Changes to one of my 2020 builds

[McCreed]

I should have written that sentence to include:

I've actually learnt a lot by researching questions posted by others that I didn't know the answer to. (which is a lot!)

[dozymuppet]

You can always fit the bridge pickup in the neck if you want a hotter output. I have a friend who fits bridge position SD P-Rails in the neck of all his guitars as he prefers the sound (there are different powerful pickups in the bridge so no output mismatches).

I suppose, but what would I do with the neck pickup then?

(Sorry not sorry for derailing the thread, Mick)

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

[Simon Barden]

You could either use it as a neck pickup in another guitar, or as a less powerful bridge pickup, either on its own or maybe with a single coil neck pickup. Just throwing ideas out.

You don't have to use a 'neck' pickup in the neck position or a 'bridge' pickup in the bridge position just because they are labelled that way. When using a pair of them it makes sense to, but if mixing with other pickups, you can select the ones that are most suitable or complement each other. Unless they are a set that maybe has Alnico II in the neck and alnico V in the bridge, then normally the only difference is that the bridge coil/coils will have a few hundred more turns of wire on them for more output.

The only real thing to look out for if you do decide to mix and match, is that some neck pickups are built with a narrower pole spacing than the bridge pickup. It's not that common, especially on humbuckers, but it can happen.

[McCreed]

When using a pair of them it makes sense to, but if mixing with other pickups, you can select the ones that are most suitable or complement each other. Unless they are a set that maybe has Alnico II in the neck and alnico V in the bridge...

I've seen threads on other forums where people prefer their humbuckers with the V in the neck and II in the bridge. I've never tried it, but it just demonstrates how how bending the rules sometimes isn't necessarily the wrong thing!

[dozymuppet]

Well I'm matching the Firebucker with a T-rail Blazer (Tele type super hot rail bridge humbucker), so that's probably exotic enough for the project in mind.

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

[Simon Barden]

With a very powerful bridge pickup, putting the Firebucker II bridge pickup in the neck position would probably be a better match for output. There’s nothing to stop you trying both out.

[Simon Barden]

Just for interest, I measured the ceramic Gibson pickups I took off the Firebird with my LCR meter. Neck was 15.9k and 3.53H, and neck was 24.9k and 4.96H.

A lot of that resistance is down to using thin wire and I don't know what size wire they used. But I'd guess 44AWG for the bridge as this still equates to around a 14.9k pickup with 42AWG wire. Neck could be 43AWG (12k 42AWG pickup equivalent) or 44AWG (9.5k 42AWG pickup equivalent). Definitely very high output pickup territory. Subtle they ain’t.

[McCreed]

Definitely very high output pickup territory. Subtle they 'aint.

Wow, those would really push the amp!

[dozymuppet]

Very interesting.

Warman's website says both neck and bridge have the same output, but different pole spacing. If that's true then I don't think I need to think about it too much. (Can you verify, Mick?)

However, their output is 6.6k, vs 13.6k for the T-rail. Might be too imbalanced now that I look at it closer.

Sent from my Pixel 4 using Tapatalk

[McCreed]

Warman's website says both neck and bridge have the same output, but different pole spacing.

Yes, that is true of the Firebucker II's. The regular Firebuckers have no pole pieces as they are dual blades (rails) under the solid covers.