What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

[marcello252]

I'm getting a bit frustrated with my hard ash strat / rosewood neck at the point I'm thinking about getting rid off that body.

I' was looking for a good all around PU, especially with soft crunch to moderate higher gain, the tone you can still clean up with the volume pot.

I tried a number of HB in bridge position, installed for a while, enough to tune my ears (at least a couple of months), then changed them, here is the list:

- SD '59 nails on a chalckboard and a giant black hole sucking the mids
- GFS VEH grammy award for the worst interaction wood / pickup ever
- SD A2P too much bright, output level too low
- SD JB screaming mid high, like a hammer on an anvil
- SD CC middy, strange bass, I'd say clumsy
- SD Custom too much dry, lifeless, like sandpaper on iron on highs
- '59/CC hybrid nor fish nor flesh, uninspiring

I tried every thing with 500K and 250K vol pot.

Any idea before selling the body or using as a fireplace log?

[Lewguitar]

Re: What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

Unless it's actually your own playing technique that is producing the bright sound you don't like, at this point you might need a warmer and more resonant sounding guitar...not another pickup.

Northern white ash can be heavy and hard. I don't like it as a tone wood altho it's good for baseball bats.

I like light weight swamp ash or light weight alder best, altho alder can be heavy and not light. When alder is heavy and dense it's not a great tone wood either. So choose a light weight body.

Great guitars sound warm and full and resonant both unplugged and when plugged in.

And great guitars tend to be lighter weight than guitars of the same model that are heavier when compared to each other.

[marcello252]

Re: What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

Unless it's actually your own playing technique

No, I'm pretty sure it's not from my fingers, at least not completely, I generally have a strong pick attack but it's the only guitar I have that is so bright and dry.

[darthphineas]

Re: What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

have you tried an A2 in that JB? or a JB-A2 with a 250k pot?

[marcello252]

Re: What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

have you tried an A2 in that JB? or a JB-A2 with a 250k pot?

No, I've only tried a regular JB with 250K pot. are the bass similar to the CC?

BTW I've only one JB (it is 20 years and more old, labelled JBJ - yes, MJ made it - I've never wanted to modify it) and it's now mounted on my basswood MIJ tele, it's a great match.

[Frogman]

Re: What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

-PATB-1 (??)

-JB2 or JBUOA5 (Jake E Lee used a JB2 with double screws in a northern ash body. One of my favorite hard rock tones ever!)

[Ayrton]

Re: What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

I like the JB or AT-1 in hard Ash, but I see you tried that.

[Myaccount876]

Re: What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

No, I've only tried a regular JB with 250K pot. are the bass similar to the CC?

BTW I've only one JB (it is 20 years and more old, labelled JBJ - yes, MJ made it - I've never wanted to modify it) and it's now mounted on my basswood MIJ tele, it's a great match.

Yeah, I wouldn't do anything to it if MJ made it. Have you thought about a distortion neck in the bridge?

Or an invader?

[9unslin9er]

Re: What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

Have you tried a DiMarzio Super Distortion lately? Preferably F-spaced.

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

The most hated guitar for me in my experience was a hard ash 70's Fender Tele. Weighed a ton. Just lifeless, sterile, tone. Poor sustain too. Ironically I love swamp ash guitars though.

Before replacing that body with swamp ash or alder you could try a Dimarzio Air Zone or Tone Zone. The Air Zone is a little softer version of the Tone Zone. I have had luck with that in taming bright electrics with the TZ before.

[darthphineas]

Re: What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

yeah, I'd agree that if you have a JBJ to leave it as-is. that doesn't mean you can't pick up another and made the mag swaps to an A2 or an UOA5. and there is also the DMZ AT-1. some guys think it's like a JB-A2, so maybe that could be an option.

the JB and the CC aren't all that similar outside of they are both Duncan humbuckers.

have you tried the Pearly Gates? other than that, I'd only be thinking of getting into Custom Shop territory.

[uOpt]

Re: What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

What kind of guitar? What kind of bridge?

If it's a 1970ties Strat, be careful. Just because it has a heavy ash body and sounds bad doesn't mean the body is the culprit. Do you have another guitar to swap the neck with?

[dvadneau]

Re: What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

Assuming it's not other parts of the guitar, as uOpt suggests, here are my suggestions for pickups:

DiMarzio Breed bridge. Sounds great in my Rampage (Soft maple body, hard maple neck, ebony fb, and a Kahler).

DiMarzio Double Whammy. Really calms the highs, lifts the mids, and tightens/subdues the lows.

[orpheo]

Re: What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

Pearly gates is a great pickup and might work but actually... The rtm is what you want...that pickup was made to combat harshness...

Otherwise superD...

[tubecrunch]

Re: What bridge HB for a very bright hard ash body strat?

I have a Tom Anderson hard ash strat from the 80's that somebody added a Floyd to. Best sounding pup I put in there was a p-90. Evened the whole thing out.