G&L Powerblade pup in an Asat bridge plate?

[pico peachy]

Because I am not very smart but quite compulsive, this morning I purchased a used bridge dual blade pickup (from a Legacy Special) off ebay to put in my Asat Classic custom's bridge position. A few hours and another cup of coffee later, I realized that the size of the pup will be smaller (maybe not a big deal) and does not have the screw hole design to sit in the bridge (a bigger problem)

Any tricks or solutions or am I out 40 bucks? I don't have any Legacys to put it in..

Thanks, Paul

[darwinohm]

Paul, you are right. The classic pickup is a 3 bolt mount design and mounted at a different angle relative to the bridge. The only possibility is that if you could mount the pickup to the body with springs and 2 bolts. It will not look right no matter what. I don't think that you are out 40 bucks. I would resell it. -- Darwin.

[pico peachy]

Thanks Darvin. I may just hold onto it for while. who knows, I may be able to use it someday. In the meantime, I am going to try Duncan's hot rail bridge tele pup. That looks like it will fit. Anyone disagree? Thanks. G&L RULES!

[pico peachy]

Also am considering the little '59. Anybody have experience with this one in an ASAT classic CUSTOM?

I don't need twang and play a lot of lead stuff, sometimes I feel like I am getting lost in the mix. I don't play too heavy generally, some power chords so and leaning towards the hot rail..

by the way, I love the neck pup for chords.

thanks in advance for any input, Paul

[Philby]

Hi Paul,

I have a SD Hot Rails in the bridge position of a strat, so I can't comment directly on how it might sound in an ASAT.

What I will comment on is how LOUD they are (about 17 KOhm resistance). That can make the HR difficult to balance with a neck or middle pickup. They sound great though - very warm and mid rangey. A HR will easily push an amp into overdrive without needing a boost pedal. As a bonus, when you wire the HR up in parallel on a push/pull pot it sounds much like a vintage bridge pickup, perhaps slightly thicker. The parallel wiring brings the output down too so the HR matches other pickup levels better.

On my strat I've wired the HR to run in parallel mode as standard, then for solos etc. I can pull up on the push/pull pot to fully unleash the beast in series.

One last comment. IMHO the HR sounds better when it's not too close to the strings. As you bring it closer to the strings it gets muffled and distorted and you lose dynamics. As you lower it, it becomes clean and well balanced. A lot of web reviews describe the sound as dull and distorted. I can only assume that the reviewers have set it too close to the strings.

Hope that helps.

[Boogie Bill]

Far out idea....

Call the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop, and see if they can adapt a Tele pickup's mounting plate to that pickup.

Duncan has lots of tele-style pickups to choose from. I'm not sure if they make anything that can hang with the neck MFD. MFD's are VERY powerful pickups.

I've thought now for several years that a Gotoh-equipped ASAT might be a killer addition to the ASAT line.

Bill

[pico peachy]

thanks for the input guys. I am leaning toward the hot rail. I am lucky enough to have a shop three blocks from my home that stock these so I am going to pick one up this afternoon and hopefully have it installed before band practice tomorrow AM

Philby-Yes, the volume of the HR is a concern. hopefully, I can get to a nice balance, especially for the middle position. I am not going to do anything fancy with the wiring for now. (I am not buying many guitars these days so I need to space out my guitar mod projects) I like the idea of the lead pup being a bit louder so I can switch over to it when it's time for some more lead stuff, I use a small board of pedals but don't like to mess around with them when playing, I like to leave them on and forget about them.

I like your suggest, Bill. contacting SD down the road might be worth the effort. Trying to keep this mod as cheap as I can for now and more importantly, I want the new pup installed before a gig next weekend. By the way, if you happen to be attending the Kenton Street Fair on the 22nd (north Portland) my band is playing at noon. been hoping to meet you for years now. Tried to catch you at a West linn street fair/Saturday market a few summers ago but the show was cancelled because of the heat wave. I hope to see you playing a Legacy Special someday. I have been fascinated by those blades for sometime..

I will update when I get a new pup installed.

[astutzmann]

sorry I'm late on this one.

I have a legacy that has a DiMarzio DP184 rail in the bridge. It came that way so I don't know how its wired.

Its HOT, louder than the others, sounds awesome and also sounds great with the middle. No issues what so ever.

I have heard (don't know) that the stock bridge pup on strat can be weak, but not mine, love it.

Good luck with the switch,

Alf

[Xochitl]

Richie Kotzen has a Chopper T / Twang King combo from Dimarzio on his signature Tele. I quite like his sound on Motherhead Family Reunion. You may want to try the Chopper for looks and sounds.