Odd pickup combos that work

[lars]

We all know the classic pickup types/configurations that are tried and true recipes for great tone. But I'm more interested in what pickup configurations you've found that work great, even though they're a bit out in left field. I've recently come across this one for my Strat:
- Dimarzio Air Norton S wired with parallel coils in the bridge.
- Fender "player" series Telecaster neck pickup in the neck with the cover removed.
The real surprise was how great the player-series Telecaster neck pickup sounds with the cover off. It's thick and punchy (around 9K on a meter). Wiring the Air Norton S in parallel coil mode gives it a more Strat-like single coil sound, and the two together just sound fantastic. Full-range with punchy bass and brilliant Strat jangle on the top end. I'm definitely gonna stick with this combo for a while.

[jimilee]

I have a 5 way switch on a Tele pos 1,2 and three are traditional. 4 is one of the pickups out of phase and 5 is with an additional resistor.


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[gordo]

I've long though the best thing I ever did for tele was take the neck up cover off.  Totally changes the pickup.

[Willybomb]

The stock neck and middle single coils in the Player strats are really, really good.  Like, good to the point where I wasn't going to replace them even though I had Lace Sensors ready to go in.

My not so wacky pickup combination was a Dimarzio Megadrive (bridge) and a Dimarzio Humbucker From Hell (neck).  It was all wired to a superswitch so the selections were Megadrive (series), Megadrive coil, Megadrive blade, Blade + HFH, HFM (series).

[Micpoc]

I've long though the best thing I ever did for tele was take the neck up cover off.  Totally changes the pickup.

Yep. It's a great example of why the notion that "Leo got it right the first time" does not really hold water, IMO.

[jimilee]

I've long though the best thing I ever did for tele was take the neck up cover off.  Totally changes the pickup.

Yep. It's a great example of why the notion that "Leo got it right the first time" does not really hold water, IMO.

Man, I need to give that a try, too.


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[lars]

Yep. It's a great example of why the notion that "Leo got it right the first time" does not really hold water, IMO.

The funny thing is, the main reason the metal cover is on a Tele neck pickup is to supposedly reduce noise. I found it's actually more quiet with the cover off! LOL. So it really serves no purpose whatsoever. And that guy Dumble...he seemed to do very well changing Fender designs a bit, even though they were "right" the first time.

[jimilee]

Yep. It's a great example of why the notion that "Leo got it right the first time" does not really hold water, IMO.

The funny thing is, the main reason the metal cover is on a Tele neck pickup is to supposedly reduce noise. I found it's actually more quiet with the cover off! LOL. So it really serves no purpose whatsoever. And that guy Dumble...he seemed to do very well changing Fender designs a bit, even though they were "right" the first time.

Hell, Jim Marshall tweaked the 5f6 circuit that Leo did right in the first place,and did quite well for himself there, too. G&L guitars were what Fender was supposed to be. Leo got that right the second time.


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