If you have experience with SD P-Rail pickups, please share

[Peter C]

I'm considering one of these because they're said to provide good ballpark P90 tone as well as decent HB soundz when run in parallel. A push-pull or toggle would be fine to alternate between these two options and I wouldn't get the "triple-shot mounting ring" to access the (thin sounding?) single coil rail or (overly hot?) serial HB tones.

I'm fully aware they won't give me holy grail P90 or HB tones, but the flexibility seems very appealing

Thanks ahead for any insights etc.

[MaxTwang]

Great pickups. I had them in a Carvin DC400 and while I wasn't crazy about the guitar I've often missed the pickups.

[medblues]

I have a set in a Warmoth S-partcaster, very versatile pickups, can be warm/humbucking but also provide some P-90ish sounds. Nice output, I usually have to turn the volume down for clean tones through a tube amp. If you get the SD Triple Shot switches, you expand tonal variations even more.

[jads57]

They sounded like what I like in P 90s nor Humbuckers to my ears. They were good pickups but not my cup of tea!
Had them in Tele Gib build last year, I sold. You really need to judge for yourself.
I believe Seymour Duncan has 30 day trial period.

[Spook410]

I have a pair of them in a D'Angelico SS. Wonderful pickups. All the sounds are useful especially if you have two of them to blend. Only downside I see is great flexibility can be distracting.

I have a 4 pot push/pull setup. Complicated wiring. But a really fun guitar.

[Peter C]

Thanks for the replies, very helpful.

I've read that the serial (as against parallel) HB setting is a bit too much. Having second thoughts about the triple shot ring. This would be going on a single pup archtop, btw.

[Spook410]

When I researched the triple shot ring I saw too many complaints that it's fragile and hard to switch on the fly. Intuitively seems so but haven't owned one set up that way. Still, it's an easier install and if you're not sure you'll stay with it might be the way to go initially. I do think the push pull pots are the best way to operate. If you don't have a vol/tone set of pots on the guitar or you don't want to swap them, you might be able to put mini toggles at the outer edge of your pickguard.

As for parallel/series HB settings, I think you'll like both sounds. That and the P90 is not a compromise. That's where I'm set most of the time. These pickups may be a hassle to wire up but they do work well.

[Peter C]

Seymour Duncan website: "The neck pickup in this set is RWRP (reverse wind, reverse polarity) so you are hum- free when using any single coil in the neck with one in the bridge".

Great. Thing is, this is for a single pup guitar, so there could be hum in single coil mode, like when splitting a standard humbucker, right?

[neatomic]

the biggest problem with splitting a humbucker into single coil mode was the huge reduction in volume!!...the single coil wind was no match for the full humbucker/dual coil


cut to just fairly recently...dean and prs, both have pickups that have a boost coil that cuts in with the split..so that the single coil is boosted to the level of the humbucker...very ingenious..no volume drop...hugely important

dean calls them sidekick pickups- info here- SideKick Pickup | Dean Zelinsky Guitars

not sure if similar tech is used by duncan on his p-rails

cheers

[Peter C]

I understand that the P-Rail's P90-ish coil packs quite a punch, whereas the rail coil is indeed "half a humbucker". Can do without that one. Also, I tend not to change my basic sound a lot during a tune. I checked out the sidekick pup and it looks interesting - anyone using them clean on a hollow body? Oh and yikes: 50$ shipping outside the US of A!

[Madansi]

I wanted a P-rail on my archtop... Ended with a custom humbucker made by Pete Biltoft from Vintage Vibe Pickups.
1 coil is single sized P90, other coil is single sized Charlie Christian. I use triple shot to run each coil independently, wired in parallel or in series.
Pickup is amazing and versatile, series mode is even better than former pickup to me ( seymour duncan APH1 )

I reccomand contacting Pete for a custom pickup.

[Peter C]

Thanks Madansi for pointing me to the Vintage Vibe website; I had forgotten about their HB CC, for example. Seems like the options are limitless, and reasonable prices, too.