TBurst Std said:
Personally, I found PRails bland. Trying to do too much while doing no 1 thing well.
You say you have a Strat with Fralins. I am trusting that’s a S S S configuration. I’m also going to trust you have their steel backplate on that bridge pup. That will cover 80% of a Tele bridge pup tone.
No need to cover that tone, you already got it.
So you mentioned humbucker. Which humbucker tone are you after? PAF? Hot PAF, shred, jazz, Tron?
As far as P90s. Not a one trick pony by any means. The PAF was an attempt to create P90 tone without hum.
Keep in mind how a pickup is designed is as important as how many coils it has.
It would be helpful if you could identify songs where you hear the time you desire (doesn’t have to be the style or type of music).
I say this (until Jeff Beck releases something new), pretty much every tone out there has been recorded. If you haven’t heard it recorded it’s probably not possible.
Yes, it is SSS - Neck and Middle are the Vintage Hot pickups, and the Bridge is Steel Pole 43. I have a blender pot on the Tone Pot 2, and Tone Pot 1 is Master Tone. I am very happy with this setup so as you say, no need to replicate it with this next build.
Honestly, I don't know enough yet to answer your question as to which humbucker tone.
Not sure if you know these artists/songs, but I will provide a few examples of songs with tone I like, and/or artists I like.
(1) Most anything from the Lucinda Williams album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. Gorf Murlix is the guitarist.
(2) Tab Benoit, specifically his tone on the Nice and Warm album, and even more specifically on the song Nice and Warm
(3) David Grissom - anything by him, but a good example would be Letter to L.A. on the Live at Liberty Lunch album. (I know he uses humuckers but they are designed for him on his PRS artist model guitar.
(4) Not trying to replicate this but I really like the sounds Pete Townsend gets on the song However Much I Booze. I can't figure out how he gets does it.
(5) For a complete 180, may he rest in peace, I love John Abercrombie. His stuff with Billy Cobham is great (Crosswind is a great example), and I used to see him in Greenwich Village in NYC during the early 1970's with Rick Laird at a small club playing more hollow body "acoustic" type stuff.
(6) Tommy Bolin (RIP) on Billy Cobham's Spectrum album (Red Baron)
(7) The guitar on the Stone Temple Pilot album Core
(8) Frank Zappa (Watermelon on Easter Hay) - love it but I can't even imagine getting his tone, I just like listening to Zappa, also of course his solo on Inca Roads
(9) As a former Dead Head, back in my earlier life when I had my Tele from sometime in the 50's (original with a Twin Reverb), I enjoy Jerry's sound on everything but Althea is a good example.
(10) Robbie Robertson from The Last Waltz. I love his tone and playing on that "album"
(11) Robin Trower - Daydream and basically anything he has ever done. I like Cerdes from the first Procol Harum album. How he got that tone is an interesting story.
(12) Larry Coryell (RIP) - Foreplay
(13) Mick Ralphs - Born Under a Bad Sign
(14) Eddy Shaver (RIP) - Thunderbird
(15) and finally, yes, anything Jeff Beck has ever done, and anything that Roy Buchanan has ever done.
That is a very diverse sample of what I like, but specifically in terms of tone I would say the first three bullet points, plus (10) , (11) and (14) are the best examples. To get the tone of artists like Larry Coryell and John Abercrombie you really are looking at very different equipment.
Not sure if this helps. And I truly don't expect to get all of this in one guitar and/or amp.