I also have a Sting sig model with a Duncan Quarter Pounder. Dropped right in and sounds great!
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Fender Sting w/Duncan "Stack for Single Coil" Questions
- Thread starter Mike Yocum
- Start date
I also have a Sting sig model with a Duncan Quarter Pounder. Dropped right in and sounds great!
Well, I received the Seymour Duncan Stack for Single Coil pickup and, unfortunately, it does not fit in my Fender Sting bass. I have attached a photograph of both pickups side by side from the rear and, as you can see, the new pickup is slightly taller, which is enough for it not to fit into the cavity (left is the original, right is the new Stack).
I am currently investigating my options moving ahead. Please feel free to post any advice you have and I appreciate your help!
Thanks,
Mike
I am currently investigating my options moving ahead. Please feel free to post any advice you have and I appreciate your help!
Thanks,
Mike
Attachments
![Fender Sting Pickup and Seymour Duncan Stack for Single Coil (Rear View) [640x480].JPG](/data/attachments/2668/2668714-5681921a1706d342a8dd1f7d5e2e8eef.jpg?hash=VoGSGhcG00)
This is strange, almost a syndrome.
At first I was thinking it might be because the basses made offshore had a slightly smaller route due to the SAE-to-metric conversion, but then I remembered the Fralin scpb split coil was too large for a Custom Shop bass.
In your case the Duncan stacked HB won't fit.
Maybe they make the bottom piece of flatwork a tad larger to accomodate the extra eyelets. That's still no excuse for them to make it too large to fit.
Sometimes you need the BFH.
At first I was thinking it might be because the basses made offshore had a slightly smaller route due to the SAE-to-metric conversion, but then I remembered the Fralin scpb split coil was too large for a Custom Shop bass.
In your case the Duncan stacked HB won't fit.
Maybe they make the bottom piece of flatwork a tad larger to accomodate the extra eyelets. That's still no excuse for them to make it too large to fit.
Sometimes you need the BFH.
As I mentioned in post #3 the Duncan stack is deeper than the OEM.
I'd just route a deeper, reshaped pickup cavity to accomodate the new pickup.
I dropped a custom shop SD stack in my CV 50's Squire and it fit perfectly. No routing or anything.
Since it's 4-conductor wiring I also added a push pull volume pot for dual sound, pulled the old tone pot and installed a 10-position tone styler for bass and it sounds GREAT.
Decided to go with SD instead of Lindy strictly for the dual sound capability.
All were easy adjustments with a little soldering.
Since it's 4-conductor wiring I also added a push pull volume pot for dual sound, pulled the old tone pot and installed a 10-position tone styler for bass and it sounds GREAT.
Decided to go with SD instead of Lindy strictly for the dual sound capability.
All were easy adjustments with a little soldering.
Yes, it is different. My pup has the larger diameter "Quarter Pound" pole pieces. I bought it used on eBay so my guess is that it is a one-off - custom wound to the original owner's spec. I checked my notes and the series resistance is 17.82K.
The seller was advertising it as a standard SCPB-3 pup so you can imagine my surprise when it arrived with all these extra wires dangling off of it.
Just saw this thread and had to add to it. I purchased the SD Custom Shop pickup on eBay from stevetat just about a month ago. Everything he mentioned about the pickup is true. I installed the pickup in my latest Frankenstein Bass. A 1973 Telecaster Bass Neck on an MJT '51 Slab Body. The pickup dropped right in with no issues. I have it wired with an RS Guitarworks Modern P Bass upgrade kit. What a great pickup, sounds like a scpb pickup but it growls too. All with no hum.
Really interesting thread and not sure what is going on, but here's what I got.
I have:
1) an almost 10 year old all original Sting - rout and base plate "triangular" at the bridge end. BTW- love the pick up in this!
2) an all original 56 P Bass- rout and pickup appear similar to the Sting in shape, maybe a little rounder, but a little difficult to see properly- I am not going to pull the pickup out.
3) a 69 Telecaster bass which I dropped a SD Quarter Pounder straight into ( I hated the Antiquity 2 it came with). The interesting thing is the route in this bass is original and has an obvious flattening of the point of the "triangle", if you get what I mean. This is exactly how the base plates look in the Duncan Pickups I have.
Here is a Pic of an original 68 Tele pickup from the net- the Duncans are the same shape.
Link Removed
I couldn't find a pic of a pickup from a 51- 53. I wonder if the Telecaster Bass is modelled off an early 50s pickups and they changed later in the 50s- there are some differences between the pickups in 56/57 P Basses and earlier ones that I am aware of- eg the raised A and D poles- Leo was experimenting.
Very interesting.
I have:
1) an almost 10 year old all original Sting - rout and base plate "triangular" at the bridge end. BTW- love the pick up in this!
2) an all original 56 P Bass- rout and pickup appear similar to the Sting in shape, maybe a little rounder, but a little difficult to see properly- I am not going to pull the pickup out.
3) a 69 Telecaster bass which I dropped a SD Quarter Pounder straight into ( I hated the Antiquity 2 it came with). The interesting thing is the route in this bass is original and has an obvious flattening of the point of the "triangle", if you get what I mean. This is exactly how the base plates look in the Duncan Pickups I have.
Here is a Pic of an original 68 Tele pickup from the net- the Duncans are the same shape.
Link Removed
I couldn't find a pic of a pickup from a 51- 53. I wonder if the Telecaster Bass is modelled off an early 50s pickups and they changed later in the 50s- there are some differences between the pickups in 56/57 P Basses and earlier ones that I am aware of- eg the raised A and D poles- Leo was experimenting.
Very interesting.
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The pickup is too tall and the E string can slide underneath it and pop it apart. The cavity will need to be deepened and the v was a little tight too.
It's not in the docs...
I'm curious to know the tone difference when wiring this Duncan pickup in parallel VS series? Anyone tested it? I really like the original single coil tone, so I want to be close to that tone as much as possible, but would get rid of the hum if possible...
It depends on how the pickup is designed. It could be that they designed that pickup to sound like a single coil in series mode.
Series in general is likely to move the resonant peak back a bit. You'll get some more mids and less treble. Series also increases volume.
Parallel in general is going to sound pretty single-coil like, but it sounds a bit more compressed than a single coil. It doesn't have the same sparkle, but most of the single coil character is there.
Why not wire it up to a series/parallel/split switch and get the best of all worlds there? Try it yourself!
I have tried a split 51 pickup and it sounded pretty much the same as the single coil version, except with a bit more low-end. The sparkle was still there. You can order them from Fralin or Jess Loureiro.
Evening Gents,
I too am interested in this pickup, and to answer the question of series vs. parallel, this pickup being a stack, can only be played as either series (both stacks on), or single coil (shutting off the bottom stack) which will give it a volume boost and susceptibility to 60 cycle hum. I plan on ordering one from the custom shop just as soon as I know what specs to order. I wonder if they have different winds they offer for the 1/4" stack.
Right now I have 2 pickups, one is a Nordstrand split coil, which sounds good, but starts out in dark territory, was thinking of putting in a 500k pot to brighten it up a bit. Pickup is very well balanced across all strings, takes well to EQ'ing (Ancient aguilar DB924). The strings are staggered.
The other is a Rio Grande muy Grande, along with the hum, you get a brighter tone, slugs are flat, not radius'ed, I have gone back and forth twice between these two, and when the Nordy is on, I wish I had a bit more treble, and when the Rio is on, I wish it was not so susceptible to noise. I think I am going to try a 300k and a 500k pot on the nordstrand, Nordstrand should consider making one with 1/4 slugs or at least those 45 degree magnet array.
I too am interested in this pickup, and to answer the question of series vs. parallel, this pickup being a stack, can only be played as either series (both stacks on), or single coil (shutting off the bottom stack) which will give it a volume boost and susceptibility to 60 cycle hum. I plan on ordering one from the custom shop just as soon as I know what specs to order. I wonder if they have different winds they offer for the 1/4" stack.
Right now I have 2 pickups, one is a Nordstrand split coil, which sounds good, but starts out in dark territory, was thinking of putting in a 500k pot to brighten it up a bit. Pickup is very well balanced across all strings, takes well to EQ'ing (Ancient aguilar DB924). The strings are staggered.
The other is a Rio Grande muy Grande, along with the hum, you get a brighter tone, slugs are flat, not radius'ed, I have gone back and forth twice between these two, and when the Nordy is on, I wish I had a bit more treble, and when the Rio is on, I wish it was not so susceptible to noise. I think I am going to try a 300k and a 500k pot on the nordstrand, Nordstrand should consider making one with 1/4 slugs or at least those 45 degree magnet array.
Interesting... And how do you compare the Rio Grande to the original Fender CS single coil?
My bass is a partsacaster, so I do not have any recent experience with the fender pickup. I did have a sting bass in 2002 but don't recall anything about the pickup, I do recall having pete biltoft make his first sting bass pickup for me and I remember it was quiet and I was happy with the sound.
Any general feedback on the tonal differences bewteen these 3 single coil iterations? I have a Sting with what I believe is the stock pickup and it’s my number one player.
Yes I like the pickup in the Sting Bass too.
The original 56 pickup is a little more 'toppy" than the Sting pickup.
The 69 Tele is now sporting an original 69 pickup I bought- the QP is gone and was replaced by a Jess Lourero Split 51, which is also now gone.
The original 69 pickup is nice and full without the rough initial attack of the other pickups that have been in that bass
Anyone could confirm, that CS 51 and 55 basses are fully compatible with SD stacked? And how about sound difference - why did you do the upgrade? Thanks!
I have the Stinger Stack on my original 51 and AVII54 basses. The pickup fit & route height are compatible but you might have to remove some wood where the access hole for the lead wires meet the pickup. Since the Stack is taller you might need to make room for more clearance so the wires can access the hole. It's quickly done w/ a Dremel but you have to make sure the bit doesn't skip on you. Sounds much harder than it is.
To my ears the Stinger still provides the throaty edgy attach of the original single coil w/out the hum. Well worth the effort & investment.
I am not fond of many of the SD stack pickups. Most like the one discussed have so much wire on them they are muddy, because a stack setup inherently has deficient bass response. I would get a Lindy Fralin Split '51, which will retain tone and kill noise and hum. You can also choose options for both output, tone, and aesthetics. There is a disclaimer on the website to measure your pickup to make sure it fits the pickup cavity.
