Welcome to Seymour Duncan Cool Rails Review.
So you want to know how good is the Seymour Duncan Cool Rails? This post is my honest Seymour Duncan Cool Rails Review.
I will try my best to give you the answers to your lingering questions about this pickup.
I have been modifying guitars for more than 17 years and the guitar below which I modified is a Fender Stratocaster made in Mexico.
Table of Contents
- What is a Cool Rails Pickup?
- Is this Pickup Good for Coil Splitting?
- Does this Pickup Sound like a Single Coil Pickup?
- Conclusion
Seymour Duncan Cool Rails Review
Summary
Name: Seymour Duncan Cool Rails
Website: seymourduncan.com
Price: $85
Rating:5
Pros: Drop-in replacement for single-coil pickups while eliminating hums.
Cons: Not good for coil splitting
What is a Cool Rails Pickup?
I am a very experimental guy. The Cool Rails is part of the series of rail pickups by Seymour Duncan that they designed for the Fender Stratocaster or any Stratocaster type of guitar.
The three are Hot Rails for the Bridge position, Vintage Rails for the middle and Cool Rails for the neck position.
This is one of my project guitars with Hot Rails in the bridge position, Vintage Rails in the middle position and Cool Rails in the neck position.
It is a Fender Mexican Stratocaster Body. Pickup switching and wiring configuration is done through five microswitches.
As you can see there is no 5-way switch. I use five microswitches so I will have all the wiring options of these pickups.
Series (full humbucker, parallel humbucker, single-coil north coil, single coil south coil as well as out of phase between pickups).
The Seymour Duncan Cool Rails Pickup is designed to replace a single-coil pickup in the neck position. It is a humbucker pickup, meaning dual coils, but the size is small to fit the Stratocaster pickup mounting.
The main objective is to eliminate the guitar hum, being a humbucker pickup. They designed it as a small humbucker to make it a drop-in replacement for the stock pickups.
This pickup is good, and it really does the job of eliminating the hum while retaining the Strat look. It is a very nice sounding pickup, and I have installed it on one of my Mexican Fender Stratocaster (see above).
They also sound like a real single coil pickup minus the hum. It was one of my earlier projects, and I was happy with it until I was into coil splitting.
How does this pickup sound?
Check the demo here for the rail pickups ( Hot Rails, Vintage Rails, and Cool Rails).
Is This Pickup Good for Coil Splitting?
See, on the demo, the pickups sound good by its original configuration. Well is this pickup good for coil splitting? I would like to offer information based on my experience that this pickup is not good for coil splitting.
It sounded good in full humbucker mode as it was designed to function that way. If you wire the coils in parallel, you will not get the same sound as a full-sized humbucker wired in parallel.
When you split the coils, you will get a very tiny sound which in my ears is not acceptable. If you need to split a pickup, you should use a full-sized humbucker or the Seymour Duncan P-Rails.
As you can see, one part of the P-Rails pickup is also a rail but I would like to stress the point here, that this rail coil is designed for coil splitting. This will do the job, but not the split coiled Cool Rails Pickup.
Does This Pickup Sound Like A Single Coil Pickup?
If you need a drop-in replacement for a single-coil pickup without the hum, this is the pickup you need. It sounds very much like a single-coil without the hum because it is a humbucker.
Conclusion
The Seymour Duncan Cool Rails Pickup is a direct replacement for a single coil pickup minus the hum. It is a single coil sized humbucker.
Although it comes in four wires, I do not recommend this for coil splitting as it will sound tiny. You have to wire it as a full humbucker meaning, the coils wired in series as it was designed to be used as such.
This is the default wiring. I have also experimented with wiring it in parallel mode but I did not get good results. To sum it up, this pickup should be used as per its intended use. Rewiring or coil-splitting will not give good results.
Feel free to ask questions, post comments or subscribe to my email list to be the first to get the updates and offers.
Seymour Duncan Cool Rails Review
Summary
Name: Seymour Duncan Cool Rails
Website: seymourduncan.com
Price: $85
Rating:5
Pros: Drop-in replacement for single-coil pickups while eliminating hums.
Cons: Not good for coil splitting
Would you like to share your passion for guitars and make real money online at the same time? It is totally free and you do not need credit card information.
It is Free to Get Started.
Hello Everyone,
I am Belden but friends call me Den, and I am the owner of this Website.
I have finally quit my job in Aviation as my online business is giving me financial freedom.
I love doing this online business as I love to help people quit their day job and do things they really love.
You will mostly find me hanging out at the coolest site to learn anything about online business.
PRS Custom 24 10-Top Electric Guitar Mccarty Tobacco Sunburst (Paid Link)
Ibanez RG5170G Prestige Electric Guitar (Paid Link)
Recommended Guitar Music Theory Book (Paid Link)
Music Man Majesty 7 Enchanted Forest (Paid Link)
Recommended Advanced Guitar Technique Book (Paid Link)
Recommended Complete Guitar Method Book (Paid Link)
In Neck Position, What SeyDunc Two-Space Pickup Is Like A SD ‘Cool Rails For Strat’?
— [1] In Neck Position, What Seymour Duncans Two-Space Pickup Is Like A SeyDunc ‘Cool Rails For Strat’?
— [2] About two years ago on my Hohner G3T (HSS), I changed out the pickups with Seymour Duncans was follows: Bridge, SH-11 Custom Custom Humbucker; Middle, SVR-1n ‘Vintage Rails for Strat’; Neck, SCR-1n ‘Cool Rails for Strat’. I like & am quite satisfied with these SD PUs.
— [3] I want to replace the pickups on one of my Steinberger Spirit GT-Pro Deluxe (HSH) with the same PUs as my G3T. The choice of Bridge & Middle PUs will be the same as for my G3T.
— [4] The only problem is the Neck PU. The Neck ‘Cool Rails’ is a single-space PU, which is fine for my G3T, which has a single-space at the neck. The Steinberger Spirit has a two-space at the neck.
— [5] What two-space SeyDunc PU in the neck position sounds like a ‘Cool Rails’ in the [U]neck position[/U]?
— [6] Thanks for the help. Richard
Hi Richard,
Sorry to disappoint you, but there is no full-sized humbucker pickup that will sound like a Seymour Duncan Cool Rails Pickup. Although a Cool Rail is a small-sized humbucker, it is designed to sound like a single-coil.
Your other option is to install a full-sized humbucker and split the coils. The best pickup in my opinion for coil splitting is the P-Rails pickup by Seymour Duncan.
You can split-coil just about any decent full humbucker but the P-Rails is designed to give a gigging musician a lot of tonal options. The first is that the Rail pickup of the P-Rails pickup is designed to sound like a single-coil when split.
The second advantage is the P-90 single coil which you cannot find on any full-sized humbucker pickup configuration. I usually do the installation using five microswitches to get all the option. Single coil rail, Single coil P90, Series Humbucker, and Parallel Humbucker.
Now you can use a Seymour Duncan TS-1 Triple Shot Pickup Mounting Ring for this purpose and it will make your guitar tech’s life much easier. If you have a carved top guitar you have to use the Seymour Duncan TS-2 Triple Shot Pickup Mounting Ring.
You can get a lot of tonal options with the P-Rails and it sounds much better than the Cool Rails in my opinion.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
Den,
Thanks for your response & info. — [1] Upon your recommendation, I will probably go with the quite versitile SD P-Rails.
— [2] However, regarding my 2-space neck PU info request, someone mentioned the SeyDunc ‘SH-2 Jazz’ neck PU as a fair 2-space clone PU for the ‘Cool Rails’. What is your opinion regarding the ‘SH-2’ as per my info request above.
— [3] Again, thanks for your responses, posts, knowledge, & expertise.
Thanks, Richard
Hi Richard,
The Jazz pickup is a good pickup for clean and Jazzy tones. If you dig for those tones, by all means, go for it. Cool Rails has more bite with distortion while the Jazz will still be on the clean side. They are not the same.
If you want to have a lot of tones in your guitar, the P-Rails and Triple Shot combination is more fun and for sure will amaze a lot of bandmates.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
Den, — [1] At the neck, I am going to go with the P-Rails, plus the Triple Shot.
— [2] At middle, I will go with the Vintage Rails for Strat.
— [3] Question: At the bridge, how well should a SH-11 Custom Custom plus the Triple Shot work compare with a P-Rails, plus the Triple Shot?
Thanks for your time. Richard
Hi Richard,
The SH-11 has its own tonal characteristic when played by default series wiring, but when you split coils, nothing beats the P-rails. It is designed to be split either split Rail, split P 90, parallel humbucker or series humbucker.
There are pickup configurations between the bridge P Rails and neck P Rails that you could never get from a single guitar. The triple shot plus the P Rails Bridge and Neck Set is a very good combination.
I hope I answered your question. Click here to check the price online.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
Den, Hopefully, one last question.
— [1] Is there some setting of a ‘Bridge P-Rails, plus Triple Shot’ that will approximate, closely or not closely, the sound of a ‘Bridge SH-11 Custom Custom’ in normal setup? (I guess that a ‘normal setup’ for a ‘Bridge SH-11 Custom Custom’ would be a SH-11 setup in parallel.)
— [2] Indeed, I cannot be sure about the wiring setup of my Hohner G3T’s Bridge SH-11. I don’t know what occurs in a setup of a humbucker in parallel or series. All I can say about my G3T’s ‘Bridge SH-11 Custom Custom’ is that my SH-11 has a quite prominent high end. I do like the sound of my G3T’s SH-11.
— [3] Thanks, for your help. Richard
Hi Richard,
To answer your #1 question, since the P-rails have a higher output than the SH-11, selecting P-Rails through the Triple Shot to parallel mode will make it sound closer to the SH-11.
This is my favorite mode on all my guitars with SD or DiMarzio. A lot of my customers love this too unless they want to play dirty and they need all the power they can get from the pickups.
Question #2. All humbucker pickups are wired in series by default. I am talking about the most popular which is SD and DiMarzio. Even some stock pickups that I have come across.
This makes good manufacturing and marketing sense. Why would a company offer a pickup with the lesser output when in fact it can have a much higher output? Your SD SH-11 is wired in series by default.
I hope I answered your questions and please feel free to ask anything about guitars, if we come to the point where I don’t have the answers, I will ask around for you.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
Den, Again thanks for you time, effort, & expertise. One last, again I hope, question. 🙂
— [1] Is it better or more likely for a SD neck P-Rails with Triple Shot to be set up with the rail toward the bridge or toward the neck, in order for the neck P-Rails to sound more like a SD neck Cool Rails?
— [a] Items of note: Official & unofficial pictures of installed neck P-Rails pickups & of the SD logo on seemingly all installed SD pickups (including neck P-Rails) show that the SD logos are readable from the guitar bridge, not from the neck. Because of this foregoing, the P-Rails seem to be officially/properly set up with the rail part & the logo facing toward the bridge & away from the neck.
— [b] If you are able to reply, I’ll send off my order immediately thereafter. Again, thanks for your time & kindness.
Thanks, Richard
Hi Richard,
The default installation of the neck P-Rails pickup is what you have mentioned. Install it that way. If you want to order now check the price here if it is good for you.
Ts-1 Triple shot for Flat top Guitars, while TS-2 Triple Shot is for carved top guitars. Feel free to ask any questions about guitars.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
Thank you very much for the nice review about the Cool Rails Pickup. It is good that Seymour Duncan produced a small sized humbucker pickup that is a drop-in replacement for single coil pickups while eliminating the hum at the same time. It is also nice to know that these pickups sound like a single coil.
Hi Michael,
The Cool Rails are good replacement pickups for those who want to eliminate the hum in their single coil equipped guitars.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
Hello and thanks for the review. FYI, I have a hot rails pickup in the bridge position, the other 2 pickups are standard strat pickups. I have the hotrails wired for a coil split and series / parallel operation. In parallel its a little cleaner and brighter as expected and does work with the coil split when combined with the middle pickup. Just wanted to add that and wonder of you tried the cool rails in series/ parallel? Thank You, Mike
Hi Mike,
Yes, Cool Rails is a great pickup as is which is in series mode. My favorite mode on all humbucker pickups is in parallel mode, Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio. That being said, the rail pickup will sound a little thinner than a full-sized humbucker in a parallel mode, usable but I do not like it. I have a MIM strat( the one in the picture) with all the rails installed.
Hot Rails, Vintage Rails and Cool Rails and they are controlled by 5 microswitches. It allows me to have all the configuration of the pickups. It even allows me to select North or South( forward or aft) single coils.
That being said, if you like a coil-split rail pickup, which in my ear is a little bit tin sounding, go for it. If you like the Hot Rails in parallel, you’ll love the Cool Rails in parallel too.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
The Cool Rails pickups look good and every guitar player will do almost anything to eliminate hum. It’s good to know Seymour Duncan developed a pick up that has humbucker traits but looks & sounds like a single coil.
I’ll definitely consider these when I’m planning my next custom strat project in the future.
Cheers
Hi,
The Seymour Duncan Cool Rails pickup is designed as a drop down replacement for single coil pickups. It sounds like a single coil but it is actually a humbucker in a single coil size.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
A good review of a high-quality replacement pickup designer. I use this pickup on one of my guitars and could not agree with your comments about coil-splitting more, The sound is bad no way around it.
On the other hand, like you said this is a nice warm sounding humbucker that actually sounds very much like the neck position single coil on a strat, without the associated noise, strat pickups generate. The fact that you are straight forward and identify the benefits and the shortcomings makes this review spot on. Thanks!
Hi Robert
Thank you for agreeing my opinion on this pickup. This pickup is a drop in replacement for the Stratocaster and it sounds like single coil but without the hum.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
Hey, this is a great read, I’m just wondering if I have to use this pickup on a strat or can it be used on other guitars? I know you did say it’s designed for the strat but I don’t have one at the moment and I’m unsure whether to get one or not.
Hi Lee,
This pickup is designed as a drop in to replacement to single coils. It can be used on a Stratocaster and any guitar with a single coil slot.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
Very educational Cool Rails review . It is really good for Seymour Duncan to design a humbucler pickup that would first into a single coil slot. The other thing that it cancels the hum is a plus. Is this a drop in replacement or do you have to cut the pickguard?
Hi,
This is a very good drop in replacement for guitars with single coils and at the same to reduce the hum. You do not have to make any modification on the pickguard or on the pickup cavity.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
Hi Den, thanks for reviewing these set of pickups. I used to have the Hot Rails on one of my strats and while it does reduce hum compared to a single coil, I find that it beefs up the sound and as a result loses its high end sparkle. Do you know how the Cool Rail compares to the Hot Rails? Does it retain the strat glassy sparkle compared to the Hot Rails? If so I may want to try it out one day.
Hi,
There have been some complains that the Hot Rails seem to be more on the bass side. The Cool Rails will maintain the glassy sparkle of the Strat but the Cool Rails is for neck position only.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
Very nice Seymour Duncan Cool Rails Review. So this is a humbucker pickup in single coil size. This should be perfect for Stratocaster owners who wants to eliminate the guitar hum while preserving the Strat look. You mentioned in your post that this pickup sounds like a single coil. Is this a drop in replacement or you have to do some modification?
Hi,
This pickup is a drop in replacement for single coil pickup and no modification is required. This pickup is good to use by its default wiring configuration as this pickup is not good for coil splitting.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
Hi I really like the information you are supplying here. I think that eliminating the buzz is essential for the noise when not playing. It is amazing how loud it can be especially in small venues. So I am understanding that all you have to do is remove stock pickup and this will drop in place?
Hi Bill,
Guitar hum is very annoying, so we will always try anything to cancel it. Yes you just have to remove the stock pickups and this will drop in place.
Thanks fort the comments,
Den
My dad is a huge guitar fan! His favorite is a Gibson Flying V. After couple of years his guitar was stolen by a family member and he hasn’t seen it since. So my plan is to get a new one for him as a b-day present! This pickup is cool as what it is named, Cool Rails. What guitar comes with this pickup installed? What a great site you have and all the tools you need for the best sound!
Hi Angie,
You can not buy a brand new guitar with this pickup installed. This pickup is available only as upgrades. You may be able to find one installed on a modified guitar as this pickup is very popular for modification.
Thanks for the comments,
Den
My dad and brother are big into playing and they would really like this site! My question though is does this pickup only work for Stratocasters? Great insight on its performance, but I’m wondering if it would work for my brothers guitar… he was mentioning looking for something similar to this.
Hi Jen,
These pickups is suitable for all guitars with single coil pickups. It is a drop in replacement for any single coil pickup.
Thanks for the comments,
Den