SG101 logo
SG101 Banner

Photo of the Day

The Noble Gasses
The Noble Gasses

IRC Status
  • Chatroom is empty
Current Polls
  • No polls at this time. Check out our past polls.
Current Contests
Donations

Help us meet our monthly goal:

0%

Donate Now

Yahoo Group Archives » Page 90 »

Re: [SurfGuitar101] Replacement pickups for surf??? (and pickup positions for surf)

Michael S Springer (frodopogo) - 27 Apr 2005 12:44:05

This is mostly for you who use Strats or stratoclones.
(sorry, JM and Jaguar guys...)
Do any of you ever replace the pickups on lower price guitars
to upgrade the sound?
If so, what models are best for surf?
And what "temperature"?
And are any noiseless "single coils" being used?
I don't consider the stock MIM Standard pickups to be very good
for clean sounds- (very noisy and cheap ceramic magnet design)
although they can be improved easily with an inductance plate.
(steel bar the size of the pickup wrapped with copper foil and run to
ground)
So I'm always upgrading the pickups.
I would guess that Texas Specials would not be very appealing,
but it seems that something wound a little hot would work,
as long as it wasn't so hot that it would break up easily.
Do surf guitarists ever use the nasal quack in a Strat's combo positions?
Or do they ever use the middle pickup alone?
Does the neck pickup ever get used, maybe for rhythm?
When the second guitar does a single note accompaniment,
does it use a different pickup setting than the lead guitar?
I recently bought two pickups from DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage line.
The first I bought was a Virtual Vintage Blues DP402.
It's a medium hot pickup. (145 millivolts)
I first installed it in the middle position of a stratoid with
strat-ish trem, but body mounted pickups.
I then took it to a store and tried it through a tube amp (Rivera Pubster
or Clubster)
with reverb, and it sounded really cool in a way that might work
for surf or guitar instro... it had a lot of punch and clarity
I then tried it in the neck pickup of my Strat- very fat and loud,
but it retained the punch and clarity... DiMarzio's catalog says they
can also be used in the bridge position of a Strat.
I haven't tried it there yet though, but I think it would cut the
Strat bridge "icepick-in-the-ear" treble effect, but still do clean
really well,
at least in an amp with a lot of clean headroom.
I'm also looking forward to trying them in a real Strat's middle
position.
(Note- do <not> confuse this with the DP403 Heavy Blues, which
I think is one of the hottest, similar to Texas Specials in the Fender
line.
A lot of people have a hard time getting this model to sound right in
their
guitars and try to unload them on eBay.)
I also bought a DP408 VirtuAL middle.
Lower output, also has good clarity, but it's a cooler wound pickup,
so it's not as fat or punchy or loud... but it's EQ'ed to be fairly dark.
The DiMarzio Virtual Vintage line has this cool feature.
They can be coil tapped, since electronically they are humbuckers.
(Technically they are called "stacked humbuckers")
Because the second coil is hidden underneath the top coil,
it has no access to the strings, but is there just to add the
hum-cancelling
effect. Anyway, the noiseless mode sounds pretty good, and noiseless,
but if you coil tap the remote coil out of the circuit,
it's even sweeter harmonically, louder,
and still quite low noise compared to a normal single coil.
Other pickups that sound like they might have some surfy or instro
applications
are the Virtual Vintage '54 (DP405 neck and DP405 bridge)-
"complex woody vibe"
and the DP 409 bridge- (also 145 millivolts)
"opens up all the attack and definition of the low strings"
Michael

Top

Marty Tippens (mctippens) - 27 Apr 2005 13:11:15

I use primarily the neck pick-up, never the 2 and 4 positions. Those are good if
you wanna sound like Robert Cray or Mark Knopfler.
-Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael S Springer
To:
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 10:44 AM
Subject: Re: [SurfGuitar101] Replacement pickups for surf??? (and pickup
positions for surf)
This is mostly for you who use Strats or stratoclones.
(sorry, JM and Jaguar guys...)
Do any of you ever replace the pickups on lower price guitars
to upgrade the sound?
If so, what models are best for surf?
And what "temperature"?
And are any noiseless "single coils" being used?
I don't consider the stock MIM Standard pickups to be very good
for clean sounds- (very noisy and cheap ceramic magnet design)
although they can be improved easily with an inductance plate.
(steel bar the size of the pickup wrapped with copper foil and run to
ground)
So I'm always upgrading the pickups.
I would guess that Texas Specials would not be very appealing,
but it seems that something wound a little hot would work,
as long as it wasn't so hot that it would break up easily.
Do surf guitarists ever use the nasal quack in a Strat's combo positions?
Or do they ever use the middle pickup alone?
Does the neck pickup ever get used, maybe for rhythm?
When the second guitar does a single note accompaniment,
does it use a different pickup setting than the lead guitar?
I recently bought two pickups from DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage line.
The first I bought was a Virtual Vintage Blues DP402.
It's a medium hot pickup. (145 millivolts)
I first installed it in the middle position of a stratoid with
strat-ish trem, but body mounted pickups.
I then took it to a store and tried it through a tube amp (Rivera Pubster
or Clubster)
with reverb, and it sounded really cool in a way that might work
for surf or guitar instro... it had a lot of punch and clarity
I then tried it in the neck pickup of my Strat- very fat and loud,
but it retained the punch and clarity... DiMarzio's catalog says they
can also be used in the bridge position of a Strat.
I haven't tried it there yet though, but I think it would cut the
Strat bridge "icepick-in-the-ear" treble effect, but still do clean
really well,
at least in an amp with a lot of clean headroom.
I'm also looking forward to trying them in a real Strat's middle
position.
(Note- do <not> confuse this with the DP403 Heavy Blues, which
I think is one of the hottest, similar to Texas Specials in the Fender
line.
A lot of people have a hard time getting this model to sound right in
their
guitars and try to unload them on eBay.)
I also bought a DP408 VirtuAL middle.
Lower output, also has good clarity, but it's a cooler wound pickup,
so it's not as fat or punchy or loud... but it's EQ'ed to be fairly dark.
The DiMarzio Virtual Vintage line has this cool feature.
They can be coil tapped, since electronically they are humbuckers.
(Technically they are called "stacked humbuckers")
Because the second coil is hidden underneath the top coil,
it has no access to the strings, but is there just to add the
hum-cancelling
effect. Anyway, the noiseless mode sounds pretty good, and noiseless,
but if you coil tap the remote coil out of the circuit,
it's even sweeter harmonically, louder,
and still quite low noise compared to a normal single coil.
Other pickups that sound like they might have some surfy or instro
applications
are the Virtual Vintage '54 (DP405 neck and DP405 bridge)-
"complex woody vibe"
and the DP 409 bridge- (also 145 millivolts)
"opens up all the attack and definition of the low strings"
Michael
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Top

urbansurfkings - 27 Apr 2005 13:54:10

I replaced my lace sensors (yuck) with 3 lipstick tube PUs (Seymor
Duncans). My band mates said I was spending money on trying to make a
nice gtr into a cheap gtr (danelectro)... They're great!
M
PS: Anyone wanna by 3 gold lace sensors?!

Top

Marty Tippens (mctippens) - 27 Apr 2005 13:58:13

I have those Seymour lipsticks as well and the are great.
-Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: urbansurfkings
To:
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 11:54 AM
Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: Replacement pickups for surf??? (and pickup
positions for surf)
I replaced my lace sensors (yuck) with 3 lipstick tube PUs (Seymor
Duncans). My band mates said I was spending money on trying to make a
nice gtr into a cheap gtr (danelectro)... They're great!
M
PS: Anyone wanna by 3 gold lace sensors?!
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Top

bruce d (wizzbangg2003) - 27 Apr 2005 14:04:36

I've experimented with several different up-grade pups in low-buck Stratoclones.
The other guitarist in my band, Loyd Davis, bought a set of DiMarzio Virtual
Vintage pups, and after two weeks, yanked 'em, and replaced them with a set of
Kinman noiseless, which he's now had in the Strat for about 2 years.
I've found that the Fender Vintage Noiseless pups work very well, as do the
Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Surf pups. The Bill Lawrence pups are good if you
use at least 12-guage strings, and the Fender Japan Strat pups are excellent.
The excessive shrillness of the bridge pup on the Strat is made worse by the
fact that the standard wiring does not provide tone control for the bridge pup.
There is a very simple, elegant wiring mod that I found on the Net, which subs
in a 3-position switch, converts the upper tone pot to a volume control for the
middle pup, and the bottom tone pot becomes a master tone for all 3 pups. This
allows the Strat to be played with ALL possible pup combinations, making it a
helluva lot more useful as a surf guitar. The combination of neck/bridge
renders a very Jag-like sound, and being able to cut some treble on the bridge
pup is quite handy for playing some of the cowboy/western songs.
I also found that the Callaham forged steel trem-block ($55.00) makes a
walloping difference in sustain and sound definition even with the stock pups in
place.
In my collection I have original vintage and R/I Jags, Jazzmasters and Mosrites.
I recently played one of my modified, (with the Seymour Antiquity II Surf pups)
Wilson Bros. VM-10 Stratoclones during a rehearsal, and asked periodically for
comments from the rest of the band. They were unanimous that it is one of the
sweetest sounding surf guitars they've ever heard! This was delightful to hear
since the total bottom-line cost of the VM-10 including all mods is still about
$300 below the current "discount" price of an American Standard. And it's got
that cool "Ventures" logo on the headstock!!
Bruce D
Michael S Springer <> wrote:
This is mostly for you who use Strats or stratoclones.
(sorry, JM and Jaguar guys...)
Do any of you ever replace the pickups on lower price guitars
to upgrade the sound?
If so, what models are best for surf?
And what "temperature"?
And are any noiseless "single coils" being used?
I don't consider the stock MIM Standard pickups to be very good
for clean sounds- (very noisy and cheap ceramic magnet design)
although they can be improved easily with an inductance plate.
(steel bar the size of the pickup wrapped with copper foil and run to
ground)
So I'm always upgrading the pickups.
I would guess that Texas Specials would not be very appealing,
but it seems that something wound a little hot would work,
as long as it wasn't so hot that it would break up easily.
Do surf guitarists ever use the nasal quack in a Strat's combo positions?
Or do they ever use the middle pickup alone?
Does the neck pickup ever get used, maybe for rhythm?
When the second guitar does a single note accompaniment,
does it use a different pickup setting than the lead guitar?
I recently bought two pickups from DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage line.
The first I bought was a Virtual Vintage Blues DP402.
It's a medium hot pickup. (145 millivolts)
I first installed it in the middle position of a stratoid with
strat-ish trem, but body mounted pickups.
I then took it to a store and tried it through a tube amp (Rivera Pubster
or Clubster)
with reverb, and it sounded really cool in a way that might work
for surf or guitar instro... it had a lot of punch and clarity
I then tried it in the neck pickup of my Strat- very fat and loud,
but it retained the punch and clarity... DiMarzio's catalog says they
can also be used in the bridge position of a Strat.
I haven't tried it there yet though, but I think it would cut the
Strat bridge "icepick-in-the-ear" treble effect, but still do clean
really well,
at least in an amp with a lot of clean headroom.
I'm also looking forward to trying them in a real Strat's middle
position.
(Note- do <not> confuse this with the DP403 Heavy Blues, which
I think is one of the hottest, similar to Texas Specials in the Fender
line.
A lot of people have a hard time getting this model to sound right in
their
guitars and try to unload them on eBay.)
I also bought a DP408 VirtuAL middle.
Lower output, also has good clarity, but it's a cooler wound pickup,
so it's not as fat or punchy or loud... but it's EQ'ed to be fairly dark.
The DiMarzio Virtual Vintage line has this cool feature.
They can be coil tapped, since electronically they are humbuckers.
(Technically they are called "stacked humbuckers")
Because the second coil is hidden underneath the top coil,
it has no access to the strings, but is there just to add the
hum-cancelling
effect. Anyway, the noiseless mode sounds pretty good, and noiseless,
but if you coil tap the remote coil out of the circuit,
it's even sweeter harmonically, louder,
and still quite low noise compared to a normal single coil.
Other pickups that sound like they might have some surfy or instro
applications
are the Virtual Vintage '54 (DP405 neck and DP405 bridge)-
"complex woody vibe"
and the DP 409 bridge- (also 145 millivolts)
"opens up all the attack and definition of the low strings"
Michael
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
To visit your group on the web, go to:
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Top

ipongrac - 27 Apr 2005 14:24:45

Now, Marty, to be fair that's just not right. Though I never use
the 2 and 4 positions either, these are very much surf music
sounds. Dick Dale commonly used them in the sixties and still does
to this day. Jim Messina ONLY used those positions for all of the
Jesters recordings. In the nineties Gregg Hunt of the Bomboras
again almost exclusively used these positions. If you crank the
reverb, play with a heavy pick attack and heavy strings, you will
NOT sound like either Knopfler or Cray.
Ivan
--- In , "Marty Tippens"
<mctippens@e...> wrote:
> I use primarily the neck pick-up, never the 2 and 4 positions.
Those are good if you wanna sound like Robert Cray or Mark Knopfler.
> -Marty
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Michael S Springer
> To:
> Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 10:44 AM
> Subject: Re: [SurfGuitar101] Replacement pickups for surf???
(and pickup positions for surf)
>
>
> This is mostly for you who use Strats or stratoclones.
>
> (sorry, JM and Jaguar guys...)
>
> Do any of you ever replace the pickups on lower price guitars
> to upgrade the sound?
> If so, what models are best for surf?
> And what "temperature"?
> And are any noiseless "single coils" being used?
>
> I don't consider the stock MIM Standard pickups to be very good
> for clean sounds- (very noisy and cheap ceramic magnet design)
> although they can be improved easily with an inductance plate.
> (steel bar the size of the pickup wrapped with copper foil and
run to
> ground)
> So I'm always upgrading the pickups.
> I would guess that Texas Specials would not be very appealing,
> but it seems that something wound a little hot would work,
> as long as it wasn't so hot that it would break up easily.
>
> Do surf guitarists ever use the nasal quack in a Strat's combo
positions?
> Or do they ever use the middle pickup alone?
> Does the neck pickup ever get used, maybe for rhythm?
> When the second guitar does a single note accompaniment,
> does it use a different pickup setting than the lead guitar?
>
> I recently bought two pickups from DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage
line.
> The first I bought was a Virtual Vintage Blues DP402.
> It's a medium hot pickup. (145 millivolts)
> I first installed it in the middle position of a stratoid with
> strat-ish trem, but body mounted pickups.
> I then took it to a store and tried it through a tube amp
(Rivera Pubster
> or Clubster)
> with reverb, and it sounded really cool in a way that might work
> for surf or guitar instro... it had a lot of punch and clarity
> I then tried it in the neck pickup of my Strat- very fat and
loud,
> but it retained the punch and clarity... DiMarzio's catalog says
they
> can also be used in the bridge position of a Strat.
> I haven't tried it there yet though, but I think it would cut the
> Strat bridge "icepick-in-the-ear" treble effect, but still do
clean
> really well,
> at least in an amp with a lot of clean headroom.
> I'm also looking forward to trying them in a real Strat's middle
> position.
> (Note- do <not> confuse this with the DP403 Heavy Blues, which
> I think is one of the hottest, similar to Texas Specials in the
Fender
> line.
> A lot of people have a hard time getting this model to sound
right in
> their
> guitars and try to unload them on eBay.)
> I also bought a DP408 VirtuAL middle.
> Lower output, also has good clarity, but it's a cooler wound
pickup,
> so it's not as fat or punchy or loud... but it's EQ'ed to be
fairly dark.
> The DiMarzio Virtual Vintage line has this cool feature.
> They can be coil tapped, since electronically they are
humbuckers.
> (Technically they are called "stacked humbuckers")
> Because the second coil is hidden underneath the top coil,
> it has no access to the strings, but is there just to add the
> hum-cancelling
> effect. Anyway, the noiseless mode sounds pretty good, and
noiseless,
> but if you coil tap the remote coil out of the circuit,
> it's even sweeter harmonically, louder,
> and still quite low noise compared to a normal single coil.
> Other pickups that sound like they might have some surfy or
instro
> applications
> are the Virtual Vintage '54 (DP405 neck and DP405 bridge)-
> "complex woody vibe"
> and the DP 409 bridge- (also 145 millivolts)
> "opens up all the attack and definition of the low strings"
>
> Michael
>
>
> .
> Visit for archived
messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
>
>
> b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>
>
> c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms
of Service.
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Top

ipongrac - 27 Apr 2005 14:39:02

Michael, I can't help you with all that other stuff about DiMarzio
pickups, but here's my experience:
I have Fender's US-made '57/'62 Strat pickups in two Strats. They
were standard in one Strat (a '62 Reissue), and my replacement in
another (an '89 Strat Plus that came with Lace Sensors). My
experience with both guitars is that these are outstanding sounding
pickups. I highly recommend them.
I have another '62 Reissue in which I put Seymour Duncan Alnico II
Pro pickups, and these are a hair warmer than even the '57/'62
reissues. I really like these pickups. The guitar with those has
become my favorite Strat right now.
I did use Texas Specials on my Strat Plus for about five years, but
ultimately I think they're too dark and a bit too hot for the best
surf tone.
BTW, as far as the other stuff, I often use the middle pickup
alone. I don't know about other guitarists, but I suspect they do,
as well. As far as I'm concerned, the middle pickup is the secret
weapon of the Strat. It's often ignored by guitarists (that means
you, Marty! :), but I think it actually produces the best sound.
Hank Marvin of the Shadows was a master of the middle pickup (he
used it on such Shadows classics as FBI, The Frightened City,
Gonzales, Kon Tiki, The Savage, Sleepwalk, and many, many more.) I
also use the neck pickup for lead on occasion - it's just a
different color for different circumstances. The second guitar can
do either the same pickup or different pickups - it's a matter of
what sounds good given players styles and tones.
Finally, the noiseless pickups are not as attractive for surf
guitarists cause we don't use a whole lot of gain, and therefore the
hum isn't a big problem most of the time. And most of the noiseless
pickups do have some sort of a downside, especially when played
clean. I guess they're getting better, especially the Kinman's
about which I have heard good things.
That's my two cents.
Ivan
--- In , Michael S Springer
<springerms@j...> wrote:
> This is mostly for you who use Strats or stratoclones.
>
> (sorry, JM and Jaguar guys...)
>
> Do any of you ever replace the pickups on lower price guitars
> to upgrade the sound?
> If so, what models are best for surf?
> And what "temperature"?
> And are any noiseless "single coils" being used?
>
> I don't consider the stock MIM Standard pickups to be very good
> for clean sounds- (very noisy and cheap ceramic magnet design)
> although they can be improved easily with an inductance plate.
> (steel bar the size of the pickup wrapped with copper foil and run
to
> ground)
> So I'm always upgrading the pickups.
> I would guess that Texas Specials would not be very appealing,
> but it seems that something wound a little hot would work,
> as long as it wasn't so hot that it would break up easily.
>
> Do surf guitarists ever use the nasal quack in a Strat's combo
positions?
> Or do they ever use the middle pickup alone?
> Does the neck pickup ever get used, maybe for rhythm?
> When the second guitar does a single note accompaniment,
> does it use a different pickup setting than the lead guitar?
>
> I recently bought two pickups from DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage line.
> The first I bought was a Virtual Vintage Blues DP402.
> It's a medium hot pickup. (145 millivolts)
> I first installed it in the middle position of a stratoid with
> strat-ish trem, but body mounted pickups.
> I then took it to a store and tried it through a tube amp (Rivera
Pubster
> or Clubster)
> with reverb, and it sounded really cool in a way that might work
> for surf or guitar instro... it had a lot of punch and clarity
> I then tried it in the neck pickup of my Strat- very fat and loud,
> but it retained the punch and clarity... DiMarzio's catalog says
they
> can also be used in the bridge position of a Strat.
> I haven't tried it there yet though, but I think it would cut the
> Strat bridge "icepick-in-the-ear" treble effect, but still do clean
> really well,
> at least in an amp with a lot of clean headroom.
> I'm also looking forward to trying them in a real Strat's middle
> position.
> (Note- do <not> confuse this with the DP403 Heavy Blues, which
> I think is one of the hottest, similar to Texas Specials in the
Fender
> line.
> A lot of people have a hard time getting this model to sound right
in
> their
> guitars and try to unload them on eBay.)
> I also bought a DP408 VirtuAL middle.
> Lower output, also has good clarity, but it's a cooler wound
pickup,
> so it's not as fat or punchy or loud... but it's EQ'ed to be
fairly dark.
> The DiMarzio Virtual Vintage line has this cool feature.
> They can be coil tapped, since electronically they are humbuckers.
> (Technically they are called "stacked humbuckers")
> Because the second coil is hidden underneath the top coil,
> it has no access to the strings, but is there just to add the
> hum-cancelling
> effect. Anyway, the noiseless mode sounds pretty good, and
noiseless,
> but if you coil tap the remote coil out of the circuit,
> it's even sweeter harmonically, louder,
> and still quite low noise compared to a normal single coil.
> Other pickups that sound like they might have some surfy or instro
> applications
> are the Virtual Vintage '54 (DP405 neck and DP405 bridge)-
> "complex woody vibe"
> and the DP 409 bridge- (also 145 millivolts)
> "opens up all the attack and definition of the low strings"
>
> Michael

Top

Jacob Dobner (jacobdobner) - 27 Apr 2005 15:19:13

I love Knopfler. Great player. His main strat, a '61 or '62, for some
reason only had a 3 way selector on it and so he taped the selector
inbetween to get the pickup combo he wanted. He tried a 5 way but
didn't like the tone of the guitar after that. Probably a pretty
crappy 5-way switch.
--- In , "ipongrac" <ipongrac@g...> wrote:
>
> Now, Marty, to be fair that's just not right. Though I never use
> the 2 and 4 positions either, these are very much surf music
> sounds. Dick Dale commonly used them in the sixties and still does
> to this day. Jim Messina ONLY used those positions for all of the
> Jesters recordings. In the nineties Gregg Hunt of the Bomboras
> again almost exclusively used these positions. If you crank the
> reverb, play with a heavy pick attack and heavy strings, you will
> NOT sound like either Knopfler or Cray.
>
> Ivan
>
> --- In , "Marty Tippens"
> <mctippens@e...> wrote:
> > I use primarily the neck pick-up, never the 2 and 4 positions.
> Those are good if you wanna sound like Robert Cray or Mark Knopfler.
> > -Marty
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Michael S Springer
> > To:
> > Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 10:44 AM
> > Subject: Re: [SurfGuitar101] Replacement pickups for surf???
> (and pickup positions for surf)
> >
> >
> > This is mostly for you who use Strats or stratoclones.
> >
> > (sorry, JM and Jaguar guys...)
> >
> > Do any of you ever replace the pickups on lower price guitars
> > to upgrade the sound?
> > If so, what models are best for surf?
> > And what "temperature"?
> > And are any noiseless "single coils" being used?
> >
> > I don't consider the stock MIM Standard pickups to be very good
> > for clean sounds- (very noisy and cheap ceramic magnet design)
> > although they can be improved easily with an inductance plate.
> > (steel bar the size of the pickup wrapped with copper foil and
> run to
> > ground)
> > So I'm always upgrading the pickups.
> > I would guess that Texas Specials would not be very appealing,
> > but it seems that something wound a little hot would work,
> > as long as it wasn't so hot that it would break up easily.
> >
> > Do surf guitarists ever use the nasal quack in a Strat's combo
> positions?
> > Or do they ever use the middle pickup alone?
> > Does the neck pickup ever get used, maybe for rhythm?
> > When the second guitar does a single note accompaniment,
> > does it use a different pickup setting than the lead guitar?
> >
> > I recently bought two pickups from DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage
> line.
> > The first I bought was a Virtual Vintage Blues DP402.
> > It's a medium hot pickup. (145 millivolts)
> > I first installed it in the middle position of a stratoid with
> > strat-ish trem, but body mounted pickups.
> > I then took it to a store and tried it through a tube amp
> (Rivera Pubster
> > or Clubster)
> > with reverb, and it sounded really cool in a way that might work
> > for surf or guitar instro... it had a lot of punch and clarity
> > I then tried it in the neck pickup of my Strat- very fat and
> loud,
> > but it retained the punch and clarity... DiMarzio's catalog says
> they
> > can also be used in the bridge position of a Strat.
> > I haven't tried it there yet though, but I think it would cut the
> > Strat bridge "icepick-in-the-ear" treble effect, but still do
> clean
> > really well,
> > at least in an amp with a lot of clean headroom.
> > I'm also looking forward to trying them in a real Strat's middle
> > position.
> > (Note- do <not> confuse this with the DP403 Heavy Blues, which
> > I think is one of the hottest, similar to Texas Specials in the
> Fender
> > line.
> > A lot of people have a hard time getting this model to sound
> right in
> > their
> > guitars and try to unload them on eBay.)
> > I also bought a DP408 VirtuAL middle.
> > Lower output, also has good clarity, but it's a cooler wound
> pickup,
> > so it's not as fat or punchy or loud... but it's EQ'ed to be
> fairly dark.
> > The DiMarzio Virtual Vintage line has this cool feature.
> > They can be coil tapped, since electronically they are
> humbuckers.
> > (Technically they are called "stacked humbuckers")
> > Because the second coil is hidden underneath the top coil,
> > it has no access to the strings, but is there just to add the
> > hum-cancelling
> > effect. Anyway, the noiseless mode sounds pretty good, and
> noiseless,
> > but if you coil tap the remote coil out of the circuit,
> > it's even sweeter harmonically, louder,
> > and still quite low noise compared to a normal single coil.
> > Other pickups that sound like they might have some surfy or
> instro
> > applications
> > are the Virtual Vintage '54 (DP405 neck and DP405 bridge)-
> > "complex woody vibe"
> > and the DP 409 bridge- (also 145 millivolts)
> > "opens up all the attack and definition of the low strings"
> >
> > Michael
> >
> >
> > .
> > Visit for archived
> messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> > a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
> >
> >
> > b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> >
> >
> > c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms
> of Service.
> >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Top

Marty Tippens (mctippens) - 27 Apr 2005 16:08:39

That is interesting that some surf guitarists use 2 and 4. I didn't know that
but I still think it's right that 2 and 4 are good for the Cray and Knopfler
sounds and that I don't use those postitions. I imagine that if one puts 2 and 4
through a heavy distortion box, the sound will be more Black Sabbath than Cray
or Knopfler.
-Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: ipongrac
To:
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 12:24 PM
Subject: [SurfGuitar101] Re: Replacement pickups for surf??? (and pickup
positions for surf)
Now, Marty, to be fair that's just not right. Though I never use
the 2 and 4 positions either, these are very much surf music
sounds. Dick Dale commonly used them in the sixties and still does
to this day. Jim Messina ONLY used those positions for all of the
Jesters recordings. In the nineties Gregg Hunt of the Bomboras
again almost exclusively used these positions. If you crank the
reverb, play with a heavy pick attack and heavy strings, you will
NOT sound like either Knopfler or Cray.
Ivan
--- In , "Marty Tippens"
<mctippens@e...> wrote:
> I use primarily the neck pick-up, never the 2 and 4 positions.
Those are good if you wanna sound like Robert Cray or Mark Knopfler.
> -Marty
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Michael S Springer
> To:
> Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 10:44 AM
> Subject: Re: [SurfGuitar101] Replacement pickups for surf???
(and pickup positions for surf)
>
>
> This is mostly for you who use Strats or stratoclones.
>
> (sorry, JM and Jaguar guys...)
>
> Do any of you ever replace the pickups on lower price guitars
> to upgrade the sound?
> If so, what models are best for surf?
> And what "temperature"?
> And are any noiseless "single coils" being used?
>
> I don't consider the stock MIM Standard pickups to be very good
> for clean sounds- (very noisy and cheap ceramic magnet design)
> although they can be improved easily with an inductance plate.
> (steel bar the size of the pickup wrapped with copper foil and
run to
> ground)
> So I'm always upgrading the pickups.
> I would guess that Texas Specials would not be very appealing,
> but it seems that something wound a little hot would work,
> as long as it wasn't so hot that it would break up easily.
>
> Do surf guitarists ever use the nasal quack in a Strat's combo
positions?
> Or do they ever use the middle pickup alone?
> Does the neck pickup ever get used, maybe for rhythm?
> When the second guitar does a single note accompaniment,
> does it use a different pickup setting than the lead guitar?
>
> I recently bought two pickups from DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage
line.
> The first I bought was a Virtual Vintage Blues DP402.
> It's a medium hot pickup. (145 millivolts)
> I first installed it in the middle position of a stratoid with
> strat-ish trem, but body mounted pickups.
> I then took it to a store and tried it through a tube amp
(Rivera Pubster
> or Clubster)
> with reverb, and it sounded really cool in a way that might work
> for surf or guitar instro... it had a lot of punch and clarity
> I then tried it in the neck pickup of my Strat- very fat and
loud,
> but it retained the punch and clarity... DiMarzio's catalog says
they
> can also be used in the bridge position of a Strat.
> I haven't tried it there yet though, but I think it would cut the
> Strat bridge "icepick-in-the-ear" treble effect, but still do
clean
> really well,
> at least in an amp with a lot of clean headroom.
> I'm also looking forward to trying them in a real Strat's middle
> position.
> (Note- do <not> confuse this with the DP403 Heavy Blues, which
> I think is one of the hottest, similar to Texas Specials in the
Fender
> line.
> A lot of people have a hard time getting this model to sound
right in
> their
> guitars and try to unload them on eBay.)
> I also bought a DP408 VirtuAL middle.
> Lower output, also has good clarity, but it's a cooler wound
pickup,
> so it's not as fat or punchy or loud... but it's EQ'ed to be
fairly dark.
> The DiMarzio Virtual Vintage line has this cool feature.
> They can be coil tapped, since electronically they are
humbuckers.
> (Technically they are called "stacked humbuckers")
> Because the second coil is hidden underneath the top coil,
> it has no access to the strings, but is there just to add the
> hum-cancelling
> effect. Anyway, the noiseless mode sounds pretty good, and
noiseless,
> but if you coil tap the remote coil out of the circuit,
> it's even sweeter harmonically, louder,
> and still quite low noise compared to a normal single coil.
> Other pickups that sound like they might have some surfy or
instro
> applications
> are the Virtual Vintage '54 (DP405 neck and DP405 bridge)-
> "complex woody vibe"
> and the DP 409 bridge- (also 145 millivolts)
> "opens up all the attack and definition of the low strings"
>
> Michael
>
>
> .
> Visit for archived
messages, bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
>
>
> b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>
>
> c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms
of Service.
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Top

Marty Tippens (mctippens) - 27 Apr 2005 16:11:29

What Mosrites do you have, Bruce?
-Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: bruce d
To:
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: [SurfGuitar101] Replacement pickups for surf??? (and pickup
positions for surf)
I've experimented with several different up-grade pups in low-buck
Stratoclones. The other guitarist in my band, Loyd Davis, bought a set of
DiMarzio Virtual Vintage pups, and after two weeks, yanked 'em, and replaced
them with a set of Kinman noiseless, which he's now had in the Strat for about 2
years.
I've found that the Fender Vintage Noiseless pups work very well, as do the
Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Surf pups. The Bill Lawrence pups are good if you
use at least 12-guage strings, and the Fender Japan Strat pups are excellent.
The excessive shrillness of the bridge pup on the Strat is made worse by the
fact that the standard wiring does not provide tone control for the bridge pup.
There is a very simple, elegant wiring mod that I found on the Net, which subs
in a 3-position switch, converts the upper tone pot to a volume control for the
middle pup, and the bottom tone pot becomes a master tone for all 3 pups. This
allows the Strat to be played with ALL possible pup combinations, making it a
helluva lot more useful as a surf guitar. The combination of neck/bridge
renders a very Jag-like sound, and being able to cut some treble on the bridge
pup is quite handy for playing some of the cowboy/western songs.
I also found that the Callaham forged steel trem-block ($55.00) makes a
walloping difference in sustain and sound definition even with the stock pups in
place.
In my collection I have original vintage and R/I Jags, Jazzmasters and
Mosrites. I recently played one of my modified, (with the Seymour Antiquity II
Surf pups) Wilson Bros. VM-10 Stratoclones during a rehearsal, and asked
periodically for comments from the rest of the band. They were unanimous that
it is one of the sweetest sounding surf guitars they've ever heard! This was
delightful to hear since the total bottom-line cost of the VM-10 including all
mods is still about $300 below the current "discount" price of an American
Standard. And it's got that cool "Ventures" logo on the headstock!!
Bruce D
Michael S Springer <> wrote:
This is mostly for you who use Strats or stratoclones.
(sorry, JM and Jaguar guys...)
Do any of you ever replace the pickups on lower price guitars
to upgrade the sound?
If so, what models are best for surf?
And what "temperature"?
And are any noiseless "single coils" being used?
I don't consider the stock MIM Standard pickups to be very good
for clean sounds- (very noisy and cheap ceramic magnet design)
although they can be improved easily with an inductance plate.
(steel bar the size of the pickup wrapped with copper foil and run to
ground)
So I'm always upgrading the pickups.
I would guess that Texas Specials would not be very appealing,
but it seems that something wound a little hot would work,
as long as it wasn't so hot that it would break up easily.
Do surf guitarists ever use the nasal quack in a Strat's combo positions?
Or do they ever use the middle pickup alone?
Does the neck pickup ever get used, maybe for rhythm?
When the second guitar does a single note accompaniment,
does it use a different pickup setting than the lead guitar?
I recently bought two pickups from DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage line.
The first I bought was a Virtual Vintage Blues DP402.
It's a medium hot pickup. (145 millivolts)
I first installed it in the middle position of a stratoid with
strat-ish trem, but body mounted pickups.
I then took it to a store and tried it through a tube amp (Rivera Pubster
or Clubster)
with reverb, and it sounded really cool in a way that might work
for surf or guitar instro... it had a lot of punch and clarity
I then tried it in the neck pickup of my Strat- very fat and loud,
but it retained the punch and clarity... DiMarzio's catalog says they
can also be used in the bridge position of a Strat.
I haven't tried it there yet though, but I think it would cut the
Strat bridge "icepick-in-the-ear" treble effect, but still do clean
really well,
at least in an amp with a lot of clean headroom.
I'm also looking forward to trying them in a real Strat's middle
position.
(Note- do <not> confuse this with the DP403 Heavy Blues, which
I think is one of the hottest, similar to Texas Specials in the Fender
line.
A lot of people have a hard time getting this model to sound right in
their
guitars and try to unload them on eBay.)
I also bought a DP408 VirtuAL middle.
Lower output, also has good clarity, but it's a cooler wound pickup,
so it's not as fat or punchy or loud... but it's EQ'ed to be fairly dark.
The DiMarzio Virtual Vintage line has this cool feature.
They can be coil tapped, since electronically they are humbuckers.
(Technically they are called "stacked humbuckers")
Because the second coil is hidden underneath the top coil,
it has no access to the strings, but is there just to add the
hum-cancelling
effect. Anyway, the noiseless mode sounds pretty good, and noiseless,
but if you coil tap the remote coil out of the circuit,
it's even sweeter harmonically, louder,
and still quite low noise compared to a normal single coil.
Other pickups that sound like they might have some surfy or instro
applications
are the Virtual Vintage '54 (DP405 neck and DP405 bridge)-
"complex woody vibe"
and the DP 409 bridge- (also 145 millivolts)
"opens up all the attack and definition of the low strings"
Michael
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
To visit your group on the web, go to:
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Top

bruce d (wizzbangg2003) - 27 Apr 2005 18:22:52

Have one original '63 Ventures Model Bass, just sold my original Candy Apple
Blue '65 Ventures Model. Have 2 Dillion Mosrite copies, one Aria Mosrite copy,
a Japanese-made "Mosrite of Classics" and a Univox Hi-Flyer - that about covers
it. Got rid of the '65 because I never played it - neck much too narrow and
frets much to squeezed together for my taste, and believe it or not, all the
other "copies" I have, play and sound light years better! Got 4-grand for the
'65, and like the $400 copies better!
Bruce D
Marty Tippens <> wrote:
What Mosrites do you have, Bruce?
-Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: bruce d
To:
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: [SurfGuitar101] Replacement pickups for surf??? (and pickup
positions for surf)
I've experimented with several different up-grade pups in low-buck
Stratoclones. The other guitarist in my band, Loyd Davis, bought a set of
DiMarzio Virtual Vintage pups, and after two weeks, yanked 'em, and replaced
them with a set of Kinman noiseless, which he's now had in the Strat for about 2
years.
I've found that the Fender Vintage Noiseless pups work very well, as do the
Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Surf pups. The Bill Lawrence pups are good if you
use at least 12-guage strings, and the Fender Japan Strat pups are excellent.
The excessive shrillness of the bridge pup on the Strat is made worse by the
fact that the standard wiring does not provide tone control for the bridge pup.
There is a very simple, elegant wiring mod that I found on the Net, which subs
in a 3-position switch, converts the upper tone pot to a volume control for the
middle pup, and the bottom tone pot becomes a master tone for all 3 pups. This
allows the Strat to be played with ALL possible pup combinations, making it a
helluva lot more useful as a surf guitar. The combination of neck/bridge
renders a very Jag-like sound, and being able to cut some treble on the bridge
pup is quite handy for playing some of the cowboy/western songs.
I also found that the Callaham forged steel trem-block ($55.00) makes a
walloping difference in sustain and sound definition even with the stock pups in
place.
In my collection I have original vintage and R/I Jags, Jazzmasters and
Mosrites. I recently played one of my modified, (with the Seymour Antiquity II
Surf pups) Wilson Bros. VM-10 Stratoclones during a rehearsal, and asked
periodically for comments from the rest of the band. They were unanimous that
it is one of the sweetest sounding surf guitars they've ever heard! This was
delightful to hear since the total bottom-line cost of the VM-10 including all
mods is still about $300 below the current "discount" price of an American
Standard. And it's got that cool "Ventures" logo on the headstock!!
Bruce D
Michael S Springer <> wrote:
This is mostly for you who use Strats or stratoclones.
(sorry, JM and Jaguar guys...)
Do any of you ever replace the pickups on lower price guitars
to upgrade the sound?
If so, what models are best for surf?
And what "temperature"?
And are any noiseless "single coils" being used?
I don't consider the stock MIM Standard pickups to be very good
for clean sounds- (very noisy and cheap ceramic magnet design)
although they can be improved easily with an inductance plate.
(steel bar the size of the pickup wrapped with copper foil and run to
ground)
So I'm always upgrading the pickups.
I would guess that Texas Specials would not be very appealing,
but it seems that something wound a little hot would work,
as long as it wasn't so hot that it would break up easily.
Do surf guitarists ever use the nasal quack in a Strat's combo positions?
Or do they ever use the middle pickup alone?
Does the neck pickup ever get used, maybe for rhythm?
When the second guitar does a single note accompaniment,
does it use a different pickup setting than the lead guitar?
I recently bought two pickups from DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage line.
The first I bought was a Virtual Vintage Blues DP402.
It's a medium hot pickup. (145 millivolts)
I first installed it in the middle position of a stratoid with
strat-ish trem, but body mounted pickups.
I then took it to a store and tried it through a tube amp (Rivera Pubster
or Clubster)
with reverb, and it sounded really cool in a way that might work
for surf or guitar instro... it had a lot of punch and clarity
I then tried it in the neck pickup of my Strat- very fat and loud,
but it retained the punch and clarity... DiMarzio's catalog says they
can also be used in the bridge position of a Strat.
I haven't tried it there yet though, but I think it would cut the
Strat bridge "icepick-in-the-ear" treble effect, but still do clean
really well,
at least in an amp with a lot of clean headroom.
I'm also looking forward to trying them in a real Strat's middle
position.
(Note- do <not> confuse this with the DP403 Heavy Blues, which
I think is one of the hottest, similar to Texas Specials in the Fender
line.
A lot of people have a hard time getting this model to sound right in
their
guitars and try to unload them on eBay.)
I also bought a DP408 VirtuAL middle.
Lower output, also has good clarity, but it's a cooler wound pickup,
so it's not as fat or punchy or loud... but it's EQ'ed to be fairly dark.
The DiMarzio Virtual Vintage line has this cool feature.
They can be coil tapped, since electronically they are humbuckers.
(Technically they are called "stacked humbuckers")
Because the second coil is hidden underneath the top coil,
it has no access to the strings, but is there just to add the
hum-cancelling
effect. Anyway, the noiseless mode sounds pretty good, and noiseless,
but if you coil tap the remote coil out of the circuit,
it's even sweeter harmonically, louder,
and still quite low noise compared to a normal single coil.
Other pickups that sound like they might have some surfy or instro
applications
are the Virtual Vintage '54 (DP405 neck and DP405 bridge)-
"complex woody vibe"
and the DP 409 bridge- (also 145 millivolts)
"opens up all the attack and definition of the low strings"
Michael
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
To visit your group on the web, go to:
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
To visit your group on the web, go to:
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Top

stratrhythm - 27 Apr 2005 18:31:53

I was searching the archives last weekend and Mr. Wronski suggested
Burns Trisonics.
That's kinda interesting because Burns makes a guitar with a 24 inch
scale like a Jag, the Brian May special that uses those pickups...
So it has at least two things in common w/ one of those DW specials...
Wonder how surfy that sounds, Poppa Surf?
Dave

Top

Jacob Dobner (jacobdobner) - 27 Apr 2005 19:39:40

Go to and go to the videos and watch the
Misirlou video to hear them in action.
--- In , "stratrhythm"
<lawyerschroeder@s...> wrote:
>
> I was searching the archives last weekend and Mr. Wronski suggested
> Burns Trisonics.
>
> That's kinda interesting because Burns makes a guitar with a 24 inch
> scale like a Jag, the Brian May special that uses those pickups...
>
> So it has at least two things in common w/ one of those DW specials...
>
>
>
> Wonder how surfy that sounds, Poppa Surf?
>
> Dave

Top

Marty Tippens (mctippens) - 27 Apr 2005 20:09:39

That's a nice collection, Bruce. I have originals and latter-day copies as well.
The copies do indeed blow away the originals. I won't go as far as to say they
sound better. In my blindfold A/B testing, the copies and originals sound
identical. It's a great sound. The copies are just made so well.
-Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: bruce d
To:
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 4:22 PM
Subject: Re: [SurfGuitar101] Replacement pickups for surf??? (and pickup
positions for surf)
Have one original '63 Ventures Model Bass, just sold my original Candy Apple
Blue '65 Ventures Model. Have 2 Dillion Mosrite copies, one Aria Mosrite copy,
a Japanese-made "Mosrite of Classics" and a Univox Hi-Flyer - that about covers
it. Got rid of the '65 because I never played it - neck much too narrow and
frets much to squeezed together for my taste, and believe it or not, all the
other "copies" I have, play and sound light years better! Got 4-grand for the
'65, and like the $400 copies better!
Bruce D
Marty Tippens <> wrote:
What Mosrites do you have, Bruce?
-Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: bruce d
To:
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: [SurfGuitar101] Replacement pickups for surf??? (and pickup
positions for surf)
I've experimented with several different up-grade pups in low-buck
Stratoclones. The other guitarist in my band, Loyd Davis, bought a set of
DiMarzio Virtual Vintage pups, and after two weeks, yanked 'em, and replaced
them with a set of Kinman noiseless, which he's now had in the Strat for about 2
years.
I've found that the Fender Vintage Noiseless pups work very well, as do the
Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Surf pups. The Bill Lawrence pups are good if you
use at least 12-guage strings, and the Fender Japan Strat pups are excellent.
The excessive shrillness of the bridge pup on the Strat is made worse by the
fact that the standard wiring does not provide tone control for the bridge pup.
There is a very simple, elegant wiring mod that I found on the Net, which subs
in a 3-position switch, converts the upper tone pot to a volume control for the
middle pup, and the bottom tone pot becomes a master tone for all 3 pups. This
allows the Strat to be played with ALL possible pup combinations, making it a
helluva lot more useful as a surf guitar. The combination of neck/bridge
renders a very Jag-like sound, and being able to cut some treble on the bridge
pup is quite handy for playing some of the cowboy/western songs.
I also found that the Callaham forged steel trem-block ($55.00) makes a
walloping difference in sustain and sound definition even with the stock pups in
place.
In my collection I have original vintage and R/I Jags, Jazzmasters and
Mosrites. I recently played one of my modified, (with the Seymour Antiquity II
Surf pups) Wilson Bros. VM-10 Stratoclones during a rehearsal, and asked
periodically for comments from the rest of the band. They were unanimous that
it is one of the sweetest sounding surf guitars they've ever heard! This was
delightful to hear since the total bottom-line cost of the VM-10 including all
mods is still about $300 below the current "discount" price of an American
Standard. And it's got that cool "Ventures" logo on the headstock!!
Bruce D
Michael S Springer <> wrote:
This is mostly for you who use Strats or stratoclones.
(sorry, JM and Jaguar guys...)
Do any of you ever replace the pickups on lower price guitars
to upgrade the sound?
If so, what models are best for surf?
And what "temperature"?
And are any noiseless "single coils" being used?
I don't consider the stock MIM Standard pickups to be very good
for clean sounds- (very noisy and cheap ceramic magnet design)
although they can be improved easily with an inductance plate.
(steel bar the size of the pickup wrapped with copper foil and run to
ground)
So I'm always upgrading the pickups.
I would guess that Texas Specials would not be very appealing,
but it seems that something wound a little hot would work,
as long as it wasn't so hot that it would break up easily.
Do surf guitarists ever use the nasal quack in a Strat's combo positions?
Or do they ever use the middle pickup alone?
Does the neck pickup ever get used, maybe for rhythm?
When the second guitar does a single note accompaniment,
does it use a different pickup setting than the lead guitar?
I recently bought two pickups from DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage line.
The first I bought was a Virtual Vintage Blues DP402.
It's a medium hot pickup. (145 millivolts)
I first installed it in the middle position of a stratoid with
strat-ish trem, but body mounted pickups.
I then took it to a store and tried it through a tube amp (Rivera Pubster
or Clubster)
with reverb, and it sounded really cool in a way that might work
for surf or guitar instro... it had a lot of punch and clarity
I then tried it in the neck pickup of my Strat- very fat and loud,
but it retained the punch and clarity... DiMarzio's catalog says they
can also be used in the bridge position of a Strat.
I haven't tried it there yet though, but I think it would cut the
Strat bridge "icepick-in-the-ear" treble effect, but still do clean
really well,
at least in an amp with a lot of clean headroom.
I'm also looking forward to trying them in a real Strat's middle
position.
(Note- do <not> confuse this with the DP403 Heavy Blues, which
I think is one of the hottest, similar to Texas Specials in the Fender
line.
A lot of people have a hard time getting this model to sound right in
their
guitars and try to unload them on eBay.)
I also bought a DP408 VirtuAL middle.
Lower output, also has good clarity, but it's a cooler wound pickup,
so it's not as fat or punchy or loud... but it's EQ'ed to be fairly dark.
The DiMarzio Virtual Vintage line has this cool feature.
They can be coil tapped, since electronically they are humbuckers.
(Technically they are called "stacked humbuckers")
Because the second coil is hidden underneath the top coil,
it has no access to the strings, but is there just to add the
hum-cancelling
effect. Anyway, the noiseless mode sounds pretty good, and noiseless,
but if you coil tap the remote coil out of the circuit,
it's even sweeter harmonically, louder,
and still quite low noise compared to a normal single coil.
Other pickups that sound like they might have some surfy or instro
applications
are the Virtual Vintage '54 (DP405 neck and DP405 bridge)-
"complex woody vibe"
and the DP 409 bridge- (also 145 millivolts)
"opens up all the attack and definition of the low strings"
Michael
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
To visit your group on the web, go to:
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
---------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
To visit your group on the web, go to:
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
.
Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Top

stratrhythm - 27 Apr 2005 20:59:41

Thanks Jacob...That was Stunning! Dave
--- In , "Jacob Dobner"
<jacobdobner@y...> wrote:
>
> Go to and go to the videos and watch the
> Misirlou video to hear them in action.
>
> --- In , "stratrhythm"
> <lawyerschroeder@s...> wrote:
> >
> > I was searching the archives last weekend and Mr. Wronski
suggested
> > Burns Trisonics.
> >
> > That's kinda interesting because Burns makes a guitar with a 24
inch
> > scale like a Jag, the Brian May special that uses those
pickups...
> >
> > So it has at least two things in common w/ one of those DW
specials...
> >
> >
> >
> > Wonder how surfy that sounds, Poppa Surf?
> >
> > Dave

Top

mono_tones_1 - 29 Apr 2005 04:02:09

--- In , Michael S Springer
<springerms@j...> wrote:
> This is mostly for you who use Strats or stratoclones.
>
> (sorry, JM and Jaguar guys...)
>
> Do any of you ever replace the pickups on lower price guitars
> to upgrade the sound?
> If so, what models are best for surf?
> And what "temperature"?
> And are any noiseless "single coils" being used?
>
I have seymour duncan SSL-1 pups in bridge and middle positions -
medium output, good bass and treble, less mid. I use the mid only for
a rounder, heavier sound (somehow a bit compressed too), and
mid+bridge for a more vintage thinner sound. doesn't give a strat
quak tho.
the neck poup ios not even connected at the momen, and has lost its
screw on one side. havent felt the need to fix it yet, looking for a
3th ssl-1, and too involved in ampproject.
great pups. the mp3's on our side are recorded with that guitar,
korean plywood strat, with those pups - they'll sound better in a *
real * guitar i imagine
WR

Top