Black Korina strat to muddy - SH5 or JB?

[chrisrbr]

Hi, I have a Warmoth strat with a Black Korina body and Kingwood neck with a Dimarzio SD in the bridge. My band covers everything from beatles to motley crue to Bruno Mars so I need versatility, (yeah lots of pedals, EL84 based amp played clean, pushed with pedals to breakup). The bridge sound is too muddy with the SD, can not get any "snap" out of the low E string. So, as everyone else asks: SH5 or a JB for this darker/muddy sounding strat? Want some bite to the low E and A strings when played semi-clean.

thanks for the help
Chris

[dr. ad]

Re: Black Korina strat to muddy - SH5 or JB?

screamin' demon? i haven't heard it in black limba, but IMO you should definitely check it out.

[Lewguitar]

Re: Black Korina strat to muddy - SH5 or JB?

So your Strat probably has 250K pots that sound good with the single coils but make the bridge humbucker sound muddy - because the bridge pickup functions best with a 500K pot. Right?

Typical.

Do you have a tone control on the bridge pickup and not on the middle pickup? If you do, and it's 250K, you could change it to 500K. That'll brighten up the bridge pickup without altering the neck and middle single coil tones.

You could also change to a 500K volume pot but that will brighten up the neck & middle pickups.

Or you could find a bridge humbucker that sounds good with 250K pots. That might be the best best.

There are a few, but the only one I've found that I liked was the Duncan JB. I actually prefer it with 250K pots, as does Seymour Duncan himself.

[chrisrbr]

Re: Black Korina strat to muddy - SH5 or JB?

sorry I left out a few details. The volume pot is 500K and the neck pickup is also a humbucker. I would like to be able to use the split sound for more strat like needs.

[Lewguitar]

Re: Black Korina strat to muddy - SH5 or JB?

So do you have a master volume and master tone? Or master volume and two tone controls?

If you have master volume and one tone you can try 50's wiring and see if you like it better than modern wiring.

All you do is unsolder the tone capacitor from the #1 terminal on the volume control and move it to the middle terminal of the volume control or to the tip connection on the output jack.

That's how you'd do it if you have a master volume and master tone control or a volume and tone for each pickup like a Les Paul.

It's more complicated if you have Strat wiring with one volume and two tone controls.

[Lake Placid Blues]

Re: Black Korina strat to muddy - SH5 or JB?

I think you probably need a very articulate, more transparent, less hot, pickup with those woods and with the pedals.

+1 on the Demon. Might also look into the Full Shred set and the Dimarzio PAF Pro.

[njstoehr]

Re: Black Korina strat to muddy - SH5 or JB?

I am going to go with Lewguitar on this one. I would start with pots. If you have 500k in there already (for both vol and tone) then a PUP swap may be in order. I would also suggest first trying the JB but I am not a fan of the A5 in that one. An A8 works better for me. You could also try a ceramic mag in the JB or Duncan distortion. I find both the JB (with an A8) and the Distortion to be very articulate and if adjusted a bit lower than usual to have very nice clean tones with plenty of "snap". I have never used a Demon myself, but it supposedly kills in a strat type guitar and splits great.

[chrisrbr]

Re: Black Korina strat to muddy - SH5 or JB?

yeah, I do have 500k pots for both vol and tone. The reason I went with a high output pickup is that I like to have the versatility to go with a decent split coil sound that isn't too weak. On this guitar and a couple others I've used the fender s-1 push/push switch to switch between split/humbucker. I love that easy quick change you can make with your pinky during a song. but I diverge.

[synzzzer]

Re: Black Korina strat to muddy - SH5 or JB?

If you want "snap" I would go with the Custom. I think in your situation I would recommend it. I have one in a guitar with a thick maple cap, and it is almost too bright/snappish. So with the wood you have, I think it would balance nicely for you.

[ColeJustesen]

Re: Black Korina strat to muddy - SH5 or JB?

I would have to second the DiMarzio PAF Pro or the 36th Anniversary PAFs... I haven't played enough lower output Seymour Duncan pups to suggest one from them, but I have loved the 59 and Jazz... Maybe a 59 in the bridge might be the ticket too. I have also had good luck with Wilde Pickups; maybe a set of L500s would suit you. These cover lots of ground and sound great split. I think an L-500L/L-500R set would sound great in your korina strat!

Cole

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: Black Korina strat to muddy - SH5 or JB?

I would say either the Custom, Custom 5, Full Shred, Screamin Demon, or the 59/Custom hybrid. My favorite being the hybrid, and it is probably the most versatile, but it is not the tightest sounding of the pickups I mentioned.

[chrisrbr]

Re: Black Korina strat to muddy - SH5 or JB?

I disconnected the tone control just to see if it had any loading effect. No noticeable change in tone that I could hear. So I guess a pickup change is the way to go. Has anyone split the custom 5, (or any others), with good success?