HOt/Cool rails?

[mattdoubleyou]

Hope this is the place to post this ?, if not then sorry. I changed out my bridge pu in my 86 charv model 6. (seymore duncan invader). I will eventually need to change the mid and neck pups. what do you guys think about the hot and cool rails. theyre fairly new I guess and I havent heard much about them other than from floor salesmen. I figured Id get a pretty realistic answer from you guys. Id like a really warm jazzy sound, since I already have the dirty dirty in the invader. Thanks for your help .

[phill_up]

I have a charvel with hot rails and cool rails and they are fine. I see no reason to change them

[Rich#6]

That's the combo that is put into a lot of jackson/charvels. I have a hot rails as the neck pickup of my model 6 and love it.
Beware of the lip on the pickups. You either need to special order most pickups or modify the guitar.

[mattdoubleyou]

That's the combo that is put into a lot of jackson/charvels. I have a hot rails as the neck pickup of my model 6 and love it.
Beware of the lip on the pickups. You either need to special order most pickups or modify the guitar.

Modify? Are the singlecoils not the same size as strat pups? please explain and as far as special ordering pups, who would i talk to about that?

[Franx]

Modify? Are the singlecoils not the same size as strat pups? please explain and as far as special ordering pups, who would i talk to about that?

"Lip":

No "Lip":


DiMarzio calls them "No Flange" !

[roodyrocker]

I tried the Hot Rails in the middle and neck positions on an ESP Mirage and they were too muddy. I yanked them back out and went with Virtual Vintages instead, sounded much better. This was in combination with a Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge.

[Newc]

The Hot and Cool Rails aren't really "new", they've been around since the mid-late 80s at least.

[Rich#6]

Modify? Are the singlecoils not the same size as strat pups? please explain and as far as special ordering pups, who would i talk to about that?

I found my hot rails used on ebay. Any dealer that sells the pickups you are looking for should be able to help you.

[MartinBarre]

I believe the newer ones don't have that "lip".
I think they looked better with it.

[dg]

I've also got a Hot Rails in the neck of my Model 6. It's great, but if you're looking for warm & jazzy, look elsewhere. As for the lip thing... the newer Hot/Cool Rails don't have a lip. They look like this:





The problem with the wires coming out in the middle is that they're very stiff and don't lay right over to fit into the cavity without a little mod. I had to make a slight undercut with a dremel tool to give the wires room to bend comfortably. You can't see it at all with the pickup installed.

If you get an older one with the metal lip on it, it's pretty easy to remove the lip yourself, following these instructions:

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=854739&postcount=6

[Grandturk]

hotrails are almost as old as stacked singles. early 80's. they are like a distortion in single coil size. cool rails are newer. they are much more like a vintage single coil in sound. they can do a warm neck sound nicely.

[toejam]

cool rails are newer. they are much more like a vintage single coil in sound. they can do a warm neck sound nicely.

Cool Rails are more like a PAF humbucker. The Vintage Rails are like a single coil.

[Bert]

The hot rails that is made for the neck position isn't all that much hotter than the cool rails, and does not sound particularly muddy. The bridge position hot rails is another story and is definitely a "distortion" pickup which will sound like mud when used for cleans.

[Grandturk]

Cool Rails are more like a PAF humbucker. The Vintage Rails are like a single coil.

Had two Cool Rails in the neck/middle position on my Fusion for four years. They are chimey and punchy. I wouldn't describe them as sounding anything like a PAF or a humbucker.

[toejam]

Interesting. Ducan always described them as an old humbucker.