Building a new guitar at the moment and thinking about trying some SD hot rails pickups for something different. I have a cheaper Dragonfire rails neck pickup in another guitar and I like it but I'm not sure how that style pickup would fair in the bridge for rhythms etc. Anybody have experience/opinions?
Duncan hot rails for rock /metal?
- Thread starter Soya
- Start date
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BenjaminW
Well-Known Member
Use the Dragonfire rails as the neck pickup and then the SD hot rails as bridge. You'll get the best of both worlds.
Noisy Humbucker
Only obsesses over guitars when not playing them.
I loved the Hot Rails, served as a great transition to passives after being an active guy for years. The only thing I’d say don’t be shy when adjusting the height, it’s definitely a hot pickup and not necessarily as versatile as a traditional humbucker.
Yeah that is a primary concern, squeezing enough juice out of it to have the output but maybe doesn't clean up well or is too compressed. I'd like to run a 5 way switch with them also for split sounds and wonder if they would be too weak then.
Noisy Humbucker
Only obsesses over guitars when not playing them.
DEFINITELY not too weak when split. The Hot Rails is also the reason every guitar I have must be wired with a split.
I never tried wiring it for parallel, I bet that would give a cleaner sound.
Excellent news, I'm open to parallel wiring also.
Yeah my default plan was a H/S set of Dimarzios but since I have them in all my guitars I'm thinking about giving some Duncan's a shot to mix it up.
HeHasTheJazzHands
Well-Known Member
I'm curious about the Hot Rails myself. I got a Tele and I was orignally gonna twang with it, but I think I'm actually gonna load it up with something more... humbuckery. 
Can the Hot Rails get muddy? I'm afraid they'd be pretty undefined and flubby.
Can the Hot Rails get muddy? I'm afraid they'd be pretty undefined and flubby.
TonyFlyingSquirrel
Cherokee Warrior
I've used the hot rails even in the neck and it was fine, but I think the cool rails retains more clarity & chime when you want it. With high gain amps & disto boxes, I think the cool rails is the more flexible option. The hot rails is a tad more compressed, the cool rails is rounder in my opinion.
I'm curious about the Hot Rails myself. I got a Tele and I was orignally gonna twang with it, but I think I'm actually gonna load it up with something more... humbuckery.
Can the Hot Rails get muddy? I'm afraid they'd be pretty undefined and flubby.
They can get muddy...
But if you wire up a parallel/series switch or pot,
you'll have the option to clean it up with parallel mode.
I'm curious about the Hot Rails myself. I got a Tele and I was orignally gonna twang with it, but I think I'm actually gonna load it up with something more... humbuckery.
Can the Hot Rails get muddy? I'm afraid they'd be pretty undefined and flubby.
Depends on the guitar/tuning etc
I wouldn't put Hot Rails in a naturally dark sounding 24.75" scale guitar tuned to Bb, for instance or at least it wouldn't be my first choice.
An inherently brighter guitar and you should be okay I reckon
HeHasTheJazzHands
Well-Known Member
Well it's going in a basswood-loaded 25.5'' Tele that's going to be stuck in standard/drop D. So nothing extreme.
TonyFlyingSquirrel
Cherokee Warrior
Should be fine. That's similar to what I had it in, a basswood bodied Ibanez RG around 1990.
IGC
Well-Known Member
I used S.D. hotrails to hot rod a mexican strat and matching tele I owned in my early to mid 20's. In the strat I had the neck one, and in the tele I had the bridge tele hotrail. It's been like 16 years and I no longer have the guitars but I remember really liking them and no complaints paying for them new.
The bridge tele was not at all twangy with the stock pots, "fatter" beefier" sounding (not flubby) higher output is what I remember. I actually still have the Tele bridge in my junk drawer I accidentally pulled the thin coil wire from the eyelett and need re-solder it.
The bridge tele was not at all twangy with the stock pots, "fatter" beefier" sounding (not flubby) higher output is what I remember. I actually still have the Tele bridge in my junk drawer I accidentally pulled the thin coil wire from the eyelett and need re-solder it.
