson SG sound, like on Europa? I'm looking at the Dimarzio Air Classic, does anyone have recommendations?
 
Are we talking about a Strat-sized stacked pickup, or are you going to carve up the body?

... and Santana sounds like he does because of a lot more than the pickups, but let me know what the plan is and we'll see if we can get you there.

foo
 
Hi Foo, thanks for the reply. Well this Strat has a single large cavity in the body for all the pickups so no carving needed. Anyway, I got it used and the previous owner already took out the stock singles and put in 2 normal sized (not stacked) humbuckers with a new pickguard to fit. The humbuckers, I think, are a Dimarzio Super 2(neck) and Super 3(bridge). They sound too rough for my liking.
The feel of a Strat to me is much nicer than any Gibson but I'm hoping to get some Gibson tones out of this. What do you recommend?
 
I've always liked Seymour Duncan pickups. I had a 335-style guitar which I put a '59 in the neck position, and a 'Mag' at the bridge with a coil tap on it.

I was very happy with the way it sounded - real nice bluesy tone out of the neck p/up, and a nice edgy ballsy sound out of the bridge h/bucker, and it thinned out nicely for more of a Tele/Strat single coil sound with the tap in.

Both p/ups on was a good jangly rhythm sound and it got real jangly with the bridge p/up as a single coil.

Also had a Duncan 'custom' on another guitar in the neck position - it had a litle more power than the '59 and so was able to create a bit more distortion.

You might want to try this set up:
Duncan Custom on the neck with coil tap
Duncan Alnico II strat replacement pickup in the middle
Duncan Mag at the bridge

Install a five-way switch and have the best of both worlds - the Mag as a single and the middle p/up will sound very Stratty, but the Custom split and the middle is a little more ballsy than the same Strat configuration.

Hope this helps,

foo

[This message has been edited by foo (edited 04-27-2000).]
 
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