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[Cosmic Bandito]

btw how do you turn off hi-hats?

I meant I just lower my dimmers till the circut is off. The dimmers (I have them in 3 rooms!) totally interfere with my guitar pickups until I lower them!

yeah dimmers are bad news, I have dimmers too but they go off with a switch so I just kill them.... but I had never heard dimmers called hi-hats

Hi Hat = Recessed lighting
http://www.display-smart.com/cgi-local/ ... -cases.jpg

SD Classic Stack Plus = Latest in noiseless single coil design
http://www.seymourduncan.com/news/class ... plus.shtml

[Hink]

btw how do you turn off hi-hats?

I meant I just lower my dimmers till the circut is off. The dimmers (I have them in 3 rooms!) totally interfere with my guitar pickups until I lower them!

yeah dimmers are bad news, I have dimmers too but they go off with a switch so I just kill them.... but I had never heard dimmers called hi-hats

Hi Hat = Recessed lighting
http://www.display-smart.com/cgi-local/ ... -cases.jpg

SD Classic Stack Plus = Latest in noiseless single coil design
http://www.seymourduncan.com/news/class ... plus.shtml

yeah that's where I got what I quoted...can you show me there where they call it a single coil...it says it has two coils...two is not single...it's single coiled size but it is not single coil...sorry

[Lunch Money]

That Duncan looks nice. Definitely a humbucker, though. A 'different' kind of humbucker, but a humbucker nonetheless.

Andrew: I suspected it would be the pickups.

[Cosmic Bandito]

btw how do you turn off hi-hats?

I meant I just lower my dimmers till the circut is off. The dimmers (I have them in 3 rooms!) totally interfere with my guitar pickups until I lower them!

yeah dimmers are bad news, I have dimmers too but they go off with a switch so I just kill them.... but I had never heard dimmers called hi-hats

Hi Hat = Recessed lighting
http://www.display-smart.com/cgi-local/ ... -cases.jpg

SD Classic Stack Plus = Latest in noiseless single coil design
http://www.seymourduncan.com/news/class ... plus.shtml

yeah that's where I got what I quoted...can you show me there where they call it a single coil...it says it has two coils...two is not single...it's single coiled size but it is not single coil...sorry

If you want to get technical, yes it's not one coil, but two stacked, one on top of the other. As you can see they are much taller that regular SC's but you can't see that once installed in the guitar. Purely from a technical standpoint, possibly can be deemed a humbucker, that's not my expertise, so I'm not sure if it works in quite the same way, although some of the principles are clearly shared with humbucker pickups (that may be something only Seymour knows right now). However, "Humbucker" would not be an accurate description of the sound, utility, or intent of the product. The Classic Stack Plus is, without question, a "replacement" for Strat Single coil pickups, for those who want traditional Single coil sound, minus the HUM!

Would you not put them in your guitar because it is not technically a single coil (if it sounds more like a real single coil than any other "noiseless" design in the market)?

[Hink]

btw how do you turn off hi-hats?

I meant I just lower my dimmers till the circut is off. The dimmers (I have them in 3 rooms!) totally interfere with my guitar pickups until I lower them!

yeah dimmers are bad news, I have dimmers too but they go off with a switch so I just kill them.... but I had never heard dimmers called hi-hats

Hi Hat = Recessed lighting
http://www.display-smart.com/cgi-local/ ... -cases.jpg

SD Classic Stack Plus = Latest in noiseless single coil design
http://www.seymourduncan.com/news/class ... plus.shtml

yeah that's where I got what I quoted...can you show me there where they call it a single coil...it says it has two coils...two is not single...it's single coiled size but it is not single coil...sorry

If you want to get technical, yes it's not one coil, but two stacked, one on top of the other. As you can see they are much taller that regular SC's but you can't see that once installed in the guitar. Purely from a technical standpoint, possibly can be deemed a humbucker, that's not my expertise, so I'm not sure if it works in quite the same way, although some of the principles are clearly shared with humbucker pickups (that may be something only Seymour knows right now). However, "Humbucker" would not be an accurate description of the sound, utility, or intent of the product. The Classic Stack Plus is, without question, a "replacement" for Strat Single coil pickups, for those who want traditional Single coil sound, minus the HUM!

Would you not put them in your guitar because it is not technically a single coil (if it sounds more like a real single coil than any other "noiseless" design in the market)?

sorry dude, no offense but you are very confused...a replacement for single coils does not make it a single coil...you can call it what you want...but it's not a single coil. To compare it to a fender single coil is wrong, even seymour duncan does not call it a single coil...it is a stacked humbucker...what it's called though would have no bearing on whether I would use it, I use what sounds best too me.

[Hink]

btw the stacked concept is far from new....they've been around for at least 20 years

[Lunch Money]

Right, but Duncan acknowledges both of those in its description of this new product. I think it sounds rather intriguing, and if their literature is to believed, will produce a more realistic 'single coil' sound than typical stacked humbuckers.

[Hink]

Right, but Duncan acknowledges both of those in its description of this new product. I think it sounds rather intriguing, and if their literature is to believed, will produce a more realistic 'single coil' sound than typical stacked humbuckers.

actually guitar parts depot which sells seymour duncan does list it under single coil but the thin side by side humbuckers that are single coil size are under single coil as well...

http://guitarpartsdepot.com/Merchant2/m ... _Code=SDSC

furthermore if you google define humbucker you'll see they define a humbucker as two single coils side by side...so it's easy to see why he is confused.

But you're right Greg, it is intriguing and thank you CB for pointing them out to us. I'm not really a fan of Fender anything, mostly due to the reasons people do not like Monster cable. These are an interesting option for sure.

The truth imo is Fender way over charges, they really are strict about anything close to trademark infringement (far worse than Monster cable is accused of being, I have experienced Fender first hand) and I'm not completely comfortable believing that some USA strats in which you are paying for that distinction are not shipped across the border, especially seeing how many Strats made in Mexico I have found to be very nice.

However with that said, I do prefer the Fender body designs over most. I actually have been very tempted by G&L, but again I feel a little as if you are paying for the name. That's not entirely negative, but a guitar like my Warmoth surely has equal quality and for me having no real resale value (not like a Fender or G&L would be) is a strong point...it's only value is to me and I like that...

[Lunch Money]

Yeah. And still not cheap. Quality parts cost money, and a Warmoth-built guitar is not cheap. But it's way better value for money. You actually get what you're paying for. I'd like to put together one of those some day.

[robogone]

If you put any of these strat replacement humbuckers pretending to be single coil kits, does it still sound like a strat with single coil pickups? I mean if you played one, would it overdrive more easily because they're humbuckers, and does it give you that same strat sound for all pickup combinations?

[egbert]

The point about traditional humbuckers (besides their hum cancelling function) is that the two poles are under different points on the string (separated by about an inch) - leading to some cancellation of the higher partials. Eg - for a partial frequency with a wavelength twice the separation of the P/U poles - the signals picked up by the poles would be 180 deg out of phase.

Single coils sample the waveform at just one place along the string and thus have uncancelled partials further up the series than double pole humbuckers (the actual width of the single coils is not zero - more like half and inch - so cancellation does become a factor when you get high enough in the harmonic series.)

With stacked coil P/Us, because the coils are not at different points along the string should (in theory at least) sound like single coils without the noise - which is pretty much what it says on the tin.

[Hink]

If you put any of these strat replacement humbuckers pretending to be single coil kits, does it still sound like a strat with single coil pickups? I mean if you played one, would it overdrive more easily because they're humbuckers, and does it give you that same strat sound for all pickup combinations?

They claim it to very authentic sound and tbh knowing Duncans I would tend to believe them. If you read the discription on how they wotk the concept is for the top coil to get the sound and the bottom cancels the hum. The method they use to balance them seems to be their claim of difference from other stacks. So without trying them it does seem that the concepts are "sound" (no pun intended), however I would like to see for myself how they interact with each other because imo that is one of the benefits of three single coils in a strat. Surely they would not be as "overdriven" as a humbucker, I'm sure they would be thinner sounding as are stock pick-ups. I had stacks in the middle and neck on a Charvel I had in the 80s (the bridge was a traditional humbucker), it surely wasn't as full as other humbuckers when using the stacks. That guitar had three switches so any combo was possible. So I'm sure if you want that single coil sound with humbucking features this would be better suited towards that than traditional humbuckers...

[championrabbit]

Meh.

Guitarists are like golfers; they care less about the activity than they do about bitching about the gear.

Single coil? Humbucker? Who gives a shit so long as you like the way it sounds. My early 80s Fender strat won't sound the same as your early 70's strat even with the same PUs. Who cares?

It's not as if you guys even use same amps/pedals/DI-boxes/whatever.

Guitarists will never get to grips with the concept that there is no objectively good guitar sound.

Guitarists suck.

[Hink]

Meh.

Guitarists are like golfers; they care less about the activity than they do about bitching about the gear.

Single coil? Humbucker? Who gives a shit so long as you like the way it sounds. My early 80s Fender strat won't sound the same as your early 70's strat even with the same PUs. Who cares?

It's not as if you guys even use same amps/pedals/DI-boxes/whatever.

Guitarists will never get to grips with the concept that there is no objectively good guitar sound.

Guitarists suck.

[Cosmic Bandito]

Right, but Duncan acknowledges both of those in its description of this new product. I think it sounds rather intriguing, and if their literature is to believed, will produce a more realistic 'single coil' sound than typical stacked humbuckers.

actually guitar parts depot which sells seymour duncan does list it under single coil but the thin side by side humbuckers that are single coil size are under single coil as well...

http://guitarpartsdepot.com/Merchant2/m ... _Code=SDSC

furthermore if you google define humbucker you'll see they define a humbucker as two single coils side by side...so it's easy to see why he is confused.

But you're right Greg, it is intriguing and thank you CB for pointing them out to us. I'm not really a fan of Fender anything, mostly due to the reasons people do not like Monster cable. These are an interesting option for sure.

The truth imo is Fender way over charges, they really are strict about anything close to trademark infringement (far worse than Monster cable is accused of being, I have experienced Fender first hand) and I'm not completely comfortable believing that some USA strats in which you are paying for that distinction are not shipped across the border, especially seeing how many Strats made in Mexico I have found to be very nice.

However with that said, I do prefer the Fender body designs over most. I actually have been very tempted by G&L, but again I feel a little as if you are paying for the name. That's not entirely negative, but a guitar like my Warmoth surely has equal quality and for me having no real resale value (not like a Fender or G&L would be) is a strong point...it's only value is to me and I like that...

Hink,
Along the lines of what you have been saying, here is California Strat (Assembled/finished in Mexico with US parts...or something like that) that I have been slowly upgrading in my spare time. So far I installed the Classic stacks & a JB humbucker, along with a mint green pickguard. The white JB sticks out, so I'll get a double-cream one, or just slap a nickel plate over it. Further down, maybe I'll install a bone nut with one of those Callam bridge upgrade kits I suppose. The ultimate upgrade would be a lovely Warmoth neck!

At this point, this guitar has little resale value considering what I've invested, but I love the way it looks, feels and sounds - so I'll never get rid of it.