The Electra Forums

Been thinking about getting a set of jazz master style single coils in an Electra lp style body ala omega (or any non mpc model). Has anyone else done this with satisfying results? Or does this even seem like a good idea?

Are you talking about the PAF soap bar type pick ups?

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SlmGuy

Exactly -

If you are talking about soap bar style/P90 style replacements for humbucker sized pickups the GFS and the Duncans are pretty good. So are the tone riders from what I hear (never had that particular one) as well as the Harmonic Designs Z90. But I can't say they are specifically jazz master styles. I also have a set of GFS Surf 90s (dearmond dynasonic wannabes) in my recent Epiphone Wilshire. They have lots of "twang" and they are really nice. I wanted something different and that is what I got. Also, don't overlook the duncan Prails. With some push/pulls they can be the most flexible pickups out there (combining vintage output humbuckers, high output humbuckers, P90 single coils, and blade "strat" sounding single coils). Yeah, they look funky, but I get over that fast. Unfortunately I sold the guitar I had them in. Wish I didn't - but at the time it sounded like a good idea.

The good thing is, take a photo of your wiring and box your original pickups - then you can try the new ones and if you don't like them you can go back easily enough. If you do, well, you can keep your originals in case you ever want to sell your guitar or put it back to stock. Electra guitars are collectible (heck, almost anything is collectible - just look at the clutter in my house!), but Electras foremost are made to be PLAYED. It is your guitar, enjoy it.

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Thorny

Yeah those p rails arent too funky looking at all. Thanks for the suggestions! Now which guitar do i mod...? I like the single coil sound of my electras but it's lacking that extra push into quackville.

The Prails are probably the best compromise I have found in different kinds of sounds. The P90 sound is exactly a P90 sound - because it IS a P90 with an extra coil placed next to it. The rail coil does a decent job of sounding like a strat or tele (not perfect, but a lot better than a single coil out of the typical humbucker). The full series humbucking sound is meaty and has a good amount of gain (not my favorite, but still quite good for a higher gain pickup - certainly not bad). And the parallel humbucker sound created from those rather meaty single coils sounds rather PAFish. I can't believe a lot of guitars don't come stock with those. In fact talking about it makes me want to buy a set and put them into a guitar again.

What you put them in? Depends on what you have, how good of shape it is in (how original), and what it means to you. The ideal guitar would be a dual humbucker, single volume, single tone, and three way switch as far as I am concerned. With two push/pulls it is simply amazing. Duncan has a wiring diagram for that. I am certain you could do all kinds of variations on that wiring. I put mine in a Cort Pagelli (a PAG1) - it was an amazing LesPaul-ish very well made Korean guitar with nice quilting. I would bet they would sound good in any dual humbucking Electra - especially one that already has a bunch of replacement parts in it anyway, or a player guitar. I'd hate to see you mod one that was truly a fantastic collectors piece. But not all electras you find are going to be collectors pieces - some are beat up and still are killer players. What ever you have, make the most out of it. It is your guitar.

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Thorny

At the time i wrote this i was about to win an 81 omega on ebay for cheap. Well i lost. I have a betz Vulcan, cherry endorser, a 420vs and a white futura. I would mod the futura but not the others. Maybe i could score a pickupless electra on ebay....the omega seems like a winner for the single coils

Plenty of Phoenixs up for grabs out there, with out pick ups most weigh in 8 to 9 1/2 pounds (81' - 84'). Humbuckers, single coil and both. Lot of room to play around with.

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SlmGuy