some random musings:
i played a surprise uninvited gig at a wedding this saturday. as a result i wanted to take a steinberger, since they are small and the case doesn't look like a guitar - the couple wouldn't work out the surprise coming up!
anyway, in the old days i loved warm and mellow humbucker neck tones.. but from playing strats and my agile "les paul deluxe" i've realised warm and mellow humbucker neck tones only work playing at home, its better for me to have something quite bright there live.
so i thought about the fat sounding miracle man neck pickup my white steinberger and was just dreading my solo getting lost in the mix. remembering some experiments i did with parallel wiring i did on a dimarzio a while back i whipped the scratchplate off, rotated the pickup 180 degrees, and rewired it in parallel. i also changed the tone control to 50s style, and removed my fixed bridge volume setup.
the change paid off. the neck is now far brighter, although a little lower power. and i do think it sounds quite single-coily too. clearly it has its own character, but i reckon its a bit closer to a single coil than a humbucker.. though being wired in parallel it is humbucking too. the middle position (with series bridge) just sounds like the neck pickup though - some impedance effects going on.
regarding the 50s tone wiring, its been discussed alot on here, but i was surprised. the difference is actually very noticeable, and i think not that subtle at all. clearly 50s wiring means you keep much more of the high end when you roll down the volume. i haven't paid much attention to my tone pot wiring so far thinking it was just a small different, but its very clear - 50s style is far better!
