Best test bed for pickups?

[Mr 9finger]

Strat type body. Alder or swamp Ash. I doubt it, but is a swimming pool route going to make a difference?

Asking for a buddy that doesn't have internet. Not sure what type of neck, scale, or bridge he's planning on using.

He's looking for something that's semi neutral sounding, but doesn't want Basswood or Poplar.

[idsnowdog]

Re: Best test bed for pickups?

A guitar with pickup rings and rear routed controls is the easiest to test pickups with. You can buy a few rings and just loosen the strings and swap the rings/pickups to test. You can also wire the controls and use alligator clips to make the connections hot/ground connections. That way you don't need to modify anything to test.

[Mr 9finger]

Re: Best test bed for pickups?

I tried telling him that, but he's wanting to try different pickups and configurations, so my guess was a strat body with a swimming pool route. Not as cheap as your idea, but plain pickguards are pretty cheap as well.

[idsnowdog]

Re: Best test bed for pickups?

If that's the case then he would want to use a three humbucker pickguard with some sort of slide on connectors for the jack. He also wouldn't want a neck with any overhang, because that makes switching pickguards difficult.

[gordon_39422]

Re: Best test bed for pickups?

The only affect a swimming pool route will have on "tone" is attack/sustain....

The less mass a body has, the less sustain and more attack...

The more mass the same body has, the less attack it has but more sustain...

More prevalent on acoustics than electrics, but same principles apply....