[gregr]

I just dropped an Area Hot T into a Squier Telecaster and bought a pickguard to house a mini humbucker. I’m interested in getting the Vintage Minibucker Bridge so that I can split it. What am I to expect when comparing  levels and tonality?

The Area is quite bright despite the numbers. I find I have to turn the tone control down to about 100k in order to tame it. The volume is 250k. The bass side is up high with the treble side down a little bit to maintain balance and keep down the bite. I have enough experience with the Area pickups to know that they change their character and get quite aggressive when up high. In the case of the Area Hot T I need it up high in order to get any body out of it.

The the strings go through the back of the bridge, though I’ve replaced the zinc saddles with steel which made a marked difference.

I was initially thinking of using 500k volume and 250k tone but now I’m not sure what to do. I haven’t changed the original pots out yet.

Any thoughts/recommendations about the minibucker and pot values?

If it turns out that this specific guitar is drastically affecting the tone, I imagine this will also translate to the neck pickup in the same manner.

[darkbluemurder]

While I have no experience with the bridge minihumbucker (DP 241), I have the neck minihumbucker (DP 240) in three different guitars, even though I never used it split. I also have the Area Hot T and can say the following:

1. The Area Hot T and the minihumbucker should match well in output and also tonewise.
2. My personal preference with the minihumbucker would be a 500k volume pot. If you are set on having a 250k load for the bridge pickup, I recommend using a 500k volume pot and solder a resistor (470k to 560k) from the tab where the bridge pickup is connected to ground. By doing this you reduce the load to approx. 240k to 260k whenever the bridge pickup is selected, and have 500k with the neck pickup.
3. The tone pot value is pure personal preference. Keep in mind that the tone pot is usually wired as a variable resistor, i.e. a 500k tone pot has the sound of a 250k tone pot when you turn it down a little but you cannot turn up the 250k tone pot as this is the maximum resistance it has to offer.

Cheers Stephan

[gregr]

I still haven’t pulled the trigger on the minibucker. For now I decided to tackle the brightness of the Hot T   There was a problem with string definition so I adjusted it to be even and fairly close to the strings.  I’ve done some tweaking to the volume and tone controls and it’s growing on me. I like bright pickups and prefer to keep the tone control low and increase it to cut. The problem is the owner keeps everything on 10.

How loud and bright is the Chopper T relative to the Hot T?

I’m considering a Super Distortion T as well. Traditional Tele twang is not a necessity. Splitting a Minibucker may not be all that important either. A Super D should cover up the shortcomings of this bright Squier.

He also owns a Fender Ultra, though he’s complained about the tone of a traditional Tele bridge pickup. It might be the better candidate for the Hot T. The stock noiseless Fender pickups sound really good so the neck pickup will stay.

[darkbluemurder]

The Chopper T (with the coils wired in series aka "normal humbucker wiring") sounds more like a hot PAF type pickup whereas the Area Hot T sounds like a fat tele bridge pickup. So if you want to go more towards a humbucker tone, Chopper T is a fine choice. If you set up the guitar with a push pull pot you can put the coils of the Chopper T in parallel - that makes it sound more like a traditional tele bridge - not quite but a good approximation.

Cheers Stephan

[gregr]

That has been my experience for sure though my Strat that has the Chopper is quite different, acoustically. I’m just trying to figure out what to expect if I change bridge pickups but still use a bridge minibucker in the neck. I like for each pickup to sound their best with the same amp settings, or close enough that I can shunt one with a resistor to get there when there is a large imbalance in brightness. I still very much expect a rail pickup to sound like a rail pickup, a single coil to sound like a single coil, etc.

Looking at the numbers the Chopper and Hot T should have a similar tonality. The Hot T has a lower output, but because it’s a single coil it is more in your face, enough so that it will still stand up to a beefy neck pickup. That said I don’t think I can ignore the sound of this guitar unless the Hot T is actually a very bright and strident pickup even though the specs suggest otherwise. It’s this talk about using a 500k tone control that has me wondering  what’s really going on. As I said earlier I have to roll a 250k tone control with an audio taper way back to keep it sounding even. And again, I prefer my pickups to be on the bright side, but this one is just over the top.

[darkbluemurder]

That is not my experience with the Area Hot T. Although it does sound like a hot tele bridge pickup it never occurred to me as over the top bright. Both the Area T and the Area 615 T are significantly brighter.

Chopper T and Vintage Mini Neck was a combination I used with great enjoyment in a telecaster, with 500k post for volume and tone. The reason I took them out was that due to the string spacing and alignment, the 1st string was a bit weaker than the others on both pickups. This bothered me, otherwise I would have kept them. It was not the fault of the pickups though as in other guitars they did not show this problem.

Cheers Stephan

[gregr]

Thanks for the input. I trust what you’re saying, 100%.

I am able to get a good tone out of it but I have to turn up the bass farther than what I think is reasonable. I had to go back to the zinc saddles because the steel ones were too narrow. I ordered wider one. I didn’t notice they were also available in brass until it was too late to change the order. Drilling so the body is string-through is possible but pretty ambitious considering I don’t own a drill press. The body is thin like the Affinity series. The neck is pretty good, but my expectations were never that high. This is why I’m considering giving up and going with a Super D. It ought to compensate for the lack of resonance. I’m waiting to see what the owner thinks.

[gregr]

Update:

I installed a Vintage Minibucker Bridge in the neck position with the Area Hot T in the bridge position. The results really aren’t all that surprising.

The pickup sounds big but not overwhelming, producing an even tone that is not at all dark. The split sound is surprisingly good. It is considerably weaker than the pickup wired in series. It doesn’t have the same bottom end that you would expect from a true single coil, unsurprisingly. However, it is full through the midrange with a bright top end that is not brittle but this will certainly change with a darker, more resonant guitar.

Taking a step back, the tone control was not connected when it was first installed with the neck pickup only seeing the 250k load from the volume control. The top end stung which wasn’t all they surprising based on the results I got from the Hot T, though it wasn’t nearly as sharp. I then connected the 250k tone control which tamed the top end significantly. It needed to remain at 250k without warming up the pickup to the point of being dull. The tone was still quite good. I didn’t try the pickup split until after the tone control was moved from the bridge pickup back to the output from the switch, which undoubtedly tames the top end of a split humbucker.

While the bridge pickup easily keeps up through the midrange, it does sound somewhat thin in comparison with the height of the neck pickup above the point to where it will have the hollow acoustic quality which I despise.

The middle position sounds very good with both with the neck pickup in series and split without either pickup dominating the overall tone.

It is clear that 500k controls are necessary for the minibucker. The Hot T by itself or in combination with the neck pickup either split or in parallel will need additional loading. The best option for the tone control would be a 500k/250k concentric pot, ideally, though a simple dual-ganged control should work just fine. A quad-pole switch will be necessary in order to assign loading and tone controls appropriately.

As it stands, based on what I believe is in the owner’s best interest and the tone of this guitar, the Hot T should be replaced with a Super Distortion T. I envision there being 4 worthwhile combinations: bridge, bridge and neck combined, bridge and neck split with the coils wired in series, and neck. I don’t see the neck split being a worthwhile option.

There is no doubt in my mind that the neck model of the minibucker is the better pairing with a Hot T if there isn’t any desire for split operation. If I owned a Telecaster I would likely want an Area Hot T and a Twang King in the neck, though I can see the Neck Minibucker being an excellent pairing if the tone of a traditional neck pickup isn’t desired.

[darkbluemurder]

Indeed, splitting the minibucker results in a thin single coil sound that is quite weak when used individually but sounds ok (to me) when combined with the bridge humbucker. It is basically the sound of two humbuckers in parallel but with added top end which I find useful for clean tones.

"As it stands, based on what I believe is in the owner’s best interest and the tone of this guitar, the Hot T should be replaced with a Super Distortion T. I envision there being 4 worthwhile combinations: bridge, bridge and neck combined, bridge and neck split with the coils wired in series, and neck. I don’t see the neck split being a worthwhile option."

Are you going to use a 5-way super switch? Then you should be able to get these combinations even though you may have to design the circuit. Bridge and neck split with the coils in series would give you about the same volume as the individual humbuckers and both together so the volume match would be fine. Whether you (or your customer) like the tone is a different matter. I am not very fond of the series linkages of coils from different humbuckers but that is personal preference.  I definitely would want the Super Distortion T with the coils in parallel on the 5th setting for a brighter tone that has still good output. That is also personal preference but most of my guitars get that.

Good luck,
Stephan

[gregr]

In general I don’t like the sound of split humbuckers (parallel wiring even less, more often than not). Split humbuckers work ok in the neck position because of the location; and up to the point of losing too much top end, the hotter the pickup the better. I don’t think the neck version of the minibucker would have enough sauce to split for my tastes.

In order not to sound contradictory, the discrepancy in level between a split bridge minibucker in the neck and a Super D T in the bridge is the reason why I wouldn’t find splitting the minibucker worthwhile. I think the Super D in parallel would be a better option, though I don’t think it’s the type of tone he would use.

[gregr]

So I just bought a Tele and will be putting the Area Hot T in it. I said earlier that I’d rather have a Twang King in the neck over a neck Minibucker. The reason being I think I’d prefer a single coil in the neck, but I’m not 100% sure that I want to go in that direction as I fear there being a large discrepancy in output.

What are you using in the neck with an Area Hot T, Stephan?

[darkbluemurder]

I am using a Virtual Vintage 54 Pro in the neck. It is a tele from a local builder that has a humbucker route in the neck so a strat pickup fits with the right pickguard.

Cheers Stephan

EDIT to remove typos

[gregr]

Sounds like an awesome choice to me!

[darkbluemurder]

Yes, they work well together, both in output and tone.

[gregr]

I got a Chopper T to put in the Squier with the Bridge Minibucker in the neck. It has a little more output and is wider sounding than the Hot T but also has less emphasis in the upper midrange. I imagine this is no surprise to anyone who has used both pickups. Unfortunately it’s still too small against the minibucker. It’s clear that a Super D T or a Tone Zone T will be the best pairings. I guess the Tone Zone is fatter through the mids, but YouTube demos aren’t very helpful with these, ignoring the fact that they have to translate over to the thin sounding Squier. The Chopper does sound good, likely due to the 250k pots that are taming the high end. Tone-wise it seems like it’s more in line with the Super D than the Tone Zone because it’s more neutral(?). Any thoughts?

The Chopper may end up going in the Ultra at which point we’ll have to choose a neck pickup. The Twang King isn’t going to be a good fit for the owner. The Neck Minibucker is obviously a good choice, but I was just looking at a Duncan Quarter Pound Neck, to which DiMarzio has no equivalent. From what I heard it sounds very nice, but the problem is it’s going to be noisy which will be a non-starter. One demo compares it to a Jazz Neck, at which point the EJ Custom Neck came to mind. Spec-wise the output is on-par with the Bridge Minibucker, which I already know is too hot, however the EQ is quite different. Are there any thoughts on this one?