Noobie here. Good matches for a soft maple body?

[deepfat]

I'm upgrading the pups in my 00 Washburn CS-780 which is my backup guitar. I play in a 80s heavy metal cover band and use a Kramer Pacer vintage as my main. I don't have a lot of experience with straight maple bodies and the stock Washburn pups are ridiculously muddy. I'm trying to accentuate the brightness of the maple without being shrill.

The Pacer has the JB in the bridge but is a mahogany body so it matches up well. So what would work? I've read that the Screamin Demon may be a good fit. Any help would be appreciated. Many thanks!

[synzzzer]

Re: Noobie here. Good matches for a soft maple body?

This is one of the biggest problems I had in my all maple strat. The thing was so overly bright I had trouble finding pickups for it. I ended up using a Pearly Gates bridge (still pretty bright), a custom single coil middle overwound as much as possible with 42 gauge wire, and of all the weird things, an Artec rails humbucker in a single coil shape. It's only a $11 pickup, but it's perfect for my strat.

You might have to go with something that would normally be muddy in another guitar, but would balance out in a maple guitar. I hate to say it, but a lot of Dimarzio's stuff would work well. They are generally overwound and mid and bass heavy, so it balances well. The first pickups I had in the maple strat were the Steve's Special, Fastrack 2, and Fastrack 1. They were nice, but I didn't like the compression.

Again, all maple guitars are really tough to find the perfect pickups for. Especially since we all have our likes and dislikes. If you want to stick with Duncan, the Screaming Demon bridge with a Pearly Gates neck may not be a bad combo. It's at least a good place to start.

[jmcorey]

Re: Noobie here. Good matches for a soft maple body?

The Custom Custom, which has a somewhat loose low end and is quite middy, can sound good in maple guitars, which can be inherently bright. I'd start with the CC and the PG neck.

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Noobie here. Good matches for a soft maple body?

The CC is a good suggestion. For the music you play, you also might consider a Distortion with an A2 magnet.

[elelpe]

Re: Noobie here. Good matches for a soft maple body?

Invader.

[soulforger]

Re: Noobie here. Good matches for a soft maple body?

Although ESP loads the Demon into the maple bodied Lynch sigs, I've not been crazy about thip pup in maple guitars. I played two maple Kramers in the 80s, both with JBs and loved them. The JB also sounds fantastic in the Jerry Cantrell Rampage/Superhawk which is a soft maple guitar...go try out one of those for reference, if you can find one in a local shop that is!

[BloodRose]

Re: Noobie here. Good matches for a soft maple body?

Although ESP loads the Demon into the maple bodied Lynch sigs, I've not been crazy about thip pup in maple guitars. I played two maple Kramers in the 80s, both with JBs and loved them. The JB also sounds fantastic in the Jerry Cantrell Rampage/Superhawk which is a soft maple guitar...go try out one of those for reference, if you can find one in a local shop that is!

Yeah, this is VERY strange but true. Alot of folks find the JB bright, but Ive heard many times how good they work in maple.

Deepfat, Welcome! Fellow Kramer Pacer lover here! Id try a CC too. If that doesnt float your boat, you can try several other pickups without having to purchase other pickups, jus by swapping magnets

[hamerfan]

Re: Noobie here. Good matches for a soft maple body?

Yeah, this is VERY strange but true. Alot of folks find the JB bright, but Ive heard many times how good they work in

I own a LP with easy to swap out pup slots.



And this really open eyes. Recently i acquired a JBJ and i tell you its not bright compared with other pickups of the duncan line. The JB has a high mids thing going that lets a brite guitar body not come thru as to be overbearing. My opinion is that it is not so important how high those figures in the BMT charts (Duncans EQ Tone Charts) are, but how much difference is between M and T. That means a 6-3-8 (C5) is far brighter sounding than the JB (5-6-8).
The JB is a good choice for maple guitar.

[LatsMcGee]

Re: Noobie here. Good matches for a soft maple body?

Invader is killer in maple!

[Hairmail]

Re: Noobie here. Good matches for a soft maple body?

I've never played a maple-bodied guitar, but JB tends to work well in bright guitars. You might find it harsh though.

[Ayrton]

Re: Noobie here. Good matches for a soft maple body?

I have maple G&L and a maple Charvel, both guitars have JBs.