Always found Billy to be quite an underrated guitarist. From a sheer talent perspective of all the frontmen from the big bands of the 90s- it’s pretty hard to beat Billy. Saw him live in NYC some years back. Dude takes his guitar and lays down the law with it.
As mentioned, its funny that he says "Strats are such expressive guitars, I hate it when people just drop humbuckers in these things" when all 3 pickups are humbuckers... also that he alludes to how perfect it is for him off the rack without modding when he's changed the neck for a '57 reissue, (a neck with a different finish, profile, fret size and fingerboard radius to his signature), which is probably the most drastic change you can make to a bolt-on Fender; they're pretty much a different guitar once you've done that. I do like that he seems to have made it into a cross between his two preferred types of Strat though, his mainstay '70s hardtails and the '57 reissues he played in the Siamese/Mellon Collie eras. With the DiMarzios this one pretty much has vibes from every era of Pumpkins now.
they're humbuckers in a single-coil shape, often referred to as rails, i.e "hot-rails" or "cool-rails". you can have a fatter more traditional sized humbucker like im sure you're used to seeing, or you can have this configuration.
Exactly what I was thinking “I’m playing my production Model...except with a different neck” they’re single coil sized humbuckers. They’re becoming more and more popular. You can still coil split them too. SD JB jr is the best pickup I’ve ever owned
i think he meant when people put Gibson-style humbuckers into Fender guitars. Yes, his pickups are mini humbuckers, but i’m pretty sure he designed them to be like single coils with more beef and less hum. He did still put humbuckers in his Strat tho lmao
rail size humbuckers are not the same due to the lack of magnetic field. In another post, Corgan likes the clarity and sensitivity of this style pickup with the extra punch, but still keep that single coil chime.
Billy is referring to dual humbuckers in Strats. He's mentioned it before, always been confused by it and so have I. Having three pickups with a 5 way switch is what gives the player huge versatility from a strat.
I believe he is talking about humbucker sized humbuckers because sometimes you have to rout the pickup cavity to fit hums, so buy a 1-2000 dollar guitar then cut it all up is what he doesn't like.
youtert the make single coil sized humbuckers..they used to be called hotrails I think. The pickups in the strat he showed has single coil sized humbuckers.
His Drop D guitar is the 70's Strat that in the early 90's was a clear color (maybe cream) and had I LOVE MY MOM on it... This was later painted blue for MCIS and you can see him using it on the Live in NYC DVD that was just released. Its Blue and has 2 Pumpkins & 1 Ghost sticker on it near the bridge and the blue paint is a little beat up.
The bridge pickup routing on most us strats surprisingly are routed for humbuckers. I've not looked under the pickguard of a BC strat, but I suspect it is. I think he genuinely means full on humbuckers (i.e. Fat strats) - referring to how hot and bottom ended they end up being as a result (as opposed to his relatively bright choice of railed pickups in single coil size)
I'm not even a Strat guy (though I do own and play them), but I've never felt so vindicated as when I heard him say he hates people dropping humbuckers into Strats.
Wait, he said "hello this is Billy Corgan from The Smashing Pumpkins." Duh. If anyone doesn't know this guy, pleeeeeease go listen and learn what the fuck awesome music is.
My guess would be that that sticker is from 76 not the 60s....seeing as it says 76 (the exact number of comments on the video when i showed up)....I'd bet it was from a bicentennial celebration seeing as thats what 1976 was all about in the states.
It's kind of a thing for Strat traditionalists that you shouldn't drop full humbuckers in a Strat. It's partly because of the looks and partly because a single coil sized humbucker still has a Straty quality. It's like putting a humbucker in a Les Paul Junior
Mine is black, but yeah, those pickups are really great sounding! Good job Billy. I like the chopper's Humbucking characteristics much better. I wonder how different a set of calibrated choppers sounds?? Blessed Antonin talked me into it! Tom
i think it's funny when he says he hates when people drop humbuckers in strats. his strat has humbuckers that are single coil sized. also, fender produces hss strats now and I actually sought to own one because it is more versatile. I would never own a BC strat. he says it's not a personalized strat and that everyone can use it, but that is a load. Billy is nuts these days. I would own that gretch though
+Daniel Cano anyone who has played one wouldn't be saying that.. BC strat can do anything and everything. One of the greatest and most versatile guitars ever straight off the shelf.
Interesting that he hasn't stated a model he uses for songs in Drop-d tuning. Seems unlikely that those 2 guitars would be enough to cover the whole set.
never seen him play an arch top. I'm shocked at the lack of feedback I get from mine but its a semi hollow. I guess we don't all get to or want to be Jesus and Mary Chain.
Haha, I thought that at first too. They're single-coil size though, so you can still have the traditional Strat angled bridge pickup. Maybe that's what he was getting at?
+JonnyUnderrated I agree, I have been building a strat that I got from a pawn shop for $180 that is mim and worth $500. I'm estimating that I will have spent a total of 500-700 make it "souped up and juiced up" to my taste. I would rather spend $700 over time to have my own custom built guitar than spend 1000 on someone else's ideal guitar.
