Dragonfire Pickups?

[Gaspode]

So there I was the other evening, bottle of red, guitars to hand, wondering what a combination of my two Strats would sound like. One's a Roadhouse, with single coil Texas Specials, the other's a Big Apple, with Seymour Duncan Humbuckers.

A quick spot of googling revealed that it's possible to buy a loaded Fat Strat (bridge humbucker, mid & neck single coils) from fleabay for around 50 bucks, featuring the aforementioned Drafonfire pickups. Pretty cheap, I thought, and an easy swap in/out on my Roadhouse - so I clicked on the Buy It Now button and did the deed.

Now, in the cold light of day, I am left wondering: Have I wasted my money, or are these likely to be any good? I suppose I'll find out for myself anyway in a week or so...

[Gaspode]

Resurrecting my own thread, just in case anyone was thinking of doing the same: don't bother. These pups sounds very nasty indeed. So, lesson learned, I did what I should have done in the first place and bought a set of EMGs (the DG20 David Gilmour set).

That's better, these things sound great. Highly recommended!

[jbudgie]

Gaspode said:

So there I was the other evening, bottle of red, guitars to hand, wondering what a combination of my two Strats would sound like. One's a Roadhouse, with single coil Texas Specials, the other's a Big Apple, with Seymour Duncan Humbuckers.

A quick spot of googling revealed that it's possible to buy a loaded Fat Strat (bridge humbucker, mid & neck single coils) from fleabay for around 50 bucks, featuring the aforementioned Drafonfire pickups. Pretty cheap, I thought, and an easy swap in/out on my Roadhouse - so I clicked on the Buy It Now button and did the deed.

Now, in the cold light of day, I am left wondering: Have I wasted my money, or are these likely to be any good? I suppose I'll find out for myself anyway in a week or so...

What are your thoughts on the Texas specials ?

[Gaspode]

jbudgie said:

What are your thoughts on the Texas specials ?

Good question. when I originally bought the Roadhouse Strat, I had tried a few 'normal' Strats, and the Texas Specials did seem to give a hotter sound. But what sold that particular guitar to me was the neck. For some reason, it seems to be a heck of a lot thinner than the other ones I had tried, although ostensibly it's a standard 1998 C shape.

After a while I found I was getting annoyed with the relatively 'thin' sound I was getting from the single coils, hence the purchase of the Big Apple Strat (twin Seymour Duncan Humbuckers) . This is great, a really fat growly sound, but that's all it gives, hence the search for something somewhere in the middle. Now I've found the EMGs, I am completely in love with them, they are just simply brilliant.

Which is quite a long and rambling way of saying "They're ok, better than stock single coils, but not as good as Humbuckers or active EMGs".

[jbudgie]

Gaspode said:

jbudgie said:

What are your thoughts on the Texas specials ?

Good question. when I originally bought the Roadhouse Strat, I had tried a few 'normal' Strats, and the Texas Specials did seem to give a hotter sound. But what sold that particular guitar to me was the neck. For some reason, it seems to be a heck of a lot thinner than the other ones I had tried, although ostensibly it's a standard 1998 C shape.

After a while I found I was getting annoyed with the relatively 'thin' sound I was getting from the single coils, hence the purchase of the Big Apple Strat (twin Seymour Duncan Humbuckers) . This is great, a really fat growly sound, but that's all it gives, hence the search for something somewhere in the middle. Now I've found the EMGs, I am completely in love with them, they are just simply brilliant.

Which is quite a long and rambling way of saying "They're ok, better than stock single coils, but not as good as Humbuckers or active EMGs".

I like the sound of a thinner neck as I have smallish hands.

Dont want humbuckers in a strat --would get something else for that.

But would like a 'fatter' sound from a single coil.
'
Bare knuckle' pick ups have a good reputation.

http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.p...

[jbudgie]

Gaspode said:

jbudgie said:

What are your thoughts on the Texas specials ?

Good question. when I originally bought the Roadhouse Strat, I had tried a few 'normal' Strats, and the Texas Specials did seem to give a hotter sound. But what sold that particular guitar to me was the neck. For some reason, it seems to be a heck of a lot thinner than the other ones I had tried, although ostensibly it's a standard 1998 C shape.

After a while I found I was getting annoyed with the relatively 'thin' sound I was getting from the single coils, hence the purchase of the Big Apple Strat (twin Seymour Duncan Humbuckers) . This is great, a really fat growly sound, but that's all it gives, hence the search for something somewhere in the middle. Now I've found the EMGs, I am completely in love with them, they are just simply brilliant.

Which is quite a long and rambling way of saying "They're ok, better than stock single coils, but not as good as Humbuckers or active EMGs".

I like the sound of a thinner neck as I have smallish hands.

Dont want humbuckers in a strat --would get something else for that.

But would like a 'fatter' sound from a single coil.
'
Bare knuckle' pick ups have a good reputation.

http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.p...

[jbudgie]

Gaspode said:

jbudgie said:

What are your thoughts on the Texas specials ?

Good question. when I originally bought the Roadhouse Strat, I had tried a few 'normal' Strats, and the Texas Specials did seem to give a hotter sound. But what sold that particular guitar to me was the neck. For some reason, it seems to be a heck of a lot thinner than the other ones I had tried, although ostensibly it's a standard 1998 C shape.

After a while I found I was getting annoyed with the relatively 'thin' sound I was getting from the single coils, hence the purchase of the Big Apple Strat (twin Seymour Duncan Humbuckers) . This is great, a really fat growly sound, but that's all it gives, hence the search for something somewhere in the middle. Now I've found the EMGs, I am completely in love with them, they are just simply brilliant.

Which is quite a long and rambling way of saying "They're ok, better than stock single coils, but not as good as Humbuckers or active EMGs".

I like the sound of a thinner neck as I have smallish hands.

Dont want humbuckers in a strat --would get something else for that.

But would like a 'fatter' sound from a single coil.
'
Bare knuckle' pick ups have a good reputation.

http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.p...

[Justin Cyder]

I've got a Seymour Duncan hotrail kicking around here. I keep mulling over the idea of sticking it in the Strat neck position. Anyone have a view on SD hotrails?

[Gaspode]

I thought Hotrails were like a stacked humbucker, so wouldn't it be better in the bridge position rather than the neck?

If you want fat sound from SCs, then would active be the way to go?

[Justin Cyder]

Why Gaspode? Presumably it'll do it's thing anywhere & be fattest in the neck spot?

[Gaspode]

Justin Cyder said:

Why Gaspode? Presumably it'll do it's thing anywhere & be fattest in the neck spot?

Because usually you want the neck position for rhythm and the bridge position for lead, and the HB sound is more lead oriented?

To be perfectly honest, I'm not absolutely sure, it's just that the traditional setup for Fat Strats is a Humbucker in the bridge position, with SCs in middle and neck positions, it's referred to as an HSS setup, and you can get pickguards to suit. I think the theory is that the standard SC in the neck position is usually pretty smooth sounding, whereas the bridge SC can be pretty thin and quacky. The double Fat Strat setup (ie 2 Humbuckers) was used in the Big Apple Strat and gives a very fat sound all over, which is good if that's what you want, but not as versatile as the HSS configuration.

All the later Strat bodies (after around the late 1980s) have big rectangular body rout so there's room to put them anywhere, whereas the earlier Strats have a rout which is shaped like the SC pups, so if you want a humbucker in an earlier body you have to go for the stacked design like the Hotrail.

To be honest, since I've gone for the active EMGs, I can't see me playing anything else now, the scope for getting different sounds is so good in the one package.

[Justin Cyder]

Definitely trebly on mine in the bridge spot & bassy in the neck. I play mine through a Vox AC30 at home & a Fender 212r when I'm out & about. The Fender is just loud, which is what I want live, but the Vox is just quality - it's a 1965 JMI Blue speaker original. The reason I bring all this up is because even though the Vox is demonstrably a quality amp, the strat is boomy through it & so the thinking is to beef it up in the neck.

It's a 2008 USA standard btw. Either way, I'm comfy with wiring it in & out, so maybe I'll try it in both spots. I love my strat to bits, but it is a working guitar & as such, I maintain it like any other tool of the trade.