[deckard1]

Hi,

I accidentally cut off too much wire on the ToneZone S pickup I am installing in my MIM Strat. I ordered some more pickup wire, but, for the time being can I put the ToneZone S pickup in the middle position of my Strat? There's enough wire for this. Will it sound right?

Thanks.

[jazzfromhell]

Well...it wont sound like a 50's strat, thats for sure
But try it, you might like it.

[deckard1]

I ended up splicing the wire that was too short and was able to properly connect the Tonezone S pickup successfully.

I am not quite convinced that the Tonezone S has nailed the PAF sound though. I'm wondering if it's just not possible for a single coil humbucker to sound like an actual humbucker. It still sounds good...but, not quite the real thing, in my opinion. Any thoughts?

[jazzfromhell]

I agree totally. It's not possible for a railbucker (or stacked for that matter) to sound like a real humbucker. Now you might like the different sound it gives you but it's not gonna be the real thing.

[greenlion]

Why would the Tone Zone S nail the "PAF" sound? The Tone Zone it was modeled after doesn't nail the PAF sound.

[deckard1]

I meant and should have said that the Tone Zone S doesn't sound as good as its humbucker counterpart.

[greenlion]

Ah. Yes. I have never found a single coil sized humbucker that sounds quite like its full sized parent. You can always buy a SSH pickguard and install a full sized humbucker.

You might also look  into the volume/tone pot values you are running the TZs with. Many humbuckers (including the full size TZ) do not sound best unless you use 500k pots, and your strat probably has 250k.

[deckard1]

Thanks.

I can't believe I didn't think of that to begin with. When I was installing the Tone Zone S, I noticed that my MIM strat is routed for either a humbucker or single coil in the bridge position. I felt like a complete idiot since I had already purchased the Tone Zone S.  

I could have purchased a 'real' humbucker instead.

[greenlion]

Some people don't like the look of a humbucker in a strat, but I don't mind it. Bridge pickups in strats are a difficult position to balance.

You can try using a more powerful single coil bridge like a Duncan SSL-5, you can install a single coil sized humbucker or a humbucker, but then you have to worry about the Values of the volume and tone pots, unless you have more modern higher power singles in the neck and middle. If you don't install more powerful singles in the neck and middle, there will always be a fairly big volume difference when switching between the bridge and the other 2.