A new take on a not so new idea

[Dannyalcatraz]

Tone Pod: Jon Kammerer’s modular pickup swapping system.  I have six of his axes, but this is new and something I haven’t seen.

 

http://www.jonkammerercustoms.com/may2022website_010.htm

[Caevan O’Shite]

Kinda cool.  But I am not necessarily likely to be buying one of his guitars in the foreseeable future, and other than that, his Tone Pod system isn't going to be readily available.  But it's cool that he's thinking literally 'outside the box'...

It's a little big, too- other examples of this type of modular quick-change pickup concept have usually been individual pickups, and not sets of them, am I right?

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don’t clearly recall, but I wouldn’t be surprised.  But I can see the logic for both.
 

Single pickup swaps have more “fine tuning” options, no question.  But I bet the wiring for that is pretty complex.  An all at once swap probably involves fewer wiring and construction issues.  It also may be less “fiddly” because of its larger size.

 

Of course, if the pickup makers and guitar builders just started talking to LEGO…

[Caevan O’Shite]

53 minutes ago, Dannyalcatraz said:

Of course, if the pickup makers and guitar builders just started talking to LEGO…

☝️😄👍

[Winston Psmith]

I remember the venerable Dan Armstrong Lucite Guitars, with pickups that slid into the body, no re-wiring required - those had even been re-issued at least once or twice - and somewhere I have a vague recollection of something like a clip-on Pickup switching rig?!? The idea being that instead pulling out your wire clippers and soldering iron, the pickups/completed pickup harness had clips for some sort of solderless connection, not quite like plugging in a 1/4 Guitar cable, but the same sort of idea, a quick-change Pickup system.

 

Looking up "Solderless Pickup Harness" just now, I found a handful right away, so the idea is still out there, if not exactly mainstream.

[p90jr]

there's a current/recent company doing a similar thing to the old Dan Armstrongs but I forget the name...

Cool... but, I have a Variax. Infinitely more flexible (alternate tunings, too)... I really don't get why they aren't more popular.

[Dannyalcatraz]

The difference between the undeniable flexibility of a Variax and a pickup swapping system-especially one like this- is that the latter gets you the precise pickup qualities you want because you’re actually using those pickups.

 

 

[Winston Psmith]

9 hours ago, Dannyalcatraz said:

The difference between the undeniable flexibility of a Variax and a pickup swapping system-especially one like this- is that the latter gets you the precise pickup qualities you want because you’re actually using those pickups.

 

 

You also get to put them in the Guitar of your choice, as opposed to settling for the next closest thing that has a Variax system built in.

 

I think part of the issue with systems like the Variax is the price of admission, but that's only part of it: I think a lot of Musicians still hating wading through menus and sub-menus on their computers, much less on little LCD screens. Like I said in the "Cool New Effects" thread, when we were discussing the new EHX String9 - functional Guitar Synths have been around since the late 1970's, but they're still pretty much a fringe market. Roland VG-series "Virtual Guitars" are easily 30+ years old, and still, not much in the way of market penetration. Even now, I see more ERG's than Electronic (as opposed to Electric) Guitar rigs.

[KuruPrionz]

3 hours ago, Winston Psmith said:

Like I said in the "Cool New Effects" thread, when we were discussing the new EHX String9 - functional Guitar Synths have been around since the late 1970's, but they're still pretty much a fringe market. Roland VG-series "Virtual Guitars" are easily 30+ years old, and still, not much in the way of market penetration. Even now, I see more ERG's than Electronic (as opposed to Electric) Guitar rigs.

I've watched exactly one friend attempt a live performance with a guitar synth, he has a Godin nylon string (sort of looks like a Tele) and it has the Roland synth output with individual strings each getting their own signal and conversion. He was trying to play and futz around with his laptop at the same time. It didn't seem to be effectiive or fun.

 

I have a Fishman Triple Play, currently installable on a Tele (the pickup/transmitter components are easily removed. I use it occasionally for MIDI sounds when recording since I suck at keyboards. 

It's never occured to me to try it for live performance, the package taken as a whole is too much of a PITA, set up, playing and tear down are all extra steps I don't want or need. When I play live, I just want to play, screens, stuff on the floor, hate all of it!!! 😇

[p90jr]

I think this will all change as the generation who've had supercomputers in their hands since birth and have grown up "inside" videogames (not merely playing them) age into prominence. 

As I make mental peace with aging into the social and musical space reserved for "old farts," I'm reminded that I am not the future, my daughter is...

Someone added me to  facebook group for guitarists that pretty much is just a humor site where people in their teens and 20s make merciless, mean fun of everything in existence. I notice significant differences in that age cohort in attitudes about:

1. Tube amps. It's not that they don't like them, they just just don't think they're inherently better than digital or analog modeling or sims or solid state amps because they're not in complete awe of older styles and tones, and anybody who tries to insist that they are is rebutted with a quick "OK BOOMER!" They make fun of AXE FX and Kemper rigs just because of the enormous price-tags... they had great fun mocking screenshots of "older dudes proudly hoarding amp tubes like toilet paper" a couple of months ago (which was dumb and silly): "Oh no, without tubes I can't nail the tone to annoy my wife with my endlessly playing of the riff of 'Life In The Fast Lane' in my living room. I don't gig, by the way, but I got to have my pure tube tone and just ordered 100 6L6s! The leftovers will be buried with me for tone in the afterlife."

2. The Blues. I get it... it makes no sense to people who've grown up in urban or modern suburban environments immersed in technology in the past couple of decades to connect with a musical form rooted in rural life 100 years ago... especially when they've grown up overwhelmingly having it presented to them as the music of nostalgic uptight white lawyers. Uniquely merciless hostility is aimed at: bending notes widely, Eric Clapton, Joe Bonamassa, and the Pentatonic Scale.

3. Country Rock, Country Music, The Eagles, Bob Seger... pretty much the same as #2.

4. Modern Country. the soundtrack of the jerks who've threatened to kick their asses for being "weirdos" when they've ventured out into the countryside.

5. AC/DC. A combination of numbers 2 and 4, plus "it's like listening to your gross drunken great-uncle brag about his ancient sexual exploits and sexual harassments. Real cool, bro!"

6. Gibson guitars.

7. Stratocasters (including the PRS Silver Sky). Mainly for connection with number 2 above.

8. Rick Beato. Poor Rick has just become the "boomer" face of "everything was better when I was young and everything new sucks" to them, so they hate him for it.

What do they like? Effects, the weirder the better... "Offset" guitars... computers and anything related to them... modeling and "IRs"... anything that older people don't like or get, and bonus points if it greatly agitates or offends them, which is hardly a new sociological development, right?

If Fender were smart enough to release a VG Jazzmaster or VG Jaguar they'd make a fortune.

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, p90jr said:

I think this will all change as the generation who've had supercomputers in their hands since birth and have grown up "inside" videogames (not merely playing them) age into prominence. 

As I make mental peace with aging into the social and musical space reserved for "old farts," I'm reminded that I am not the future, my daughter is...

Someone added me to  facebook group for guitarists that pretty much is just a humor site where people in their teens and 20s make merciless, mean fun of everything in existence. I notice significant differences in that age cohort in attitudes about:

1. Tube amps. It's not that they don't like them, they just just don't think they're inherently better than digital or analog modeling or sims or solid state amps because they're not in complete awe of older styles and tones, and anybody who tries to insist that they are is rebutted with a quick "OK BOOMER!" They make fun of AXE FX and Kemper rigs just because of the enormous price-tags... they had great fun mocking screenshots of "older dudes proudly hoarding amp tubes like toilet paper" a couple of months ago (which was dumb and silly): "Oh no, without tubes I can't nail the tone to annoy my wife with my endlessly playing of the riff of 'Life In The Fast Lane' in my living room. I don't gig, by the way, but I got to have my pure tube tone and just ordered 100 6L6s! The leftovers will be buried with me for tone in the afterlife."

2. The Blues. I get it... it makes no sense to people who've grown up in urban or modern suburban environments immersed in technology in the past couple of decades to connect with a musical form rooted in rural life 100 years ago... especially when they've grown up overwhelmingly having it presented to them as the music of nostalgic uptight white lawyers. Uniquely merciless hostility is aimed at: bending notes widely, Eric Clapton, Joe Bonamassa, and the Pentatonic Scale.

3. Country Rock, Country Music, The Eagles, Bob Seger... pretty much the same as #2.

4. Modern Country. the soundtrack of the jerks who've threatened to kick their asses for being "weirdos" when they've ventured out into the countryside.

5. AC/DC. A combination of numbers 2 and 4, plus "it's like listening to your gross drunken great-uncle brag about his ancient sexual exploits and sexual harassments. Real cool, bro!"

6. Gibson guitars.

7. Stratocasters (including the PRS Silver Sky). Mainly for connection with number 2 above.

8. Rick Beato. Poor Rick has just become the "boomer" face of "everything was better when I was young and everything new sucks" to them, so they hate him for it.

What do they like? Effects, the weirder the better... "Offset" guitars... computers and anything related to them... modeling and "IRs"... anything that older people don't like or get, and bonus points if it greatly agitates or offends them, which is hardly a new sociological development, right?

If Fender were smart enough to release a VG Jazzmaster or VG Jaguar they'd make a fortune.

Same as it ever was, now get off my lawn!!!!! 😇

This is a cycle on endless repeat. Their kids will want to know more about all the things their parents dislike.

 

And, I'm done with tube amps myself. I do gig and nothing is worse than suddenly having your $1,600 (used price) RedPlate Blues Machine decide to be re-biased and feeble at sound check 10 minutes before start time on New Years Eve. If that was the only time a tube failed me on stage I might forgive it. It's not and it won't be, except it will be. 

Various amp emulations don't sound exactly like tubes but quite a few of them sound really good. I'm fond of both Tech 21 and Peavey Transtube circuits personally and the Boss Katana is not bad at all to my ears. Just a matter of understanding how they work and dialing in the sounds you want. 

[Winston Psmith]

19 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

I've watched exactly one friend attempt a live performance with a guitar synth, he has a Godin nylon string (sort of looks like a Tele) and it has the Roland synth output with individual strings each getting their own signal and conversion. He was trying to play and futz around with his laptop at the same time. It didn't seem to be effectiive or fun.

 

I have a Fishman Triple Play, currently installable on a Tele (the pickup/transmitter components are easily removed. I use it occasionally for MIDI sounds when recording since I suck at keyboards. 

It's never occured to me to try it for live performance, the package taken as a whole is too much of a PITA, set up, playing and tear down are all extra steps I don't want or need. When I play live, I just want to play, screens, stuff on the floor, hate all of it!!! 😇

 

I've been playing Roland Guitar Synths live, for years now, with either a Godin Freeway SA (Graphtech GHOST Hexpander system) or a Brian Moore iGuitar i21.13 (RMC Piezo system), and have never had to drag a laptop with me? Before I got either of those Guitars, I was using a PRS SE with a GK-3 Pickup attached, and before I got that set-up, I'd been using an older GK-2a Pickup on various solid body Guitars.

 

My live Novparolo 'board is a Pedaltrain 1 in a HSC, with a Roland GR-20, and three Guitar pedals (OD, Chorus, Analog Delay) in the S/R Loop for the Guitar signal. Set-up and breakdown are quick and easy, just like with any self-contained, pre-wired pedalboard. I plug in, power up, and I'm good.

 

Admittedly, even at best, a Guitar Synth rig is not a Plug-&-Play system; there's a good bit of tweaking at first to get everything right, and even then, there are likely to be a few compromises. Still, once you have everything in order, a properly set up Guitar Synth rig shouldn't be any more difficult to use than a good MFX system, or a large-format pedalboard, IF you've spent the time to get to know your rig. If not, why would you bring out a rig that you can't manage, for a live performance?

 

There's a piece of advice I used to give to inexperienced workers, when I was doing commercial landscaping, and it applies here, as well. If you're working too hard, and not getting the results you wanted or expected, you've either got the wrong tool for the job, or you're not using it properly.

 

Not to be unsympathetic, but I really don't know what your friend was trying to do, that proved so daunting. If he was using the laptop as his Instrument(?), that's really the long way around, and may have been much, if not all, of the problem.

 

Using any outboard MIDI device, including a laptop, with a Roland/Yamaha/Axon/RMC Hex Pickup requires converting the signal from the 13-pin Hex Pickup connection to MIDI data, which process is invariably slower than going directly from the Hex Pickup to a Roland GR, or an Axon Blue Chip with a built-in sound card.

 

Alright, enough of that. Happy weekend, all!

 

 

[KuruPrionz]

5 minutes ago, Winston Psmith said:

 

I've been playing Roland Guitar Synths live, for years now, with either a Godin Freeway SA (Graphtech GHOST Hexpander system) or a Brian Moore iGuitar i21.13 (RMC Piezo system), and have never had to drag a laptop with me? Before I got either of those Guitars, I was using a PRS SE with a GK-3 Pickup attached, and before I got that set-up, I'd been using an older GK-2a Pickup on various solid body Guitars.

 

My live Novparolo 'board is a Pedaltrain 1 in a HSC, with a Roland GR-20, and three Guitar pedals (OD, Chorus, Analog Delay) in the S/R Loop for the Guitar signal. Set-up and breakdown are quick and easy, just like with any self-contained, pre-wired pedalboard. I plug in, power up, and I'm good.

 

Admittedly, even at best, a Guitar Synth rig is not a Plug-&-Play system; there's a good bit of tweaking at first to get everything right, and even then, there are likely to be a few compromises. Still, once you have everything in order, a properly set up Guitar Synth rig shouldn't be any more difficult to use than a good MFX system, or a large-format pedalboard, IF you've spent the time to get to know your rig. If not, why would you bring out a rig that you can't manage, for a live performance?

 

There's a piece of advice I used to give to inexperienced workers, when I was doing commercial landscaping, and it applies here, as well. If you're working too hard, and not getting the results you wanted or expected, you've either got the wrong tool for the job, or you're not using it properly.

 

Not to be unsympathetic, but I really don't know what your friend was trying to do, that proved so daunting. If he was using the laptop as his Instrument(?), that's really the long way around, and may have been much, if not all, of the problem.

 

Using any outboard MIDI device, including a laptop, with a Roland/Yamaha/Axon/RMC Hex Pickup requires converting the signal from the 13-pin Hex Pickup connection to MIDI data, which process is invariably slower than going directly from the Hex Pickup to a Roland GR, or an Axon Blue Chip with a built-in sound card.

 

Alright, enough of that. Happy weekend, all!

 

 

I don't know why he had the laptop, I was more mentioning that I've seen ONE attempt ever and I've been to lots of local gigs in my life. 

NAMM show is different, I watched a seminar/performance there with Adrian Belew demonstrating a Roland rig, that is on another level and for a different purpose. 

 

And that still makes only 2 that I've actually seen. Lots of demonstration videos for Fishman Triple Play and you DO need a computer to use that one, also VST or VST3 synth plugins and some time spent creating patches. They make a footswitch for Triple Play but it doesn't have many buttons. https://www.fishman.com/portfolio/tripleplay-fc-1-controller/

 

We're all different, if I needed synth sounds I'd find a keyboardist and let them figure it out. Even on recordings I don't use synths for anything much other than some atmosphere, the Triple Play is super sensitive and a pick is a movable fret which triggers a note so fingers are a much better choice. 

 

You've spent the time and money to get a system together that works for you because that's important to what you are doing. I got no beef about that, it just isn't me. 

Most of the time at home I play an acoustic guitar or a solid body electric not plugged in. 

[Anderton]

On 6/22/2022 at 8:10 AM, p90jr said:

I have a Variax. Infinitely more flexible (alternate tunings, too)... I really don't get why they aren't more popular.

 

I think a lot of it dates back to when it was introduced, and the guitars themselves were really low-end. Old reputations die hard in this industry. People want to play their own guitars, and if they can't, they want a guitar they really like.

 

I have one of the James Tyler Variaxes and it's a really good guitar that happens to have the Variax electronics. Frankly I wouldn't have bought it if it didn't have the electronics - I already have guitars I like. But, having the versatile electronics, and a fine guitar, tipped the scales for me. If only it had an optional interface that delivered hex outs to your computer...

[Dave Bryce]

I have a Variax Acoustic 700.  I love it to bits.  Unfortunately, it's making some odd digital glitching noises these days....gotta get that fixed.

 

dB

[Winston Psmith]

3 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

You've spent the time and money to get a system together that works for you because that's important to what you are doing. I got no beef about that, it just isn't me. 

Most of the time at home I play an acoustic guitar or a solid body electric not plugged in. 

 

No beef here, either, brother, you nailed it: I went through the effort to acquire all this gear, and learn to use it, because it's essential to what I do.

 

I still feel bad, and possibly somewhat defensive, when I read an account like yours, where someone has a high-tech rig that just isn't working for them, and that experience, in turn, helps to color the listeners' attitude regarding high-tech rigs; "Why would anyone bother with all that stuff, if it doesn't work?" A fair question, except, well, it does work, and you don't have to be Adrian Belew to use it . . .

 

FWIW, when I'm sitting out in my backyard, I don't haul any of my EM gear, I bring my Taylor or my old Alvarez, plain and simple.

 

 

[KuruPrionz]

Brother Winston, we are not that different. 

I've played so many gigs that I came to simplify my rig for my own sanity. I put a small amp and a bag with various needed items (including a Tech 21 Para Driver DI for backup, I can gig with just that into the PA and have done so). I need a mic, a mic stand, an amp, my gig bag and a guitar on my back. One trip in, one trip out and setup is fast and easy. I'm there to have fun, that's what people like. 

 

My deep dive into tech is my home studio rig. The paradigm is different, I can spend time tweaking since I'm not on the clock or working with anybody. 

Just one of many infinite rabbit holes, we choose our own obstacles 😇

[desertbluesman]

I kinda like using a small amount of outboard gear. Since all I use is clean and overdrive sounds plus a slight reverb sound on both overdrive and clean. My Super Champ X2 is ideal for that. With that amp I need no outboard gear at all except the pedal for switching the verb on/off and channel switching. That setup in one trip in, and one trip out. Guitar in one hand and amp in the other.

 

I do have another amp out in my climate controlled shed  a 15 watt tube amp head + a 1-12 cabinet. I have  2 external pedal boards, each one almost identical in gear. One for the road and one for the house. I prefer the SCX2 for the road trips and the Tweaker head for in the shed use. If I was playing out which is highly unlikely. I would use the SCX2. If the room was a little larger (and I was getting paid) I would use the 15 watt Tweaker and outboard gear. That would take 2 trips in and out, plus a little more setup time.

[Winston Psmith]

18 hours ago, KuruPrionz said:

My deep dive into tech is my home studio rig. The paradigm is different, I can spend time tweaking since I'm not on the clock or working with anybody. 

Just one of many infinite rabbit holes, we choose our own obstacles 😇

Well understood; that's why my live Novparolo rig is down to one pedalboard, and one Guitar. I always know what I'm bringing, and I always know what to expect from it. No unpleasant surprises.

 

Much like you, my Music Room - it would be hubris to call it a Studio - is my Mad Scientist's Lair, for experimentation, and recording. Most of the gear that lives in here never goes out for my live sets. Like desertbluesman says, maybe if someone were paying me.

[KuruPrionz]

9 minutes ago, Winston Psmith said:

Well understood; that's why my live Novparolo rig is down to one pedalboard, and one Guitar. I always know what I'm bringing, and I always know what to expect from it. No unpleasant surprises.

 

Much like you, my Music Room - it would be hubris to call it a Studio - is my Mad Scientist's Lair, for experimentation, and recording. Most of the gear that lives in here never goes out for my live sets. Like desertbluesman says, maybe if someone were paying me.

I was playing for pay until about November, I'm "re-inventing" myself because bands can never seem to play at a sane volume level and earplugs work their way out when I sing. 

I've been practicing on an 8 string baritone guitar, that and a Fishman Triple Play should be plenty of gear for what I'm hoping to do. Thinking of adding a percussion/melodic instrument/singer, I have a couple of choices. 2 pieces, solo sometimes, just less of everything and total control over volume levels. Smaller rooms pay less but if you divide it by 1 or 2 instead of 4, it comes to the same or more than playing 4 pieces in a larger space. 

[CEB]

On 6/22/2022 at 1:55 AM, Dannyalcatraz said:

Tone Pod: Jon Kammerer’s modular pickup swapping system.  I have six of his axes, but this is new and something I haven’t seen.

 

http://www.jonkammerercustoms.com/may2022website_010.htm

 

 

Old School

 

[Scott Fraser]

3 hours ago, CEB said:

 

 

Old School

 

Wow, all those possible choices, & you still only get humbuckers.

[CEB]

The story on that thing is it was designed for customers to do direct comparisons of various Seymour Duncan pickups at the music store before they bought.  

[Caevan O’Shite]

7 hours ago, Scott Fraser said:

Wow, all those possible choices, & you still only get humbuckers.

Well, if I might interest you in some unusual, applicably sized alternatives...

Fralin Sunbucker
"The Fralin Sunbucker gives you 25% Humbucker tone and 75% Alnico Single Coil tone – with humbucker aesthetics. Enjoy a beefy, hum-cancelling single coil tone  – all with traditional humbucker looks. Thicker, darker, and louder than our Big Single, and clearer than our Pure P.A.F."

Fralin Twangmaster
"These humbucker-sized pickups don’t sound like traditional humbuckers, and that’s the point! Lindy specifically designed the Twangmaster to sound like a Fender Strat – with no hum. Featuring a warm and clear midrange with a familiar Fender sparkle"

Fralin Big Single
"The Big Single is a Humbucker that has a big, round single-coil sound with no hum. It’s beefier than our Twangmaster but cleaner and more articulate than our Hum-Cancelling P-90. We offer two versions: The Big Single 42, and the Big Single 43."
"The Big Single 42 will sound cleaner and brighter, and work well with 250K Pots."
"The Big Single 43 will seem thicker and darker and can work well with 500K pots."

Fralin P-92
"Stand out in the mix and cut through with the Lindy Fralin-designed P-92. A full-size humbucker with unique looks, the P-92 is a cleaner, more articulate P-90, with no hum. If you’re looking for the perfect blend of a traditional single-coil and a P90, look no further than this pickup here."
      
     

[Scott Fraser]

I'm waiting for the Fralin noiseless lipstick, and Filtertron, in Humbucker size & shape.

That's actually very good to know, I have more than a few humbucker equipped guitars that I wish sounded more Fender-y.

[KuruPrionz]

45 minutes ago, Scott Fraser said:

I'm waiting for the Fralin noiseless lipstick, and Filtertron, in Humbucker size & shape.

That's actually very good to know, I have more than a few humbucker equipped guitars that I wish sounded more Fender-y.

TV Jones offers a variety of Filtertron/Supertron options and pickup rings for humbucking routes so they will pop right in. 

I have a set of the "standard" Filtertrons. I used to play vintage Gretsch guitars, these new pickups are awesome. 

 

No need to wait for Fralin, he's not the only master pickup builder, the TV Jone stuff is second to none. 

They do rewinds as well, I haven't fired it up yet but I sent TV an NOS gold plated Supertron that for some reason was about 170 ohms and was missing the bottom plate. 

He rewound it to an authentic 4.3 k and included a bottom plate. That's goiing in a late 50's/early 60's Melody Maker booger bomb that somebody else made "not vintage".

[Caevan O’Shite]

On 6/26/2022 at 12:41 PM, Scott Fraser said:

I'm waiting for the Fralin noiseless lipstick, and Filtertron, in Humbucker size & shape.

That's actually very good to know, I have more than a few humbucker equipped guitars that I wish sounded more Fender-y.

He also has some very cool variations on the P-90 soap-bar shape and size, including a Hum Cancelling P90 with Alnico Rods that, not surprisingly, sounds like a P-90 with added Fendery attack, articulation and sparkle. As for humbucker-sized Filter'Trons...

 

On 6/26/2022 at 1:33 PM, KuruPrionz said:

TV Jones offers a variety of Filtertron/Supertron options and pickup rings for humbucking routes so they will pop right in. 

I have a set of the "standard" Filtertrons. I used to play vintage Gretsch guitars, these new pickups are awesome. 

 

No need to wait for Fralin, he's not the only master pickup builder, the TV Jone stuff is second to none. 

They do rewinds as well, I haven't fired it up yet but I sent TV an NOS gold plated Supertron that for some reason was about 170 ohms and was missing the bottom plate. 

He rewound it to an authentic 4.3 k and included a bottom plate. That's goiing in a late 50's/early 60's Melody Maker booger bomb that somebody else made "not vintage".

Indeed! At the mention of Filter'Trons (or Dynasonics/DeArmonds, or any Gretschy pickups), I head straight to the TV Jones site.

TV Jones has humbucker-mount bridge and neck position variations of the Filter'Tron, both classic vintage types and permutations thereof.
         
 

[p90jr]

On 6/26/2022 at 11:41 AM, Scott Fraser said:

I'm waiting for the Fralin noiseless lipstick, and Filtertron, in Humbucker size & shape.

That's actually very good to know, I have more than a few humbucker equipped guitars that I wish sounded more Fender-y.

 
Scott, I solve this problem (the full-on humbucker tone is usually too much/too thick for the songs in the indie rock and americana acts I play with...) with Seymour Duncan Triple Shot pickup rings, which are an inexpensive and unobtrusive addition (they just replace your normal pickup rings) and have coil-splitting (either of the two coils from the humbucker) while still using the other coil to cancel hum, as well as the ability to switch the two coils together to parallel instead of series wiring, which is a mellower and more open sound. (I used to just use a Voodoo Labs Giggity "guitar mastering" pedal to try to do the same thing but I prefer using the Triple Shots onstage).

(trying to find a good demo vid)
 

 

[Scott Fraser]

Very cool. I've known about the Triple Shot rings for a long time, but I've never heard a demo. Parallel mode alone pretty much takes care of everything I've never liked about the sound of humbuckers. And cheaper than a pickup replacement. Thanks mucho, I'll look into these again.

[KuruPrionz]

3 minutes ago, Scott Fraser said:

Very cool. I've known about the Triple Shot rings for a long time, but I've never heard a demo. Parallel mode alone pretty much takes care of everything I've never liked about the sound of humbuckers. And cheaper than a pickup replacement. Thanks mucho, I'll look into these again.

When I used passive pickups, it was standard operating procedure for me to hard wire the neck pickup in parallel and then lower the bridge pickup to match volume - which smooths out the response of the bridge pickup as well. 

I had the TV Jones Filtertrons in a semi hollow Tele build for a while, chimey, smooth, but not lacking in low end (the clear, smooth kind of bass). Those were mounted on humbucker sized rings and it's tempting to pull the harness and pickups out of my 335 and replace with the Filtertrons.