Seymour Duncan Performer Scorcher Rails

Stacked rail pickup. It's a passive humbucker in a single coil size.

I put this in my Squier Affinity Strat in the bridge position and disconnected the other two pickups and tone pots so the pickup runs straight to the volume knob. I wanted a hot humbucker tone in a strat body without routing or changing the pickguard.

Huge output as good as my Gibson Dirty Fingers pups on my Sonex 180. I play this mostly through a TUSC 1X12 combo that also pushes a 4X10 external cab and a Lab Series 2X12 amp. The tone is a little flat but I wanted this for high output distortion and it does that very well. The harmonics are almost as good as expensive passive pickups. The clean tones are just ok but overdriven and distorted playing is awesome.

I would but this pickup again and might for another project strat I own. I've been playing over 30 years and have more gear than I do talent. If you want to turn your strat into a metal/punk killing machine for cheap money you can't do better than this.

This is a SC humbucking design based on the hotrail pups but with more output accordind to the SD web site.Look under the pup and it says HR 101 B.So thats where you will find more info.Ipendence I don't know Over 10k.

I've replaced the stock single coils in my Kramer withe these in the neck and mid positions.I have a Bill Lawrecne L500XL in the bridge postion hooked up to a 2 meg pot with is the bigest I could find.The old pickups hummed and these got rid of that along with a cavity sheilding these are now dead quiet.

The out put is pretty high theres no change in vol going from my XL's to these so that says something.I'm using these though my Kramer to A V anp PRO to a Alesis 100 watt amp to a carvin 2-12 cab and this setup sounds Amazing.I play metal and bluesy type stuff.These pups do a good job with that.Tuning my 2 meg pot down and I get some great jazz clean sounds as well.The neck position is not ideal and sounds a bit muffed compaird to the mid pos.They sound a bit muddy compaired to my 500XL but that was to be expected.I will say they ginve a uniqe tone up high on the neck almost a dimarzio tonezone tubey sound which I didn't expect and came as a plesant surpise.For 30 bucks these are king of anything else in it's price range sound wise including some higher priced deals.I gave it a 8 cause like I said the neck positons not ideal for this.

If I had to get another I'd probable try a Dmarzio Protrack not because of the way they sound (cause the sound great) but just to try something differant.I don't hate anything about this pup it did what was asked x2 and at a great price.

This is a passive, dual-rail humbucker. I've measured it time and again at 15.5k , but that just sounds very high. It is a very hot pickup regardless.

I first installed this pickup in the neck position of a Fender Jagstang. I replaced the stock single coil pickup, which I believe was a Fender Tex Mex.
I installed it along with a Dimarzio X2N in the bridge. I wired in phase switch to make the Scorcher run out of phase in series with the X2N, and replaced the Volume pot with a 1 meg.

Later, I installed the exact same pickup into the bridge position of an Aria Fullerton, which is basically a mid-level strat copy.

The output of this pickup is high. Higher than most full sized humbuckers I've used.

I've used this through an assortment of amplifiers. I usually use a DOD grunge or Boss DS-1 for distortion.

This pickup's tone is basically completely average and solid. It might but a bit bass heavy and slightly scooped, but basically a completely normal sounding pickup. It's not a very clean pickup, but compensates by manhandling very high gain without complaint.

I play metal, blues, jazz, hard rock. I wanted this be a good neck/lead pickup for my brief venture in a metal band and it performed up to expectation.

After being kick out of the metal band, I installed this pickup into the bridge of strat copy. You know....to play the blues. This is a better setting for this pickup.


I think this pickup would work in any position.

If I had to replace this pickup, I would probably get something else, but only because I like to try new things.

However, If I had to join an Iron Maiden cover band, and all I had to work with was a cheap strat copy, then I would buy three of these and probably be fine. These pickups run at about $30 each. Slapping three of these in a $100 guitar could turn it into quite an animal.


I liked the price and how it sounds with the coils split. I don't really hate anything about it. I dislike it's lack of personality. It's a perfectly solid pickup, especially for the price.

I considered buying serveral Duncan and Dimarzio dual rails pickups that could fit into a single coil slot. In the end, I picked this one because of price and the fact that I felt it would be able to do the job I asked it to, which wasn't much.


I wish it came in a color besides black. I am satisfied with this pickup. I give it a 9 because of the price.

Pickup features: Passive Single-Space Humbucker
Impedence or other specs: n/a

Model of guitar or bass: Squire Affinity Strat
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Squire single coil
Other pickups on guitar: Squire single coil
Artists using this pickup: well, now Josta Baby is, and I bet a ton of other folks who wanna experiment with a new sound but don't got a lotta dough.
You musical style(s): Rock, Blues, Funk, and extrapolations there of
Reason for pickup change: Had a bunch of cheap-o strat-layout guitars, decided to make one different.

Perceived output level: A definete gain boost over the other stock PUs in that axe, if you wanna use it for a clean sound you'd better have the gain about zeroed on your amp. It doesn't do "crisp" like a bridge-position single coil in a strat, it's a warmer sound.
Tone: Well, what can I say? Humbuckerish, not as much bite as the stock S.C. it replaced, but way more gain and mids/bass
Sonic evaluation: I use a bunch of stuff. Since I'm currently living 300 miles away from the folks I was in my highschool/college bands with, I really never play out and my amp is still at my folks place back in OH. RIght now I am a drum-machine/sampler (Korg Electribe ES-1) usin' tascam 4-track jammin bedroom arist (at least for the weekends I can't make it back to my hometown for real jams). I use the Johnson J-Station amp modeler for my amp, and it does the job. It also makes those Yamaha PSR keyboards sound real good for organ sounds if you run the keyboard through the J-station on the "tweed" setting with the "rotary" effect on. If you have a good compressor in the chain after the modeler you can use the volume knob on the keyboard as a drive/gain control to get some distortion sound, and everyone knows that a dstorted organ sounds cool. But I digress...
My guitars include:
A Fender 40th Annv. Strat
2 Squire Affininty Strats (one my dad bought me because he didn't want to put a guitar on the airplane to come see me on "hang out with your parents" day at USAF basic training, got that strung with E.B. Skinny Top Fat Bottoms and tuned to Emaj with the action all the way up for slide. The other Squire is one I told this chick to buy because she wanted to learn to play. 2 weeks later she decided it was cooler to have light-saber fights with the Star Wars folks on post, so I bought it offa her for cheap. That's the one that now has teh Scorcher rails in it.)
DeArmond Jetstar Special (best $85 I ever spent)
Danelectro Innuendo (probably gonna get a Scorcher rail soon..)
Ibanez GAX70
Oscar Schmidt (by Washburn) OE-30 Delta King (Nice, Cheap, buy one)
Washburn N-2 (for $50, nice deal there)
I also have:
Fender Precision Bass Lyte
Squire 5-String P-Bass Special
Ibanez TRB-50
KORG ELECTRIBE EA-1 and ES-1
KORG MS2000
Yamaha PSR-225GM
Yamaha PSS-570 (Awesome, the KB I had as a kid, got it off Ebay a while ago)
Casio SK-1, SK-10, Rapman, MT-220 & Realistic COncertmate
Yamaha DD5, Synsonics Drum Machine

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I ru the gauntlet from Black Metal to Street Rock to Unskilled Jazz to Reggae. It's not too great for super clean clean sounds.

Comments: I'd prolly re-buy it if it exploded for some reason. If I was superfly I'd install a split-coil switch and get some more versatility, but for what I got it doing it does great. I like the contrast of playing a strat that sounds like an SG.

Pickup features: Humbucker for single coil space
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Squier Affinity Strat
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Squier Stock
Other pickups on guitar: Squier Stocks
Artists using this pickup: ME
You musical style(s): Metal, Shred, Punk, Classic Rock
Reason for pickup change: Too much hum with the stock pup; Wanted more output

Perceived output level: Extremely High
Tone: Kinda bassy, but its well balanced
Sonic evaluation: Squier Strat - Johnson JStation - Dunlop Crybaby - Fender Frontman 15

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I use this pickup for any distorted sound I use, tapping, and for clean stuff with a little more bass; this pickup is awesome in the bridge

Comments: If it was destroyed, I would definitely get another. I've been playing for 6 months (i listed my gear somewhere else in the review)and this pickup is AWESOME for tapping!! The only thing i hate is that i only got one. I chose this because of the price, and the fact that it was a Duncan. I am completely satisfied with this pickup, anyone that wants a good quality pup and a little more output than stock, GO TO GUITAR CENTER AND GET ONE!!!

Pickup features: Humbucking
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Strat Made in Mexico
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Neck
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Hard, Hard, Hard
Reason for pickup change: The Mexican Strat pickup sucks. You get nothing but hiss and hum and it sounds like crap in the dirty mode.

Perceived output level:
Tone: Balanced and Nasty
Sonic evaluation: Straight into a marshall it has a Gibson SG, AC/DC sound depending on your amp settings.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: This is good for just about anything.

Comments: This is simply the best buy for the cash. This pickup is only made for the Guitar Center and it is well worth the 29 dollar asking price. I was ready to trash my Strat until I bought this pickup. I normally play Explorers, and this sound out of the Strat is F**king Awsome. After playing for a number of years and spending a lot of money on "high name brand" crap, it feels good to get a good deal.

Pickup features: single coil sized humbucker
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: guitar
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: stock squier crap
Other pickups on guitar: stock pickups in middle and neck
Artists using this pickup: dunno
You musical style(s): 90's hard rock, blues
Reason for pickup change: squier pickups sucked

Perceived output level: warm, good output
Tone: balanced, a bit "snappy" probably due to the squiers cardboard body
Sonic evaluation: almost always use the bridge pickup on the squier going into a line 6 spider 112 or if i'm lucky my friends marshall half stack, all tube man! sounds very hard rock.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: play lots of hard rock in the bridge position (think nirvana). this works great. haven't tried it in any other positions.

Comments: i got my squier as my first electric guitar about 2 years ago and then replaced it with a dean evo a little after that and my squier pretty much became a wall decoration until i put this pickup and it totally revived it! now i can play it without shame! i bring it to lots of practices when i don't wanna ding up les paul and my bass players swears that the squier now sounds better than my dean. this is a great 30 dollars. i would definately gig with the guitar now, mainly as a backup but i'd also crack it out for altered tunings and what not. installing it was a bit of a pain but made a good friday night project. seriously, transformed a low grade block of wood into an exceptional guitar. a great deal.

Pickup features: Humbucker For single coil placement, active
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Squier Strat
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock Crap
Other pickups on guitar: none after i changed
Artists using this pickup: ME!
You musical style(s): Rock, Punk, Sometimes other type depending on my mood
Reason for pickup change: I hated the squier stock crap. Squier is nothing but crap and these pickups turned their crap into gold. If you have any strat, i strongly urge you to buy these.

Perceived output level: These Pickups are hot, i would assinate the president for these pickups. These are a God-Send
Tone: totally balanced, i can actually tel a difference when i turn the tone knobs now!!
Sonic evaluation: These tottally upped the versatility and power of my guitar. Im using the standard squier amp and it sounds awesome!! I used to not be able to get a good clean tone on real low volumes, now its clear and loud!!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: this pickup works for all positions, i play lots of music.

Comments: If this was stolen, i would definetly replace it, no questions asked. Ive been playing for roughly a year and i own a few pedals. the thing i love about this pickup is the fact that it is an active pickup so it runs super hot without using a battery. This pickup is the same as the SD HR-1's but made in korea or somewhere. The value and tone you get for the prioce make you forget about where it was mad. This pickup has everything i was expecting and much much more. This pick up gave me the tone and sound i needed. These Pick ups are the shiznat~!!!

Pickup features: Single Coil sized humbucker, passive, side-by-side coils
Impedence or other specs: Side-by-Side coils,

Model of guitar or bass: Charvel
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Bridge and Neck
Other pickups on guitar: stock Charvel single in middle
Artists using this pickup: ME!
You musical style(s): Classic Rock, Country
Reason for pickup change: Eliminate single-coil hum and gain fuller sound.

Perceived output level: VERY high output
Tone: Bridge - balanced & fuller sounding balanced; Neck - mellow & jazzy
Sonic evaluation: Digitech GSP-2101 Studio Tube, Johnson Marquis JM-60.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Rock, Blues, Country.

Comments: These pickups are a DRAMATIC step up from stock single-coil pickups. The factory specs this model at a whopping 24.42k-Ohms! That's way more than most standard-sized humbuckers! The neck and bridge pickups are marked as different by red or blue dot stickers, and I do notice a tonal difference between the two. The bridge pickup is bright yet full and very responsive; the neck pickup is more warm and jazzy, with a little less treble response. These pickups are designed by Duncan but manufactured in Korea, hence the dirt-cheap prices. They do not skimp on the sound, though, and the contruction is top-notch. They're also potted, which helps keep feedback to a bare minimum, even with their extremely high output. I've been playing for over 23 years now, and have NEVER seen such a bargain. The ONLY drawback?...This "Performer" series line is exclusive to the Guitar Center stores.