Pearly Gates with an Alnico 5

[jimijames]

Re: Pearly Gates with an Alnico 5

I've got a set of PGs in a lp guitar.

Even though they've got covers on them I don't find the neck PG to be muddy or dark for a neck h/u. I mean, it's not single coil bright, but it's bright enough. I also use 500k pots all around so maybe that has something to do with it.

Sure, the PGb is bright for an A2 pickup, but it sounds good distorted. I've never thought of it as 'thin,' but then again I don't think my Jerry Donahue Tele bridge pickup with 500k volume and tone (ash tele and RW fretboard though) is thin. Bright? Perhaps, but that's what the tone control is for. I like being able to flick the toggle switch and get a dramatic change in tone, but maybe that's just me.

FWIW I would only try the neck with A5. The bridge is the brightest A2 bridge I've heard so putting something brighter in there (read: anything else) would be a risky proposition indeed.

[ExplorersRock]

Re: Pearly Gates with an Alnico 5

Thanks for all of the input guys! I really appreciate it.

If Evan and Frank say its similar to '59, I'll take their word for it. I decided to swap in the A5 and see how it sounds. Bright or not, I'd like tighter bass and less rounded highs in the bridge. Besides, I can always swap it back if I don't like it. I'll report back with my findings.

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: Pearly Gates with an Alnico 5

Once I get my Showmaster, I can sell you the bridge (PG+). I know it's not a true PG with an A5, but it's extremely close. You may like the tone, but I didn't like it (expecting something with more balls).

[LtKojak]

Re: Pearly Gates with an Alnico 5

I also find the bridge and neck to be quite different to each other. It's almost as if they were never intended to be a pair at all.

Well, the pairing of a smooth neck with a sharp bridge is a common recurrence in "boutique" winders, as it arguably gives the best "chirp" when both-on. The '59s, Seths and Ants are also a bit like it too.

It may be something that comes from analyzing old PAFs in famous rock stars' guitars? IDK.

Even the new Epiphone Probuckers are built on this very concept. I've made a photographic series of these p'ups.

HTH,

[blueman335]

Re: Pearly Gates with an Alnico 5

1- Even though they've got covers on them I don't find the neck PG to be muddy or dark for a neck h/u. I mean, it's not single coil bright, but it's bright enough. I also use 500k pots all around so maybe that has something to do with it.

2- Sure, the PGb is bright for an A2 pickup, but it sounds good distorted. I've never thought of it as 'thin,' but then again I don't think my Jerry Donahue Tele bridge pickup with 500k volume and tone (ash tele and RW fretboard though) is thin. Bright? Perhaps, but that's what the tone control is for. I like being able to flick the toggle switch and get a dramatic change in tone, but maybe that's just me.

1 - Differences in individual woods make PU's sound different one guitar to the next. Then again, you have different expectations from a neck PU than I do. I do not want smooth and warm. I want them to have a sharp high-end with some bite. I just find that far more useful (I use 500K's on my neck PU's, 1-megs with most LP's).

2- You also have different expectations of bridge PU's than I do. That's where I want a warm tone and want to reduce treble. A bridge single coil in a Tele with 500K's is way more treble than my ears want hear. Doesn't work for my style of playing.

Many players like to get a 'dramatic change in tone' when they flip the toggle. Nothing wrong with that. I'm probably in the minority, but I've always been frustrated by that, and once I joined this forum made it my mission to learn how to bring the EQ's of bridge and neck PU's closer together, so that one amp EQ setting works great for both. Technically tone pots have two uses: 1) to alter the tone simply with their values as the current passes thru them, and 2) to alter the tone by adusting them. My goal is to dial-in bridge and neck PU EQ's with both tone controls on '10' with a deft use of magets, pots, and resistors. The last thing I want to do is be adjusting guitar tone pots everytime I plug in. Other guys love to do it. Matter of personal preference. The way I look at it, once the amp's EQ is set, if my bridge PU is shrill and piercing when it's tone pot is on '10', I haven't done my homework; I need to reign in some of that treble.

[DeathMetalRob]

Re: Pearly Gates with an Alnico 5

1 - Differences in individual woods make PU's sound different one guitar to the next. Then again, you have different expectations from a neck PU than I do. I do not want smooth and warm. I want them to have a sharp high-end with some bite. I just find that far more useful (I use 500K's on my neck PU's, 1-megs with most LP's).

2- You also have different expectations of bridge PU's than I do. That's where I want a warm tone and want to reduce treble. A bridge single coil in a Tele with 500K's is way more treble than my ears want hear. Doesn't work for my style of playing.

Many players like to get a 'dramatic change in tone' when they flip the toggle. Nothing wrong with that. I'm probably in the minority, but I've always been frustrated by that, and once I joined this forum made it my mission to learn how to bring the EQ's of bridge and neck PU's closer together, so that one amp EQ setting works great for both. Technically tone pots have two uses: 1) to alter the tone simply with their values as the current passes thru them, and 2) to alter the tone by adusting them. My goal is to dial-in bridge and neck PU EQ's with both tone controls on '10' with a deft use of magets, pots, and resistors. The last thing I want to do is be adjusting guitar tone pots everytime I plug in. Other guys love to do it. Matter of personal preference. The way I look at it, once the amp's EQ is set, if my bridge PU is shrill and piercing when it's tone pot is on '10', I haven't done my homework; I need to reign in some of that treble.

What could I expect from a... '78 Model in a maple bodied guitar..? Maple neck, rosewood fretboard.

[dominus]

Re: Pearly Gates with an Alnico 5

Thanks for all of the input guys! I really appreciate it.

If Evan and Frank say its similar to '59, I'll take their word for it. I decided to swap in the A5 and see how it sounds. Bright or not, I'd like tighter bass and less rounded highs in the bridge. Besides, I can always swap it back if I don't like it. I'll report back with my findings.

Try an A8 and a double thick ceramic while you're at it.

[DeathMetalRob]

Re: Pearly Gates with an Alnico 5

Try an A8 and a double thick ceramic while you're at it.

Do you mean an A8 magnet or Alternative 8 pickup..?

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: Pearly Gates with an Alnico 5

Well, the pairing of a smooth neck with a sharp bridge is a common recurrence in "boutique" winders, as it arguably gives the best "chirp" when both-on. The '59s, Seths and Ants are also a bit like it too.

I've only really used the Seth's for any length of time and haven't noticed the difference so much there, or at least not to the level it stuck out with the PG set. The same would go for the following SD pairings I have; Alt8/Jazz, C5/Jazz, CC/Jazz, WLHb/WLHn - I've left the HB/single sets out, as those are something else again.

As I said earlier, I suspect it's more to do with me not really gelling with the SG from a playability perspective. Anything else that then isn't just so, seems to be amplified (see what did there) in magnitude. At the point, I am most likely to return it to stock, hang onto the PG's and get rid of the guitar.