Abraxas Split?

[McGurk]

Does anyone have any experience with an Abraxas split coil sound? I'm considering replacing the bridge and neck pickups on my SSS Strat with humbuckers. I'm looking at the Abraxas because of the output and tone profile. I want something that has enough output to sound decent split, and something that will take off some of the guitars natural brightness.

So, back to the title. Any experience splitting the Abraxas?

Thanks,
McGurk

[darrenw5094]

People on here usually talk about the Crawler for this type of guitar. It splits pretty good also.

[timmy_pix]

I can't speak for the Abraxas bridge, but I've got the Mules in my LP, and by all accounts the Mule neck is extremely similar to the Abraxas neck. The split tone on the Mules is fantastic, especially in the middle where it almost sounds tele-ish. The neck sounds great split, and I use it a lot for cleans, although it doesn't have the same percussive quality that I perceive in my Strat. So it won't replace a Strat, but if you're after occasional single-coil tones from a humbucker guitar, they're extremely convincing.

[Telerocker]

Look at the Crawler.  A huge sounding PAF on steroids, a good all purpose pickup. The humbucker sounds awesome in bright guitars, thick with a unique growl when pushed. Cleans up fine too.
The split on the Crawler is happening. Quite tele-esque. In conjunction with the middlepickup you get a good F-quack.

[McDuffed]

I finally got my guitar back from the tech yesterday who did a set up and put in a matched pair of Abraxas (it's a 2016 PRS Custom 24)...  I was going to post about it in a few days once I had spent some quality time playing on them and will probably have an updated opinion on the topic in a few more days.  I'm using the PRS wiring which gives the following combinations:

Position One: Bridge humbucker
Position Two: Bridge humbucker with neck singlecoil, in parallel
Position Three: Bridge and neck humbuckers
Position Four: Neck singlecoil with bridge singlecoil, in parallel
Position Five: Neck humbucker

The bridge magnet was reversed by BKP to work with the PRS wiring setup.  As above, installed by a pro.

On the topic of splits - as far as you can call them that in context of PRS 5 way wiring - which in this case would be positions 2 and 4:

Position 2 seems pretty great.  I'm usually a full fat HB player when going anywhere near the bridge and can't say that I've ever spent time playing on position 4, but this combination seems surprising usable with the Abraxas.  It's like a better strat bridge.  Sounds single coil-ish but has the body of the HB behind it.  Really liking it so far.  I may actually start using this position more often going forward.

Position 4: sounds relatively strat-ish - i.e. the usual glassy and delicate but the output level is a little lower than I would have liked and therefore sounds a little too thin IMO.  Just turned off the noise gate and it is a touch better but I definitely need  to throw on a bit of compressor to bring it back up to a decent level.  I use this position a lot for dotted 8th clean delays and I was hoping for something a little better on that front.  The stock PRS pickups (85/15s) were more balanced in this position and definitely sounded better in this role.   I would also add though that the neck pickup (position 5) plays nicely in a clean role - a little bassy obviously but still sounds crisp and had decent output.  I think I would prefer that over position 4 with the Abraxas.

With that said, not sure you buy the Abraxas for position 4. I do have a strat though which is naturally better for this type of thing so I will certainly live!

As above, these are first impressions after about an hour of actual playing time (into a Boogie Mark V-35).  More later when I come to grips with them, though I will say straight off that the bridge on high gain is the dog's nuts.

Cheers.