I was reading the comments and actually thought there was going to be a review without someone criticizing Paul.... but, no..impossible....why is there this thing against him? He's just a dude with an awesome job. You do it well Paul!
The newer YJM stratocasters with the Seymour Duncan pickups are some incredibly versatile guitars. I was testing one out and plugged into a Fender Super Reverb, and man does it have a powerful clean sound, I took it home immediately. I was blown away at how much punch ala SRV kind of tone that it had to it. I didn't expect that sound to come from stacked single coils. I can nail some Zeppelin tones through a Bluesbreaker while rolling off the volume a little bit. I also found that the scalloped frets take no time to get used to and after a while you don't even notice them except how easily you can bend the strings.
Yngwie has stated in a recent 2024 interview that he went through forty-six prototype sets of Seymour Duncan YJM pickups before he finally settled on the sound he was looking for! That is absolutely insane! Goes to show you how much of a perfectionist he truly is when it comes to his tone. They sound amazing!
READ ON if you want Malmsteen’s early sound using these pickups. I’m by no means an expert but this is what I’ve found works best from endless tinkering with different amps! It’s a 2-3-4 rule that has worked for me with or without Marshalls. I think the reason Yngwie’s tone sucks now (this is subjective of course), is because he’s still cranking his Marshalls with higher output pickups and it just doesn’t work. And my aim was to fix that. Use the CRUNCH channel, crank the gain all the way up and use the following EQ settings: Bass on 2, Middle on 3, Treble on 4. Also have the presence on either 2 or 3. These settings may seem relatively low but they work because they’re all low and aren’t overshadowed by anything, just like how low output pickups work when everything is cranked! Use an overdrive pedal (I don’t recommend his signature one from fender) such as an SD1 or a Tube Screamer with the drive all the way down, level all the way up and tone in the middle. Adjust amp volume to taste. I’ll be astounded if you aren’t satisfied with the tone you will get. If that’s the case, you have one of the few decent amps that this rule doesn’t apply to. I’ve tried different Marshalls, Mesa, Peavey, H&K, Friedman; even an EVH worked! Try it out!
@@commentfreely5443 Unfortunately he's self produced and managed by his wife. The cut costs by using local musicians on tour and Yngwie does virtually everything himself in the studio. I miss the days when he used powerful singers and had an actual band.
I’ve been watching lots of YJM videos one thing I notice is every player that plays a scallop neck is pretty damn good just saying I’m grateful I’m in that group to a lesser degree
I'm a huge Yngwie fan and have played and have owned enough stuff in my lifetime to know the difference. I just got a set of the YJM Fury pickups and was pretty dissapointed. They are very high output, around 25k each.. although the pickup had more gain they are too round. I put then in two different guitars, a Master Built 57 Custom Shop Strat and a USA Hendrix Voodoo Strat then removed them immediately. The pickups are pure upper midrange so if you have an amp like a real vintage 100 watt Marshall 4 input head that is super bright then you might like them. They simply just don't have enough top end. I kept looking down to see if my tone knobs were off. I'm putting mine up for sale. I have a very hard time even imagining that Yngwie would ever use these. They sound nothing like what he used in past. Wanna be pickups... In the past I used Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Solos. Howie Simon of Alcatrazz uses them in his 70s strats. They nail the sound way better than the YJM series..
scald98 you want to buy mine.. I just tried them in a 69 Fender custom shop body with a Fender Yngwie Scalloped neck. They just don't have the top end. I put Dimarzio HS3s and HS4s in it. Sounds great now. But I gotta say that I do love the YJM Fury pickups dynamically. Just as with all Seymour Duncan pickups they lack top end especially in the low strings.
Do not get me wrong, I have always been huge fan of YJM and I consider him true guitar legend. But Yngwies most significant records and tunes were played by guitars equipped with HS3 Dimarzio and that is and always be his true signature tone. So whoever of you YJM fans, wants YJM signature tone, you can have it only with Dimarzios. SD Fury are interesting pups but it is not YJM signature tone, they are completely different and you can hear it clearly in this clip and also on the YJM recent records. SD Fury is created as result of trading and business, and it is OK, but it is not anyway near YJM signature sound. Not sonicaly nor historicaly. I bought SD Fury but I should have bought Dimarzios. Of course this is just my point of view.
Was this demo played through a YJM100? Is there any guitar peripheral out there that Malmsteen doesn't have a signature model for? A strap perhaps? A pick? Holy hell.
Are you sure you have the pickups at the right height? I have HS-3s in my Strat and was ready to rip them out, but then I set the pole to string distance on both E strings to 0.070" (two thick guitar picks thick). Wow! My intonation is now awesome and I've got gain out the ass. I know I've set them even closer before (and it sucked), but I think this distance (and that their distance are all even now) is some kind of sweet spot. Try it before you rip them out. Mine are staying!
My YJM did not gome with straploks, but it is an older model. For the pick up selector my guess is this guitar originally had the stock HS3's in it and they just dropped in a loaded pickguard with the STK-S10's which had a 5 way switch.
great review buddy. you always deliver! this answered my questions perfectly! unfortunately i will decide against the pickups in my strat, i feel like a lot of that "strat-ness" on the cleansis lost with these. cheers
I’m considering buying a set of these but can someone please demo them without the yankstien flash. I’d love to just hear the pickups in a variety of sounds.
I put these in an Affinity strat and the only thing i like about them is the bridge tone. Its great for 80's hair metal like Whitesnake. But there's not much bell tone in the neck.
in this video, his guitar doesnt use straploks and has a 5-way selector switch. I have a malmsteen guitar with the new pups and it has a 3-way selector switch and it USES straploks, anyone care to explain?
I like that pickups is medium Output pickups I have that pickups I have Seymour Duncan YJM fury neck and middle position and Seymour Duncan Trembucker bridge position Is high output More metal I have in my fender American Standard Stratocaster because I'm a heavy metal person
Paul, it would be nice if you had played some E A and D chords and maybe a rock riff so we could hear what the pickups sound like. I have a Legacy 3 amp but I don't play Vai music, I like that sound.
those pickups do sound great, but I really think they take the chimey, bluesey, fenderish sound that I personally love. I would by the guitar, but I don't think id replace my original fender pickups. Maybe it just wasn't demo'd as a fender, but as a Yngwie. no disrespect to the greatest, but how would it hold up playing some hendrix? Or maybe sultans of??
Are the 2013 models equipted with the glossy clear coated scalloped neck as well? I've seen some with plain finish bare wood before and wouldn't have them if you gave them to me. I want the model w/clear coated neck like the one in this video. What's avail. today brand new in this strat?
jubjub if it was a rosewood fingerboard you could argue that you are losing the tone offered by the additional wood glued to the neck. With a maple neck it’s one piece of wood
I'm not sure what his exact reasoning is, but it's really damn hard to sweep in the highest frets. I usually just use them for tapping in sweeps, and he seems to favor big sweeps all over the place, rather than sweep-taps.
@theh1n1shot Paul's setup lacks Malmsteen's vintage Marshalls, his incredibly thick picks, the DOD signature overdrive, the Eb tuning and his echo/delay stuff. Plus he's also not Yngwie....trademark vibrato and short picking arc and all that
When I saw him live he had full length body mirrors side of stage so he could gaze at himself. Amazing player, just seems to be a bit up himself. I heard he had a big fight with dimazio not giving him enough of a profile. I do agree dimazios have that something special about there tone, kinda 'air like' like a 335.
I've listen to both versions of YJM. Seymour Duncan's have more a vintage sound, cleans are way better. Dimarzio's are much better at handling gain, cleans are good. Personally I believe Malmsteen uses both, Fury set for Blues/Hendrix covers and HS set for his hits.
@berserkerfunestus I can see that. I have never played one. I can also see that you would need a very light touch, which I do not posess. I am very heavy handed.
Too bad if you buy the Fender Yngwie strat with the Fury's already in it, it only comes with a 3-way pickup switch. But then again Yngwie doesn't use the middle pickup so there's an extra postion even in that.
I don't get it (sorry, begginer).. for sure this aren't humbuckers, but they don't sound like single coils, can anyone explain that to me? Why humbuckers when "single coils" (or something that looks like it) can sound good with distortion?
@Fldzpln11 Yeah, I can imagine that it would favor the shedders. I am a rythm guy myself with a heavy hand on the frets and on the pick. It doesn't sound like my kind of neck. My new Warmoth project guitar has the super jumbo fret wire, which has a scalloped feel. If you press too hard, the note will go sharp, but not that much.
@sixstringfretter I had a shit guitar and scalloped it just to see what it's like before I got my new one. I also play on 11's since I chord alot but wanted to see what it's like. Chording didn't feel right on it, but most people scallop their guitars can shred. The soloing felt good though. Though transitioning between the 2 wasn't so smooth. So I went back to a regular neck
@asianaxeman True, but that's about it. You can't beat a HB for rich, warm, noise free distortion. The H-S-S config is, to me, the best of both worlds, and makes a guitar truely universal ;)
