Product: Kent Armstrong STCR1 Cool Rails
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
09/04/2009
at
06:16am
by
Christian Boddum
Features
:
Double rails singlecoil-size pickup (more later),
passive,ceramic magnet,
8 K Ohm series - 4 K Ohm parallel
This was the open coil black with black rails model.
Instrument
:
Installed in an Ibanez RG140 (Korean with japanese neck - I think)
H-S-S suerstrat, Basswood body, Maple neck, Rosewood fingerboard.
neck and middle position with coil tap for true singlecoil operation.
Original pickups were OK but nor great (ceramic bar magnets).
I wanted to try these because of recording in front of PC,
and general curiosity :-)
I have heard a soundbite earlier, but I think that was a series
wired sound, and it didn't impress me.
Sound
:
8
I ended up liking the parallel wiring the most,
because of the design it is a little bass heavy,
but if you use 500 K pots, you should have a close to even response.
In series it is neither nor, nothing for me,
it looses the attack and becomes too undefined with gain.
BUT
in parallel it it very close to a vintage type single coil
both in output and sound.
Tapping it further gives a very very little more true top end,
and really not worth it, since you loose the hum-cancelling.
The humbucker of this guitar is 7,5 K Ohm and a PAF type,
I like it, these rails fit perfectly volume and tonewise.
Overall Rating
:
8
I gave the guiar away as a gift, so the owner now would have the problem if it got stolen.
Been playing electric since ??77
I need workable instruments first, but looke also matters (on stage).
I loved it in this guitar, which didn't have a lot going for it tonewise
- thin neck, soft attack from Basswood.
It was an Ok backup, nothing moore.
This pickup comes in different housings,the closed housing could be a direct retofit but KA site doesn't claify this.
The open rails model doesn't fit directly and you have to do some work to the pickguard (this is nonreversable!).
I wish it came with a template for filing the hole correctly.
I would buy this again for a silent strat and use 500 K pots.
If you need something hotter but still single coilish,
the STHR (I think it's called) the hot model clocks in at 13,5 K
in series and is a wicked hammer for strats, but dosn't do cleans well, in parallel it is 7,75 K and it is much more allround.
