Humbucker for 'thin' strat

[lonestarrevival]

Greetings Forum,   I'd like to restate my issue:  I have this hss strat (alder/rosewood) quite a bit lacking in midrange and is quite trebly, and I want to try a Bareknuckle bridge humbucker.  I observe that the Crawler and Abraxas have often been endorsed in similar circumstances on this forum.  I didn't hear a Crawler demo that impressed me, and for Abraxas, it is not as vintage sounding as I'd like - I hear a lot of compression in the sound clip on this site.  All of this ofcourse can be mistaken, you could know better if you are actual users. On the other hand listening to Clips of Blackdog and Emerald  I am pretty enamored.  I understand that the latter is overly bright for my guitar, but could it be that the Blackdog  will work for me?  Genres: classic/heavy-rock, say Zeppelin and ACDC to Zakk Wylde and Bonamassa. Yeah I should have gotten a Gibson in the first place! Cheers.

[Dave Sloven]

I would stay well clear of the Emerald for this application.  Abraxas might surprise you.

[Telerocker]

I would not write off the Crawler that quickly. It performs very well in alder/ash bolt-ons with thick and juicy hot PAF-tones. The Crawler adds a unique growl that i don't hear in other BKP's. The trick is to find your preference in the height. Mine is set quite low, but 1 mm up and more agressiveness and uppermids shine through. Topend is round, but clear and not dull at all. Never annoying shrill though. That's why soloing above the 12th fret is fun with this pickup in a strat.

The Abraxas sits between the Mule and the Crawler and would be a good choice too.

[lonestarrevival]

Maybe you guys could let me hear clips that are more representative of how Abraxas and  Crawler will sound in a stratocaster, that would help a lot. I think utube representation is  weak especially for Crawler on strats.   Thanks for the answers, I will study Crawler and Abraxas further.
Any ideas on Black Dogs and bright strats is very welcome.

[lonestarrevival]

Gentlemen I want to give a report of the results I got and ask for opinion.  Received my Abraxas/Slow Hand set.  The Abraxas impoved the sound of everything in my set up - pedals they were laying dormant are being used again since now they sound fine.  On the other hand it didn't surprise me that I find it more compressed soumding than I would really like.  It is also quite bright contrary to my expectations ( formed by reading threads on it).  I dont consider Abraxas a miss though.
Slow hands was more of a self-indulgence on my part.  I am not sure what I expected but it is darker than I would like with 500 k volume and a 250 k tone pot. I also dont see a match between these and the Abraxas tonewise. I am not even a Clapton or British blues fan, I guess I was just seduced by some finely played demos.  One thing that can save these for me is moving to a full on 500k pot for tone with the singles as well.  I would be interested to hear how you think about it. or if anybody did that. Regards.

[gwEm]

I think I might have 350k pots with my Slowhands.

I found that Slowhands didn't pair well with the Cold Sweat. Trilogies worked well though.

Plenum n Heather suggested to me that he prefers trilogies for many HSS combinations. Based on my experience, I agree.

[lonestarrevival]

I think I might have 350k pots with my Slowhands.

I found that Slowhands didn't pair well with the Cold Sweat. Trilogies worked well though.

Plenum n Heather suggested to me that he prefers trilogies for many HSS combinations. Based on my experience, I agree.

Thanks a lot for the input... I might consider searching a matching humbucker for slow hands now since I cant possibly sell them where I am located!  quite crazy trying to balance things out.

[Dave Sloven]

I thought - based on reports I've read here - that the Abraxas and Slow Hands might be a good combo, but looking at what you have written maybe a Crawler would be a better match?

[darkbluemurder]

Slow hands was more of a self-indulgence on my part.  I am not sure what I expected but it is darker than I would like with 500 k volume and a 250 k tone pot. I also dont see a match between these and the Abraxas tonewise. I am not even a Clapton or British blues fan, I guess I was just seduced by some finely played demos.  One thing that can save these for me is moving to a full on 500k pot for tone with the singles as well.  I would be interested to hear how you think about it. or if anybody did that. Regards.

What is exactly not matching between the Abraxas and Slow Hands - output or tonal balance, and if it's the latter, is it a mismatch in highs or lows?

At one time I had the Holydiver bridge in the same guitar with a Slowhand bridge model but in the neck position. I found that the Slowhand was much brighter than the Holydiver bridge but could not keep up with it volume wise. Going from a 250k tone pot to a 500k tone pot will make things a tiny bit brighter but it is going to be very subtle and not a make-or-break difference.

I think you made a good choice with the Abraxas over the Black Dog. The Black Dog is very picky about the guitar it's in whereas the Abraxas sounded good whereever I put it in.

Cheers Stephan

[lonestarrevival]

I don't have the guitar in question around for a while gentlemen, I will get back to report when I do. I also think I should have my wiring checked since Abraxas sounds much brighter than I expected, and apparently more so than people generally expect it to do.  Thanks for the interest you took in this.  Cheers.

[Telerocker]

I don't have the guitar in question around for a while gentlemen, I will get back to report when I do. I also think I should have my wiring checked since Abraxas sounds much brighter than I expected, and apparently more so than people generally expect it to do.  Thanks for the interest you took in this.  Cheers.

Start to set it a tad lower.

[lonestarrevival]

Actually I was using Abraxas pretty low at that point.  I gave myself a little time to get my ears accustomed to both PUs and they feel better now.   I still don't think Abraxas and Slowhands  make the best set though. I use tone knob on the Abraxas to tame the brightness , but then the neck Slowhand is quite louder despite me setting it lower than the bridge. All in all I am far happier than I initially was, both great pickups obviously, I didn't want to take leave without giving a final verdict. Regards.

[Dave Sloven]

This sort of what I was getting at in saying that the Crawler might have been a better match for the Slow Hands.  The Slow Hands are quite powerful pickups.

[Telerocker]

You use 500K pots? Did you check if the wiring is correct?

[lonestarrevival]

I use 500k volume for all, 250 k tone for the neck single, 500 k tone for Abraxas.  I think the wiring is correct since tone controls are working as they should.   I too suppose Crawler could be a better match with SHs outputwise and tonewise, just speaking my impression from afar.
 I am enjoying each independently more as I get used to the sounds though.  These are the humble observations I can offer for the present.