Seymour Duncan Hot Rails

Single coil size Humbucker. NECK pickup. Same specs as any else NECK position Hot rail.

This pickup was never used by me - I took it out of my sisters guitar, because she wanted Fender Strat pickups. And it was standing on my table until I finished my latest project.

I installed this pickup in my own made superstrat and all I can say- it kicks ***! It is a neck position pickup, so I placed it in the neck position :D

I've got Ibanez INF2 in the bridge position, but soon I'll change it to Duncan designed Hb-103 (sh-6 copy), because INF2 is weak with a lot of distortion.

It really is one of the best neck pickups I have ever played. I like it much better then EMG 85 and 89 (i've got them in other guitars). the sound - it is really THE Sound - you just need to hear it. The cleans are outstanding - warm and clean and balanced - really jazzy. I don't understand how can anyone use neck pickup for distortion solos, so I can't tell if the sound is good distorted or not, because don't use neck pickup with distortion.

If it was destroyed or stolen I would definitely buy it again, because it's great!
I've been playing a lot with all king of guitars (gibson, ibanez, fender, yamaha, etc) and I make musical instruments myself.

I really don't like single coil sound, so If you need a single coil sounding pickup, this one is NOT for you. But if you need a humbucker in your strat - this is the best choice!

Powerful humbucking solution for Telecaster & Strat type single coil guitars. Looking at the other reviews here it seems that people are making comparisons to the stock single coils and aint happy. Well,try and read the specs and details before buying!It was never meant to sound like the single coils.

I intalled this in the bridge position on my Tele and it kicks ***. I use it clean,apply a percussive country picking technique and run it through a Roland Cube 60 set on 'Black Face'.

Powerful punchy twang that delivers more mids without that overbearing high treble screetch I got on stock pickup. I used to spend ages taming the single coil by dialing out treble and boosting mid range through a compressor to get a usable tone,but now with this pickup installed I dont need to do any of that.It cuts through the mix easily and sounds awesome when picking treble and double stops. On overdrive (Boogie setting) I get a nice harmonically transparent punch compared to my Les Paul.

Its a humbucker and as such should not be compared to a single coil sound wise.If you want that then go for a Hotstack instead.

Humbucker fitted for Single Slot, Passive.

Standard Telecaster, Bridge Position, Replaced stock pickup, still have stock in neck. Changed to make my tele more versitile.

Output is hot, but not offensive.
run through crate 50 watt 2x12 tube amp with sovtec tubes and crate american vintage 30's speakers. the tone is brilliant, really brings the stock pickup to it's knees, but that's not hard for a humbucker to do over a single-coil fender pickup. overall it does lack some bottom end, but i'm convinced that's because of the angle that fender guitars put the single coil pickups in, the high end is right at the bridge and the low is about a half inch towards the neck~ i attribute some of the bass loss to this. i dont channel switch my amp, i keep it on the overdrive channel with the gain at about 5-6, for a slightly muddy clean sound i switch to my low-gain tele neck pickup for rhythms and get a very glassy almost-clean sound, for heavier sounds i switch to the SDpup and get a boost to a heavily overdriven hard chug. THIS PUP DOES NOT SOUND LIKE A LES PAUL! So many reviewers were looking for a Les Paul sound out of this pup, that's not what it is for. the hot rails has it's own unique sound. it's not a fender, it's not a gibson, it's not an EMG, it's a DUNCAN. now that that's out of my system... i love this pickup, it makes my tele the only guitar i need for a gig, and eliminates my need to switch channels, the gain difference does it all. i play a variety of music from the beatles, maroon 5 and marilyn manson, all around rock player. like i said, in conjunction with my stock tele pickup, it suits all my needs. yes, this pickup does lack in the clean channel, but like i said i switch to my tele pickup for clean. Use with another pickup is vital to the success of using the hotrails.

I would definately buy this pickup again, though there are other single sized humbuckers I'd like to experiment with~ i wouldnt be dissappointed, however, if this was the only humbucker i ever used. I love it's uniqueness and it's high output. I refuse to compare this pickup with another, if you want a gibson sound, dont buy this. It still could use more bass, but i'm considering making my own metal pick plate that straitens it out to see what it'll do. So satisfied with this pickup, 10's across the board.

Hot rails single coil type pickup.

I bought my daughters Washburn bt3 because she needed the money and the guitar needed alot of work and so I went searching for things to improve this guitar and I always liked SD pickups and so did alot of people I know so I replaced the stock single coils with one Hot Rails in the bridge location and two SD Cool Rails in the middle and neck locations because after doing some research I found that the Hot Rails and Cool Rails are a matched set for strat type guitars. I lowered the action with new bridge guides for the strat type tremelo and fixed the pots and five way switch and some new strings and found that this old washburn had just transformed into a screaming rock monster.

When the Hot Rails pickup is turned on I can definitely feel it's presence because it is so much more powerful than the Cool Rails pickups but I must admit that the combination is quite rewarding in its tone and power. I hardly ever play it alone on its own without a combination of some sort with the other pickups and I believe that SD designed this pickup to be used with Cool Rails to bring out the best of its abilities rather than being used on its own or with other pickups. A Hot Rail on its own is overkill and you are not likely to be happy with the tone you would get on its own but mixed with the combination of Cool Rails, I get a nice super clean tone with my amp on clean channel and I get a heavier crunchy heavy metal tone that's fun to play with on overdrive channel and some gain. With this combination of pickups I get some great highs and with a flip of a switch, I can get the meanest growls anyone has ever heard and with good mids too.

I do play other guitars and basses too but I just wanted to share what I did with this old bt3 and say how much I enjoy the Hot Rails. I would say that if you are considering a rails type system in your strat type guitar, you should probly do all three or youre going to find that the Hot Rails will not mix well with you single coils and you will probly be disapointed. Also some lighter strings might help with the muddy sound some seem to have using these pickups. The tone knob turned down a little will help find a sweet spot.

As usual - single coil-sized humbucker. High output.

Installed in the bridge of an 89 Fender Strat Plus. I wanted a hotter sound. Was recommended the hotrails by a friend I'd known for years.

Output is nowhere near as high as I was given to believe. Thought it'd been installed incorrectly initially. I'm using a Boogie Mark IV combo + 2x12 Mesa cabinet with just a noise supressor. Sometimes delay & modulation effects but mostly straight into the amp with, or without the supressor.

Play blues, hard rock and metal, no bloody pop! Nice to be in a position to choose.

I had this p/up in the Strat for about 2 months. There is NO real tone in this pickup! It's unusable clean and even with fairly high gain settings (talking about Boogie gain here) it's a bloated, muddy and ugly sound. Using more gain [as one reviewer has said] it's possible to free-up some harmonics but at this gain; where you'd expect liquid and vocal type tones; just an ugly screech or blare - no articulation. In case you think this is down to technique I've had other players try the guitar with their own gear and the conclusion is unanimous - the hotrails is an awful p/up.

The pickup is absolute crap. To confirm this; I did play another guitar, with this p/up fitted [a Yamaha] and it too sounded awful. Yet the guy who owned the Yammy loved it!

The p/up has been removed and is in solitary confinement awaiting final sentencing.

I would treat this p/up the same way I would treat dogs**t on the pavement (sidewalk). Avoid it at all costs!

passive, humbucking.

I installed this in a self routed middle position on my '94 MIM tele. It compliments a Seymour Duncan vintage stack tele pickup in the bridge, and a Fender 2067c FLS in the neck position. The attempt was to create a do-it-all guitar, and with a standard fender five way switch, it works for me.

This pickup's installed about level with the pickguard, which keeps it from being too loud. I also installed a PRS style 5-way rotary switch to use all the possible wiring configurations of this pup. It admittedly took some twiddling to get the sounds I was looking for, but it does it all for me. Playing country, blues, and classic rock through a Fender Super Reverb amp. Maybe I'm lazy, but I don't want to drag more than one electric guitar to a gig.

Playing 27yrs. Can't believe how much quieter my guitar is now than when it was new. The stock MIM pups are crap. This pup is much better than the fender red lace sensor that I tried first. I'm so glad I used a PRS 5-way rotary switch, because as a humbucker only, it would be a one trick pony. So far I've used it most of the time with just the north single coil complimenting the neck or bridge pickups as needed. In series in phase(humbucker) with a distortion pedal, it has all the crunch I need for classic rock and more. I'm not a shredhead, but I think this would work for it.

Humbucking single sized passive pickup with split option.

Installed in American Fender Stratocaster (Mahogany body).

Neck pickup, installed in Middle position.

Replacing stock Tex-Mex.

Neck, Dimarzio-PAF Pro, Bridge, Seymour Duncan-Invader. Both full sized humbuckers.

Dave Murray and Janick Gers of Iron Maiden.

Wanted a good Hard Rock-Heavy Metal sound.

I am using it with a Peavey JSX 2X12 combo and a Fender Princeton Chourus. With the JSX I don't use any effects usually. However, with the Fender I have a whole pedal board I use. For distortion I use an Electro-Harmonix Metal Muff Nano, MXR ten band EQ, MXR Super Compressor, BBE Sonic Stomp, and an old DOD Noise Gate. This is the only way I can get a good Heavy sound out of the Fender.

Good tone. Sounds very similiar to the Dimarzio PAF Pro I have in the neck position when playing rythms. Does not sound as good as the PAF when playing leads. It does sound good clean especially when split, unlike other reviews have mentioned. Recommend replacing all pots and switchs with a good brand to improve sound.

I play Hard Rock and Heavy Metal, Iron Maiden, Y & T. It is a good match for this style of music. It needs high gain to get harmonics out of it.

Neck version, so recommended for neck or mid position.

I like Seymour Duncans, but I also like certain Dimarzio pick-ups also. Might try some single sized humbuckers that Dimarzio makes next time?

I have been playing off and on for about 20 years. Just recently started a year ago after not playing for eight years (work related reasons). I have a lot of other gear, but nothing that would be usful for this review.

Compared it to other Seymour Duncan pick-ups from their website. I picked this one because Dave and Janick from Iron Maiden use them, so I thought I would give it a try.

It is probably a little weak with the Invader and PAF, which are both full sizeed humbucers. Not much, the level does not really drop off if the pick-ups are raised properly.

Thought it would sound better, but I don't hate. I would probably try something else in the future. I like the crunchy sound of the Invader. May try a single sized Dimarzio Super Distortion.

passive blade humbucker; single coil size.

This little demon is in my mexican fender (made 1991, bought second hand a couple weeks ago)
it's in the bridge.

pretty loud little thing, i have it menacingly close to the strings.
used through zoom 505II + danelectro daddy-o + behringer ultrabass bx600 amp; used for playing distortion drenched stuff.

TONE :
is a good pickup for distortion. adds more drive to the "strat tone" (bridge and middle pickup) when you distort it, and play it clean.
DON'T PLAY IT CLEAN ON ITS OWN, IT'S SHIT. unless you want a strange sound.
it gets a 5. it's half way there.

bugger it who's going to steal my pickup? why not take the whole guitar?
no, if it was pinched (guitar) i'd find an iron maiden strat.
pickup pinched - i'd find a hot rail off trademe probably.

last things -
it's brilliant for distortion.
don't snob it past.
if you want a balanced humbucker though (clean and distorted = good) then find something else.
this does NOT play clean well.

Passive Single coil sized rails humbucker.
Impedance ~ 17kohms

Installed in the bridge position of a MIM strat, to replace the "weak" stock pup.
Wired to autosplit when middle and bridge pups selected.

Output is alot higher than the stock fender MIM pups.

I use this with a Hiwatt 50 watt head/Marshall 2x12,Vox Valvetronix, Wah, Tubescreamer, Big Muff.

Firstly this pick up isn't very versatile.
CLEAN; Not very good, very dark and muddy, won't do much for you if you are a subtle player. But to be honest you don't get this pick up to play clean!!

DISTORTED; this is where the pup comes in to it own, the high output helps push your preamp over the edge and the huge midrange cuts through on solos.

Good for dirty sounds, crap for clean ones. Good for Rock, Metal.

I bought this pick up as a replacement for a stock strat bridge single coil, without having to do the surgery required to fit a full sized humbucker.

Its certainly a good pick up at what it does, distorted tones, but very limited when it comes to clean sounds.

Not sure if I would replace it if stolen, I think I'd go for something more versatile, maybe a lil '59 or JBjr.

Passive humbucker.

Fender American Strat (lefty). Replaced the bridge pickups, neck and middle pickups are factory defaults. Right now, through a Fender Princeton Chorus

Higher output, higher gain than my default single coil.

Overall, pretty unimpressed. Muddy and middy tone. Bass isn't great. Does not mix well with distortion pedals. Looking to replace. If you're not playing music that requires heavy gain, switch out for something better (probably a much cleaner pickup) and get an overdrive pedal. Worth the money.

Would not buy again. Looking to replace.