S-500 bridge pickup replacement

[kjc89]

Hey guys,

I recently became the proud owner of a G&L S-500 Tribute, which I am loving. My previous guitar was a low-mid end Korean SuperStrat that was configured HSS. I am somewhat missing the humbucker in the bridge position as I'm finding the single coil bridge position a little bit lacking on my S-500 for the styles that I play.

I tend to play a lot of 90s Alternative Rock/BritPop style music from both sides of the Atlantic in the same vain as Oasis, Blur, Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins, but at the same time am partial to Classic Rock, Blues and Jazz. Once in a while I attempt Metal, though not unbelievably heavy stuff.

So I'm looking for a single coil sized humbucker that will be right for the above styles. To be honest, looking at the genres I've just listed, I think I'm probably looking for a magical super pickup that doesn't exist, but still, does anyone have any ideas? Am I crazy to even want to replace an MFD?

[Philby]

Hi there,

Like you, I find the bridge pickup on my S-500 to be a little 'weak' compared to the middle and neck.

In the (long distant) past I've used a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails bridge p/u with success and it certainly did the job. The only problem was that the output was too high to match the other pickups in the guitar. I see that Seymour has now expanded the Rails line of pickups to provide a range of outputs for matching to single coils.

You could do worse than check out the Seymour Duncan website where you'll also find some sound clips.

Hope that helps.

[Boogie Bill]

I've had a Duncan JB Jr. in one of my S-500s and though it has a nice tonality, it really can't keep up with the output of the MFDs. I had to lower the neck and middle pickups WAY DOWN to get a decent volume match.

Bill

[jazzrat]

I put a Dimarzio Virtual solo in the bridge position of my Legacy.
Balances well with the other pickups but has more output, is fatter, warmer and sounds better with
high gain.

[kjc89]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies.

I decided to order a DiMarzio Tone Zone S in the end for mine, as I didn't actually have much selection to choose from from the shop I got it from and it just sounded right to me from the videos I watched/listened to online.

I will post back once it arrives and I finally fit it to let you all know how it went.

[blargfromouterspace]

I had a Tone Zone S in a strat I owned once, great sounding pickup especially with overdrive.