[kavoo]

I'm building Dave Murray vintage strat replica. Just bought a set of old vingate DiMarzio DP100/DP103, but there's one more pickup to buy to complete my little project - single coil for the middle position. And that's where the problem starts... I cannot decide which DiMarzio single coil pickup will suit my needs best.

The idea is that my guitar electronics will be based on two circuits selectable by push-pull volume knob. In one position it will be classic HSH config. In the other - some sort of a SSS config (both DP100 and DP103 splitted).

I've listened to tons of clips on YouTube and cannot decide which SC pickup will be best for this setup. There are so many fine sounding choices... Virtual Vintage Blues, Virtual Vintage 54 Pro, Area 58, Area 61, Area 67...

Could you please advise me which one I should get keeping in mind that in the SSS config (with DP100/103 running on just one coil) I would love to get as close as possible to the Hendrix area tonewise? Of course I'm aware it will be pretty hard to achieve a Hendrix tone since my guitar will have a splitted humbucker in the neck position instead of proper single coil pickup... but something's gotta give.

[darkbluemurder]

Close to Hendrix screams for Area 67.

However, even though it's my personal favorite for the neck position I don't like it for the middle position much, and prefer the Area 58 or VV 54 Pro there.

With any of these pickups you should split the middle pickup when splitting the other two to remain the humcancelling effect.

Cheers Stephan

[kavoo]

To be honest I'm leaning towards VV54Pro after watching this clip (from 1:30):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DyVALD6SDM

But the quality of this clip is totally shitty, so I've decide to consult it on forum. There's no info about what amp this guy is using, but since I'm running on Axe-Fx II it's irrelevant.

[kavoo]

OK, after consulting things with my luthier I have more doubts about pickup choice

I've decided to drop the idea of two circuits based on push-pull pot. It will be a simple HSH config with 5 pickup selections:
1. full bridge humbucker (DP100)
2. splitted bridge humbucker with middle single coil
3. middle single coil alone
4. middle single coil with splitted neck humbucker (DP103)
5. full bridge humbucker
To complete the above most probably I'll have an extra "Gilmour switch" engaging splitted bridge and neck humbuckers.

Now... since my primary tones will be from the humbuckers, there will be a 500k pots. For this reason the choice of Area 67 is out of the question - it would be way too bright. That makes of course the VV54Pro really good choice... but...

Recently someone has drawn my attention to the DiMarzio HS single coil pickups. He said that they are an excellent choice for my needs, they are working really great in the HSH config (especially HS-3).

I've check them on YouTube and found this demo:
https://youtu.be/QRKWzgqFIA0?t=171

I must say I really like this tone, it's pretty close to my goal. But since there are such DiMarzio experts on this forum, I would greatly appreciate if you guys could clarify my doubts about the following:

HS-2 have a 90mV output and 14,97kOhm DC Resistance, while HS-3 have 93mV and 23.72kOhm. How big difference is it and how it affects the tone keeping in mind that we are speaking of middle position? Which one will work better combined with splitted humbuckers (DP100/Dp103)? On the DiMarzio site there is info about two modes of HS-2 (humbucking mode and single-coil mode), presented also on the YouTube clip above - does the HS-3 have the same? There's no info about it. But there's an info about HS-3 being first choice of the 80s era classic metal guitarists using HSH strats and another one about HS-3 working with pedal-overdriven Marshalls (my favourite amps).

On the contrary - Virtual Vintage 54 Pro have more output (140mV) but way less DC Resistance (7.75kOhm). It also have Alnico 2 magnets instead of Alnico 5 in the HS pickups. How it relates to the tone and which specs will suit my needs better?

So much questions, so much doubts... why I haven't choose a harmonica?

Many thanks in advance for any feedback