In the 10.6 pound 1987 Squirecaster... 
Another Pickup Pole (Poll):
- Thread starter Inspector #20
- Start date
OP
Now Smitty has me thinking about trying 52mm spacing humbuckers in both neck and bridge positions...
Silly I suppose...but I got this vintage cloth Tone Man harness just laying around and need something to put it in...
Silly I suppose...but I got this vintage cloth Tone Man harness just laying around and need something to put it in...
I have some better pickups in the original box. I have a pick up drawer and I really don't know what it have. The ones that are ceramic sound a better to me. I have a couple sets of the old Fender Lace pick ups and some Gibson PAF sets. I change pick ups when I get sick of them.
It's not so much the 52mm spacing, it's the output. The cool thing about using a "bridge" pickup in the neck is that you can lower the pickup a bit more than you would normally do with a "neck" pickup and get the same signal strength from the neck, but you'll get a little more note clarity because the pickup is lower. Leads will still be full, but they sing a little bit more.
Believe it or not, I have gotten more compliments on the tone from my Washburn, with "bridge" Seymour Duncan 59's in both positions than I have with any other guitar I own.
It's kind of funny when you think about it. The guitar was $278.00 on eBay. I spent about $50.00 on new electronics (pots, caps, and switch), and the pickups retail for about $75.00 each.
Not a bad deal for a guitar that sounds sweet and plays like buttah!
BTW...go check out the Seymour Duncan Custom 5. I just discovered that p'up and I'm contemplating it for my Les Paul Studio project.
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OP
Interesting. Makes sense.
The Destroyer's tone, especially in the middle humbucker position, is amazing. It has 17.12k in the bridge (52mm) and a matching pair of 15.8k (50mm) in the middle and neck.
The SG is fairly low output, but the pickups are very close at 7.93k bridge and 7.88k neck, so this too has a very unique tone on the neck...and I am sure the .015uf K40Y PIO tone capacitor contributes to the clarity.
OP
I have spent well over $5,000 for original Gibson pickups and was not overly impressed. My Mom's 1979 LPC has T-Tops. It's an OK sounding guitar, but even at full gain, doesn't have enough output to drive my amps much above an idle, so they don't work for me...
The CLEAN tone on the 17.12kΩ pickup is unbelieveable....
OP
My Gibson SG now has GFS Alnico II PAF Clones - 7.93kΩ bridge and 7.88kΩ in the neck - VERY GOOD Pickups!!!!
WAY better then these....
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gball
Ambassador of Boogie
I got 10 tons of gain in my Mesas (I'm in modern metal territory with the gain at 1:00), no need to push the front with the pickups. I just don't find high-output pickups to have enough dynamics for my taste. And I don't necessarily think "PAF tone" is the end all. Virtually all the music I listened to as a kid was made by guys using contemporary equipment, and that meant T-Tops, so that is the sound I will always hear in my head and compare everything else to. Even Jimmy Page had a T-Top in his #1 after the crummy PAF died, haha!
I've tried a few GFS pickups and liked them a lot. Not more than Gibson pickups, but damn close and one helluva bargain.
I've tried a few GFS pickups and liked them a lot. Not more than Gibson pickups, but damn close and one helluva bargain.
OP
True.
I grew up digging Angus...but he was also driving the poop out of his pickups with the preamp in his Schaffer wireless...
I'm running my DSL40C with gain all the way up and my 7.93kΩ bridge just BARELY gives me what I want. Now, my Destroyer, with 17k, has a sweeter clean tone than even the SG, so high output isn't always just harshness...
I'm funny. I don't care what something costs if I want it, but I won't buy "Brand X" just for the sake of the name. If I find something that works, I could care less whose name is on it...
OP
Here is an original DT555 with original Ibanez V2's. They are 16kΩ. Look close and notice that he is playing with the switch in the middle position. This puts all three pickups in play simultaneously, with the middle volume control allowing you to completely roll off the middle pickup if desired.
Pretty good tone from a "hot" pickup...
OP
Very nice DiMarzio Super Distortion (DP100) tone here:
OP
DiMarzio DP100 Super Distortion Clean Tone:
Very happy with the sound of the Lollar Imperials in my PRS.
Neck 7.6K, and a pair of Bridge 8.4K
Neck 7.6K, and a pair of Bridge 8.4K
RVA
Ambassador
SO those are not the pickups that made you swore off boutique pups?
BTW, the Dragon IIs work well in the Agile LP - man, they are HOT!
RVA
Ambassador
I really like the Sanford Magnetics P90s, but our resident P90 expert, BGood has said that Booy's Tonelab pups beat them out. Tom Anderson PQs sound great, but they do not have much growl.
I gotta say, I don't consider this a clean tone. Granted, it's cleaner than the other two videos, and it is clean-ish, but there is definitely overdrive there.
Whether the overdrive is from just the pickup or a pedal, I don't know, but I would not call this clean.
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Mr Grumpy
Ambassador of Comings and Goings
I kinda like both ends of the spectrum.
490R or 57 classic in the neck position sounds lovely to my ears; has that low break up growl that I really like. 7.5k in the neck is enough to drive amps as far as I wanna go.
An Angus Young Gibson (11k ish?) pickup or a 498T (13k ish?) or even the Bare Knuckle Nailbomb (15.5k ish?) all sound really nice, just with different characteristics. 11k easily drives an amp hard from the bridge position, imho.
But, Robert does like more gain from his pickups, as he says; that can sound great too.
Regarding Messas - I love these amps - I tried a low output tele (6.5k ish pups) in Bangkok recently, and the big Messa I was playing through sounded great; you could get lovely driven tones from those weedy little pickups!
490R or 57 classic in the neck position sounds lovely to my ears; has that low break up growl that I really like. 7.5k in the neck is enough to drive amps as far as I wanna go.
An Angus Young Gibson (11k ish?) pickup or a 498T (13k ish?) or even the Bare Knuckle Nailbomb (15.5k ish?) all sound really nice, just with different characteristics. 11k easily drives an amp hard from the bridge position, imho.
But, Robert does like more gain from his pickups, as he says; that can sound great too.
Regarding Messas - I love these amps - I tried a low output tele (6.5k ish pups) in Bangkok recently, and the big Messa I was playing through sounded great; you could get lovely driven tones from those weedy little pickups!