duncan quarter pounder

[Wrong-Note Rod]

I disagree, the quarter pound is capable of twang. It will not sound like a broadcaster, but it twangs away. Mine is not muddy at all. I've coupled it with hot for tele neck. Its got all the tone I need... untill I change the pickups again.

not from my experience, well, not the Strat model.

A couple of weekends ago, I took my old frankensteined strat, named Boris, and put four different bridge pickups in it.... one at a time of course, and then recorded a bit of me playing each one. I was looking for "best twang sound".

After all four were recorded, I could A/B/C/D the recordings and get a really good idea of how they compared.

One of the pickups was a Quarter Pounder, which had decidedly less twang than any of the others. I finally decided to go with a GFS fat tele pickup.

 

[screamin eagle]

I've had a QP in my tele for a couple of months and really like it. But I am attacking this thing from quite a different direction. I put the QP in to pair with a lollar CC that's in the neck. I had the CC in for about a month before I put the QP in and I initially thought that the QP was still too bright to pair well with the CC. After making tweaks to height with both pickups I have really come to appreciate this setup.

This setup makes a quite a good jump blues guitar in a much smaller package than a full size archtop.

Note--everyone (including Lollar himself) says that you gotta set the CC neck pickup low...even with the pickguard low. If I would have left mine at that height I would have returned or sold it. That sound was not for me. Silvery. Sounded like the greatest Strat neck p/u I ever heard (if I liked the strat sound--which I don't). Now the bar is almost touching the strings when fretted and it's punchy, aggressive, decaying, middy, microphonic (slightly) and dynamic. Falls right in to those ol' Tiny Grimes, Bill Jennings, Lowell Fulson, Billy Butler, Johnny and Oscar Moore records.

for those who have CC pickups (I know this is a QP thread) try raisin' yur pickup too high.

 

[Teleterr]

Tiny Grimes ? He thought Keith Richards had too many strings.

 

[ScottJPatrick]

deaf eddy, if they sound like p90's, i'm puttin' one in the middle of my strat!!!

I had a friend once who did that, had to take it back out as it totally blew away the neck and bridge p'ups, these things are very loud!

 

[Rich_S]

Chet and Rich how did you wire it for the fade? There was a thread where a guy was getting phase issues...

That might have been me. After some experimenting, I believe this is the "right" way to wire it. It's adapter from the "spin-a-split" wiring diagram at the Duncan website. The pot values on the drawing may or may not be correct for you, it's a taste thing.

 

[Teleterr]

Yeah, I'm glad this came up again, I wondered what finally happened. Thats the way to do it so that theres only 1 path to ground. Chet, is that your circuit ?

 

[LGBGB]

i bought a set of quarter pounders and i'm having difficulties with installation. every single diagram i look at, the bridge pickup has only a white and black wire. the pickup itself has white, black and RED wires. so where does the red wire go?
i tried putting it on the volume pot, but it sounds thin when my 3 way is in the bridge position so it seems to me that its out of phase. duncans diagram says cut the jumper wire to change the phase, but im not seeing one nor does the pickup look like the diagram. i had it tapped with a 5 way switch, but now i wanna try it with a 3 way. if possible...please help

 

[bossaholic]

QP's are the only pickups I've used for over 20 years. I've wanted to try others, but I just love the sound of my QP's.

 

[LGBGB]

QP's are the only pickups I've used for over 20 years. I've wanted to try others, but I just love the sound of my QP's.

so can i install it with a 3 way switch?
or do i have to tap it with a 5 way?

 

[Shredderpete]

Here's the diagram you need for the 'Tapped Tele' wiring with a 5-way switch.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=tapped_tele_5way

 

[unspun]

I used QP's in my current project that is still in works. Bridge sounds muddy to me as well. I was wondering if changing the .22 cap to something else my get more of a sound I like. Not sure to go up or down on cap - but I guess that's what experimenting is for.

 

[charlie chitlin]

I have one.
In a drawer.

 

[csadams5]

My main tele has the qp in the bridge and a rio grande muy grande in the neck. It sounds great. I also have the for way mod. The forth position is a full giant humbucker tone. Great sounding. I love mine.

Sent from my Galaxy 500 using TDPRI

 

[Teleterr]

I used QP's in my current project that is still in works. Bridge sounds muddy to me as well. I was wondering if changing the .22 cap to something else my get more of a sound I like. Not sure to go up or down on cap - but I guess that's what experimenting is for.

Try a bigger value pot . If its 250 use a 375 or 500. If its 500 use a 1 megaohm.With the tone pot on full the cap doesn't do anything unless the pot values are too low to start with.

 

[DeanTeamCV]

so can i install it with a 3 way switch?
or do i have to tap it with a 5 way?

I have QP's (bridge & neck) with a 5 way switch. The key I've found to get the Tele tone of old is using the volume knob turned down 1/4 (and marked) that way I'm able to get classic Tele tones on all positions all the way up to P90ish bridge at full volume un-tapped full output. It makes the Roadworn 50's Tele an absolute beast. My friend (who owns a 60's Tele) made me promise I would will him my guitar cause he says it's the most versitle Tele he's ever played. I absolutely love it, but it took the volume trick to get everything I was wanting out of it.
Hope this helps someone.
Enjoy your search. Good luck
Nothing like finding your perfect setup

P.s. former Fender (tune/test) employee

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I like the QP, but its character is almost more like a P90 than a Tele bridge.
Luckily I like P90s. I have a Strat QP too.

For Tele character with extra muscle, Zhangbucker makes the Paul Bunyan "10 foot tall" Tele bridge.
I agree the Rio Muy Grande's a good one too. I have a set and like 'em.

For genuine twang, the Duncan Jerry Donahue model is pure Tele with just a bit of extra juice.

 

[hamerfan]

I have QP's (bridge & neck) with a 5 way switch. The key I've found to get the Tele tone of old is using the volume knob turned down 1/4 (and marked) that way I'm able to get classic Tele tones on all positions all the way up to P90ish bridge at full volume un-tapped full output. It makes the Roadworn 50's Tele an absolute beast. My friend (who owns a 60's Tele) made me promise I would will him my guitar cause he says it's the most versitle Tele he's ever played. I absolutely love it, but it took the volume trick to get everything I was wanting out of it.
Hope this helps someone.
Enjoy your search. Good luck
Nothing like finding your perfect setup

P.s. former Fender (tune/test) employee

Sounds like you have Treble bleed wiring on your volume pot?

 

[Ebidis]

I used QP's in my current project that is still in works. Bridge sounds muddy to me as well. I was wondering if changing the .22 cap to something else my get more of a sound I like. Not sure to go up or down on cap - but I guess that's what experimenting is for.

Different caps will have no effect at all when the tone pot is on 10. If you play with your tone pot rolled off, then yeah, it's gonna effect it.

.022 is pretty small. If you change to one of the other "traditional" tone pots, like .047 or .1, it will get darker. The higher the number, the darker the sound.

 

[4pickupguy]

You can have the best of both worlds. Have Rod DiStefano at Cavalier Pickups wind you something like a QP (I dubbed mine the Ludicrous Lion 43agw/A3s, that’s a hot Nocaster) that is tapped to something more traditional sounding. Then you can use the 5-way wiring schematic from the Seymour Duncan site that will give you this switching arrangement:
(From most neckward position)
1. Tapped tele bridge pickup
2. tapped bridge and neck pickup
3. neck
4. Ludicrous and neck pickup
5. Ludicrous Lion

He has 9 flavors of tele bridge pickup winds to chose from. I always point folks to Rob (Cavalier Pickups) because they sound so great, they are very reasonably priced and Rob is a joy to work with.

 

[DeanTeamCV]

You can have the best of both worlds. Have Rod DiStefano at Cavalier Pickups wind you something like a QP (I dubbed mine the Ludicrous Lion 43agw/A3s, that’s a hot Nocaster) that is tapped to something more traditional sounding. Then you can use the 5-way wiring schematic from the Seymour Duncan site that will give you this switching arrangement:
(From most neckward position)
1. Tapped tele bridge pickup
2. tapped bridge and neck pickup
3. neck
4. Ludicrous and neck pickup
5. Ludicrous Lion

He has 9 flavors of tele bridge pickup winds to chose from. I always point folks to Rob (Cavalier Pickups) because they sound so great, they are very reasonably priced and Rob is a joy to work with.

That is exactly my 5 way set-up!