Noiseless neck pickup for Kurt Cobain Mustang

jonnyrocket · Post by **jonnyrocket** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 7:17 am

Hi, I have had a KC Mustang for a while now and love the guitar. Recently I have been wanting to replace the neck pickup for a noiseless pickup. It has a JB in the bridge and I think it came with 250K pots. I play mainly classic rock. My main problem with the current one is that it sounds a bit dull and lacking clarity.

I have been reading many forums and it seems that maybe one of the Dimarzio Area or one of the Duncan Stacks would be a good choice. If you guys have tried any of the Dimarzio Area or Duncan Stacks on the neck of a Mustang, which one do you think would work best with the 24" scale along with a JB?

Thanks!
Jon

sread92 · Post by **sread92** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 8:18 am

jonnyrocket wrote:Hi, I have had a KC Mustang for a while now and love the guitar. Recently I have been wanting to replace the neck pickup for a noiseless pickup. It has a JB in the bridge and I think it came with 250K pots. I play mainly classic rock. My main problem with the current one is that it sounds a bit dull and lacking clarity.

I have been reading many forums and it seems that maybe one of the Dimarzio Area or one of the Duncan Stacks would be a good choice. If you guys have tried any of the Dimarzio Area or Duncan Stacks on the neck of a Mustang, which one do you think would work best with the 24" scale along with a JB?

Thanks!
Jon

Really any of the single coil shaped humbuckers should do the trick. JB JR are very popular, as are the Seymour Duncan Hot Rails.
I can personally vouch for the Hot Rails eliminating a lot of buzz, and improving tone immensely. My friend plays a Squier Strat, which years ago, when stock, would hum like crazy (and be somewhat lacking in tone) through his 70's double speaker fender amp. He swapped all 3 pickups for hot rails he got cheap or free, and although it wasn't as noiseless as a "true" humbucker would've been, I'd say it probably eliminated at least 80% of the noise.
Not only that but they sounded incredible too, that guitar really did sound wonderful with those pickups in, although they retained the clarity expected from a strat and single coil shapes, they had an amazing amount of bite to them and incredible sustain.
No personal experience with any of the others, but I'm guessing they're all pretty similar.
I think also changing the pots from 250 to 500 makes the tone a little brighter, more trebly, and then again from 500-1000. So it may be a lot cheaper and more time effective just to try changing the pot before you go ahead and change the pickup itself.
Hope this has been of some help

Edit:

Just found this on another forum which may help

Single coils sound better to most of us if a little treble is allowed to get lost. So 250K is usual.

Humbuckers don't have as much treble as single coils so 500K is usual to resist treble getting lost.

Some players who use certain humbuckers want to lose some treble and use 250K for humbuckers.

The JB is one pickup that actually sounds good with 250K pots. With 500K it's pretty trebley.

gusman2x · Post by **gusman2x** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 8:24 am

Can't really offer any advice, but would like to get your opinion on the jb in the bridge. I have a kc mustang too, but i really don't get on with the jb. I find it very dark, and almost muffled when i play clean. It's been a long time since i played with hambakers. Do you find this issue too?

Think i'll probably put a single coil in there instead.

sread92 · Post by **sread92** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 9:13 am

gusman2x wrote:Can't really offer any advice, but would like to get your opinion on the jb in the bridge. I have a kc mustang too, but i really don't get on with the jb. I find it very dark, and almost muffled when i play clean. It's been a long time since i played with hambakers. Do you find this issue too?

Think i'll probably put a single coil in there instead.

You should check out my previous post, it might be worth putting a 500k pot in there for more clarity

Also whereabouts in Manchester you from bud? Bury lad here

gusman2x · Post by **gusman2x** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 9:28 am

sread92 wrote:
gusman2x wrote:Can't really offer any advice, but would like to get your opinion on the jb in the bridge. I have a kc mustang too, but i really don't get on with the jb. I find it very dark, and almost muffled when i play clean. It's been a long time since i played with hambakers. Do you find this issue too?

Think i'll probably put a single coil in there instead.
You should check out my previous post, it might be worth putting a 500k pot in there for more clarity
Also whereabouts in Manchester you from bud? Bury lad here

Cheers man. I take it this would change the character of the neck SC though as well? I'm pretty happy with the SC. I think I probably just want a pretty std mustang pickup configuration.

jonnyrocket · Post by **jonnyrocket** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 2:13 pm

gusman2x wrote:
sread92 wrote:
gusman2x wrote:Can't really offer any advice, but would like to get your opinion on the jb in the bridge. I have a kc mustang too, but i really don't get on with the jb. I find it very dark, and almost muffled when i play clean. It's been a long time since i played with hambakers. Do you find this issue too?

Think i'll probably put a single coil in there instead.
You should check out my previous post, it might be worth putting a 500k pot in there for more clarity
Also whereabouts in Manchester you from bud? Bury lad here
Cheers man. I take it this would change the character of the neck SC though as well? I'm pretty happy with the SC. I think I probably just want a pretty std mustang pickup configuration.

gusman2x, yes going from 250K pots to 500K will probably open up the JB but you are right, that would also change the character of your neck pickup. It will probably make it sound too bright as most single coil pickups don't work well with 500K pots. To me the JB sounds great and it is not muffled or dark on my guitar. Have you compared it to hum buckers in other guitars? If you want to have a more traditional mustang, maybe replace both pickups for standard single coil or noiseless pickups that sound like single coils.

I am looking for a neck pickup that is more clear and alive than the current one without being ice picky and with no hum!

cheers,
Jon

sread92 · Post by **sread92** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 2:30 pm

jonnyrocket wrote:
gusman2x wrote:
sread92 wrote: You should check out my previous post, it might be worth putting a 500k pot in there for more clarity
Also whereabouts in Manchester you from bud? Bury lad here
Cheers man. I take it this would change the character of the neck SC though as well? I'm pretty happy with the SC. I think I probably just want a pretty std mustang pickup configuration.
gusman2x, yes going from 250K pots to 500K will probably open up the JB but you are right, that would also change the character of your neck pickup. It will probably make it sound too bright as most single coil pickups don't work well with 500K pots. To me the JB sounds great and it is not muffled or dark on my guitar. Have you compared it to hum buckers in other guitars? If you want to have a more traditional mustang, maybe replace both pickups for standard single coil or noiseless pickups that sound like single coils.

I am looking for a neck pickup that is more clear and alive than the current one without being ice picky and with no hum!

cheers,
Jon

I'd certainly look into a hot rail

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 3:25 pm

1 MEG POTS ON EVERYTHING

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 3:28 pm

Another vote for hotrails
Or zexcoils!
Have you guys tried zexcoils!
I give them my 10/10 rating!

sread92 · Post by **sread92** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 3:41 pm

theshadowofseattle wrote:1 MEG POTS ON EVERYTHING

Probably don't do that

weeping_moon · Post by **weeping_moon** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 5:18 pm

sread92 wrote:
theshadowofseattle wrote:1 MEG POTS ON EVERYTHING
Probably don't do that

Hot rail with jb humbucker how does it sound togheter?

Yeeeeees! 1 meg potentiometer is hell of strong. Sounds so good with jaguar.

weeping_moon · Post by **weeping_moon** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 5:22 pm

Please post pics of your Cobain stang! Sonic blue, Dakota red or Dark lake placid blue?

luciguci · Post by **luciguci** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 5:46 pm

sread92 wrote:
theshadowofseattle wrote:1 MEG POTS ON EVERYTHING
Probably don't do that

1 MEG POTS ON EVERYTHING

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 6:09 pm

daftsupernova wrote:
sread92 wrote:
theshadowofseattle wrote:1 MEG POTS ON EVERYTHING
Probably don't do that
1 MEG POTS ON EVERYTHING

you heard the man.

1 meg pots on everything.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 7:46 pm

checkout the seymour duncan duckbucker. I have one in my bronco and I love it.

its a singlecoil humbucker designed to go in the middle of a strat. tons of mid range not muddy but not shrill either.

you can take the cover off and jam a mustang cover on it to keep the asthetic

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 10:10 pm

All of rob's guitars sound like drums. DON'T TRUST HIM.

PUT 1 MEG POTS IN IT.

othomas2 · Post by **othomas2** » Fri Apr 18, 2014 11:46 pm

theshadowofseattle wrote:
daftsupernova wrote:
sread92 wrote: Probably don't do that
1 MEG POTS ON EVERYTHING
you heard the man.

1 meg pots on everything.

I would agree too.

bluesngrunge · Post by **bluesngrunge** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 6:38 am

othomas2 wrote:
theshadowofseattle wrote:
daftsupernova wrote: 1 MEG POTS ON EVERYTHING
you heard the man.

1 meg pots on everything.
I would agree too.

fuck yeah! Tonez more open than your whore mom's ass!

luciguci · Post by **luciguci** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 6:57 am

tone it down a bit there. this is the internet, not middle school.

YuriK · Post by **YuriK** » Sat Apr 19, 2014 12:06 pm

1meg pots ON EVERYTHING
EVERYTHING!

Noiseless neck pickup for Kurt Cobain Mustang

Noiseless neck pickup for Kurt Cobain Mustang

Re: Noiseless neck pickup for Kurt Cobain Mustang