What guitar do you play?

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I have a DiMarzio in the neck but they all look the same and I forgot the model type.
You have 22 or 24 fret neck?
 
22 frets. Years ago when I bought this guitar I ordered a DiMarzio Super Distortion to replace the stock bridge pickup. I still have the stock neck and middle pickups (HSS configuration). I don’t care particularly about the middle but I think it’s high time to swap the neck pup. I’ve been looking at Air Norton S for years, actually. Another contender is the Seymour Ducan Cool Rails but I’m leaning towards DiMarzio.
 
Next time I change strings I'll pop out the magnets and see what exactly they are. I don't think it's Air Norton, tho, it's probably Fasttrack or Cruiser or something.

If you're going for "natural" tones by switching pickups, I couldn't recommend two volume wiring enough. This gives you exact control of both pups at once. Two volume pots and a three way selector gives as many variations as volume/tone with a 5 way selector, and has a wider dynamic, cause it doesn't cut the treble.

So I judge it by how it can mix in the overall sound. It sounds great. In itself, it's just a neck pickup. They all sound blobby to me. It's both louder, wider and more defined than a stock Jackson thing that I have in a Dinky, which is expected anyways.
 
I don’t know the first thing about wiring. So to be clear, are you suggesting having a separate volume control for the bridge pickup and neck pickup instead of one volume and one tone control that affect all pickups?
 
Yep.

It'll give you way more control over your new shiny pickups.

It takes getting used to, somewhat. In the end I never did much with the tone pot, and here I find myself "mixing" all the time - selecting the middle gives you that "full guitar" sound, but now you can dial down the top or the bottom, not by actually cutting off those frequencies, but by decreasing the most likely source.

The result is that you might not need to tweak the amp to change some aspects of the sound. Which is a lot of convenience.

If you know the video where Hetfield's guitar fails during the last part of Fade to Black, his selector went dead. His neck pickup was put to a very low volume, so in combo with lower picking attack, he could play "clean" while still being on the overdrive channel. This is the most obvious use case, one is high, other is low, so you get the distortion switch right on the guitar. Another one is getting more bluesier tones while still on a metal rhythm setting, middle position, and neck pickup is louder than the bridge pickup but both are below 100%.

Don't classic Les Pauls have both pickups volume (and tone) pots?
 
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There's a million tutorials on the web on how to lower action on an acoustic guitar but nearly no one talks about how to raise it. Is everyone so obsessed with getting their action as low as possible that no one cares about the opposite process? Ranting aside, the only advice I found was to put something thin, like a little piece of a playing card underneath the saddle, so that the saddle would sit higher. So is that the best way to go about it? My neck relief is absolutely fine, I don't need to touch the truss rod, I just want to have less buzz. My acoustic had a near-perfect setup from the store but when I tuned down a half-step, the top E started to buzz. The action on the high E is 1.4 mm and 2 mm on the low side, which is not enough. I want to raise the action about 0.5 mm.
 
Personally, no xp with acoustics...your solution seems logical and harmless. I also have a problem with a classical guitar, its top started to peel off. About couple of centimeters decoupled. I should glue it back somehow. Anyone with that kind of experience here?
 
I'd get a neck pickup that matches the Super Distortion in output. It isn't fun when you've got two awesome sounds, but can't switch between them because of a volume/output difference.
 
Maturin said:
I'd get a neck pickup that matches the Super Distortion in output. It isn't fun when you've got two awesome sounds, but can't switch between them because of a volume/output difference.
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The stock neck pickup is a LOT quieter than the Super Distortion. The Air Norton S should be significantly higher in output and the DiMarzio website explicitly states that Super Distortion matches well with Air Norton S.
 
Have no idea about the Air Norton S, but if they state that, you're alright :) Only got the Super Distortion (bridge) in a Kurt Cobain Jag, and it's... LOUD. Very cool pickup.
 
Maturin said:
Have no idea about the Air Norton S, but if they state that, you're alright :) Only got the Super Distortion (bridge) in a Kurt Cobain Jag, and it's... LOUD. Very cool pickup.
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It is high output indeed. I wish I had a better amp to play it through.
 
Which amp would I like to own or which one do I have? I’ve been playing through a Blackstar ID:15 TVP for the last 7 years.
 
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Say hello to Jay (Yes I nicknamed it ...).

Jay is a 2011 Les Paul Traditional Plus in Heritage Cherry Sunburst. It has had a Les Paul disease (broken headstock), but profesionally repaired.

The flame...

I love it.

P. S. for any OCD people here... Yes I have adjusted the plastic around the switch.
 
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I have been a bass player for 20 years and I have been playing a Musicman Stingray 5 for the last 13 years. I love the tone and the extra string is always helpful. I play mostly in party bands, big bands and pit orchestras for am dramatic nowadays. I don’t really have the desire for an original band anymore. Maybe one day.

In this photo you can see my Fender Mustang. I use this for a more ‘old school tone’.
 

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You know what else is an achievenent? Being as bad at SEO and marketing as you are.
 
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My family photo :wub: From left to right:
  • Chapman ML-3 Standard. Reasonably priced, but solid and plays very nicely so she made for a good base for mods, I swapped out the stock pickups for some Duncans (Custom & Jazz) and a Hipshot hardtail bridge.
  • PJD St. John Hybrid. Affectionately known as Peta, she's my most recent addition, having bought her last year. Made Oop North and, as far as I'm aware, she's one of a kind. Got a single Bareknuckle Mule pickup, but I rewired the tone knob to use as a coil split, so I can get full humbucker, single coil and a nice "in between" tone. The patch next to the strings is just the light reflecting off where my fingers rest.
  • Jackson Pro Series Dinky. Or Felicity, she is my favourite, got her for my 18th birthday. She originally had the tried-n-true JB/'59 set when I got her but I've recently switched over to Bareknuckles (after playing the Mule I had to try some more out), namely a Holy Diver and an Emerald. Also got Schaller locking tuners and some FU-Tone red titanium hardware on the Floyd, can't say it made much of a difference tone-wise, but it looks pretty sweet and brings out the red on the BK's nicely.
  • Partscaster Strat. My first build, consisting of a maple neck and alder body from Northwest guitars, Gotoh locking tuners, Duncan Classic Stack Plus and JB Jr. pickups, Schaller metal Strat knobs, a black aluminium pickguard and a Wilkinson tremolo. Any ideas who I was inspired by?!
  • Gibson SG Standard. This is Jerry. Took a lot for me to love this one, he never really felt like he was worth the money and I had to swap out more than I would've liked to. The tuners are now Hipshot locking tuners, the pickups are Alegree Desert Dew humbucker-sized P90s, I've also had the nut and electronics replaced. He's a fine guitar though, comfortable and easy to play with little of the neck-dive that people say is so prevalent in SG's.
  • Suzuki Classical Guitar. It's not really in a playable condition now, but there's a lot of sentimental value here as my Grandad owned it for 30+ years before he gave it to me shortly after I started playing. Probably wouldn't take much to bring it back, maybe I'll set aside some time for it one day.

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And my small-but-mighty rig, a Friedman JJ Junior going into a Zilla 1x12 cabinet (an older model, going by the logo and the dimensions), the guy I bought it from said there's a Celestion Vintage 30 in there but I've never opened it to check... whatever it is, it sounds great. The Friedman's tamed by a Lazy Bear Effects attenuator (the small silver box), only cost £25 but it works wonders, brings the volume down to a safe-for-home level without colouring the tone at all. Then my pedalboard, which features a Boss CH-1 Super Chorus, TC Electronic Flashback Delay, Hotone Noise Gate, Landlord FX Spinning Room multi-modulation, a Dunlop Jerry Cantrell signature wah-wah, the amp's footswitch, TC Electronic Ditto looper, TC Electronic Spark boost and a Maxon OD-808.
 
Recently I got myself an American Professional Stratocaster and it feels pretty special. I remember the day when out of the blue I decided I want to start playing guitar. It was when I was watching Rock in Rio DVD, so naturally I wanted a white Strat! I got a Squier Bullet, used it for about a year or so, sold it and went for other types of guitars. Now, many years and guitars later - inspired by the new Maiden album coming up - I decided to go back to my roots, but this time it's the real deal, my first ever USA guitar. As you can see, my choice of colour, fretboard and pickups was inspired by Janick's Strat. I love it, it's the best one I've played and I hope it'll stay with me longer than my previous instruments.

strat8.jpg

If I named my guitars, I would call it Stratego! ;)
 
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