Help me choose a guitar to mod w/Seymour Duncan "P-Rails"

I've seen these in guitar mags a couple of times:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/progressive/prails_shpr1/

I really fancy fitting a set of them to a guitar with all the switching options. I like to tinker with the electronics in my guitars loads. It's an affliction. Has anyone tried a set?

sadly, i haven't talked anyone into installing these yet, so i dont have any hands-on experience. the idea seems great though, and duncan is sort of at the top of their game right now (if the blackouts dont permanently unseat emg in the active pickup category, i will be shocked). my only sort of o_O aspect is how the single rail will sound, but i am willing to be surprised. if nothing else, i am intrigued to see how the p90 sounds when humbucked (sort of)

i do know this, i fit an sg with some of the duncan phatcat humbucker sized "p90s" and it sounded gorgeous.

lol guitarspeak is like Farsi

....duncan is sort of at the top of their game right now....

Yeah, the "Seymourised" mini-humbuckers I stuck in my cheapie Daisy 12-string, I couldn't believe the difference. Cheap no-brand mini-humbuckers as supplied weren't terrible, but were v shrill, with the SDs fitted, the thing sounds like a church organ. I barely ever pick up my Rickenbacker since I fixed the Daisy up, it's terrible really.

(more Farsi for you Dan)

I like to tinker with the electronics in my guitars loads.

You might want to build yourself a patchbay/breakout box. I have a dual humbucker guitar, and I've fitted a 25 pin socket in place of a jack. Five pins for each pickup, three pins each for the two tone and volume controls, and the switch. A 25 pin cable (it's an old printer cable) connects this to a breakout box, where the pins are brought out to 4mm banana sockets.

guitarspeak = Farsi
co-opted synthspeak = Inuit?

Wow, man. That's a bit far even for me, but I'm impressed.

I think I'm going to get a couple of these pickups and do this. Got to get me a double humbucker guitar of some sort, used, first*. Will report back.

ok hold on, snoball's printer cable guitar----wtf does that even do??

I'm always tempted to wire up coil split shit but I don't actually know how electronics work. When I read about wiring stuff up they throw all sorts of in-phase/out-of-phase (etc) crap at me that goes way over my head and it's like MAN THIS TELECASTER HAS TWO SINGLE COILS AND TWO POTS AWESOME I'LL JUST MONKEY WITH THAT.

OK, this should help explain things a bit:
guitar with breakout box flickr set
I couldn't decide how I wanted to wire a double humbucker guitar, what with all the parallel/series/split/reversed options, so I went a tiny bit over the top.
On the guitar's 25 pin socket, the wiring is as follows:

Neck pickup - pins 1 to 5
Bridge pickup - pins 6 to 10
Neck volume - pins 11 to 13
Bridge volume - pins 14 to 16
Neck tone - pins 17 to 19
Bridge tone - pins 20 to 22
Toggle switch - pins 23 to 25

The guitar doesn't actually play too well, but hopefully it'll help me work out what kind of wiring combinations I want in the next one.

Dear IMM: the stock single-coils in my 12-string Stratocaster hum like bumblebees. I want to retain that Stairway to Heaven vibe. What should I replace them with?

You might not need to replace them. If you like their tone apart from the hum (and maybe even if you don't) you should probably first check if everything is grounded properly or maybe look into shielding the electronics before you throw your money at a new set. Single coils have a 60 cycle hum no matter what, so you may be stuck. I don't know much about those noiseless pickups out there, but I'm lead to believe that apart from removing hum they can be tone killers.

Anyone tried the GFS Neovins?

stumbled across p-rails in a catalog, remembered this thread... john- you have anymore info on these?

I edited the title, forgive me.

Now I got some spare $$$ since I started my new job, I can afford to do this, I think. I want to get myeslf some kinf of middling-priced decent-ish quality double-humbucker guitar (less chopping, easier to return to std if neccesary) to do this mod on. Used pref, 'cause drilling holes for the pickup selector switches is kind of scary!

I tend to like, I dunno, "pretty" guitars. Here is the shortlist:

PRS SE custom semi-hollow, natural finish
Gibson SG Standard
Gibson SG Goddess Violet Burst
Ibanez ARC500NT
Ibanez ARX320
Some other Ibanez artist model, but not that nasty-ass thing they just brought out with the crocodile-skin finish.
Fender MIJ Jazzmaster

Owt else you can think of, dear IMM-ers? I will photo-document the conversion process.

(yeah I know the JM isn't a double-bucker, but it shd be a fairly straight mod)

those ibanez guitars are great and cheap. btw the croc skin one looks much better in person IMHO, i ordered one for a guy and kind of dug it.

The local store had the ARX320, the double cutaway with the turquoise finish, it was a looked, and played very nice for the price I thought. Someone snapped it up before I made up my mind.

John, if you come across a used example of any of the above at a decent price (does not have to be a minter) drop me an email, we can work something out. A dark-red SG w/block inlays on the neck wd be choice #1 (probably most expensive too), the PRS no2.

It was a looker, not a looked, argh.

OK, I just ordered one of these from the guitar store. I had some credit for an instrument they sold for me:

http://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/images/eg2009/DN400_AP_12_01.gif

Pretty snazzy, huh. Cheap, too.

Nice looking guitar. Do you have the P-Rails yet?

my only sort of o_O aspect is how the single rail will sound,

I've got a guitar with a Kent Armstrong Hot Rails pickup, and a single rail of that is loud. And the rail in P-Rail uses an alnico magnet, so should be even louder.

The victim awaits its surgery:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3390/3471901300_1de093d29f.jpg

I got it used for 200 quid :)

P-rails are arriving Thurs or Fri, I'll document the process, of course!

Ibanez ARX320MS. The "MS" stands for "Marine Sunburst", IE a pleasing shade of aquamarine which is darker around the edges. It plays very nicely, and sounds good, even with the stock pickups.

The local store had the ARX320, the double cutaway with the turquoise finish, it was a looker, and played very nice for the price I thought. Someone snapped it up before I made up my mind

^The very same instrument! The guy who bought it is one of those guys who chops and changes all the time, and he part-exed it for a Vintage Les-Paul lookalike (!!!)

Saw an ad today, some guy selling a Charvel Surfcaster for $275, was mighty tempted, pity the exchange rate is stll poor.

That would have been a nice guitar to tamper with.

hahaha in the small world category i just sold an ARX320 in trans red about an hour ago

I'll document the process, of course!

Any thoughts on how you'll arrange the pickup switching?

Saw an ad today, some guy selling a Charvel Surfcaster for $275, was mighty tempted, pity the exchange rate is stll poor.

Where? That's a pretty good price even with the crappy exchange, I think. Was considering getting one of those GRB Kokocasters 'cos Surfcasters are pretty hard to find these days.

It was on Craigslist somewhere, while trying to track it down I came across which an even better bargain, but it's over a week old.
http://london.craigslist.co.uk/msg/1119755631.html

Any thoughts on how you'll arrange the pickup switching?

― snoball, Friday, 24 April 2009 22:47 (2 days ago)

I mean to add 2 mini 3-way switches, one for each pickup - rail/humbucker/P90. If there are series/parallel options in the wiring diagrams, I might add those via pull-pots, although that's taking things a bit far, obv. Although the control cavity on the thing is quite large, it's going to be a tricky fit, because of the way the 3 knobs are arranged. This thing is going to rock, in its fiddly, complex way.

hahaha in the small world category i just sold an ARX320 in trans red about an hour ago

― no. (jjjusten), Friday, 24 April 2009 22:12

Ha, small world indeed. I don't think the red was offered in the UK. If you ever get a used ARC500NT in, drop me an email! I still fancy one of those for some reason.