What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

M

matthewseed

New member
Hi guys, i am new here and after 30 years of playing I have never owned any Seymor Duncan pickups. Having been round the houses with all the others I find myself here....excited to try.

So, I have a Charvel Guthrie Govan guitar that I want to get a set of HSH pickups for. I went for a set of Bare Knuckles but feel they are not the right fit for this guitar. The body is Bass Wood with a maple top.

I want the bridge pickup to be classic rock to full on hard rock, Bonamassa to Van Halen to Vai etc, and the neck to be very warm, deep and fat, ive found my Bare Knuckle neck pickup not to be rounded enough, the shift between the two humbuckers is too subtle.......when i go form bridge to neck humbucker I want a real big shift in warmth, a really jazzy sounding neck PU. Then the single coil just to be as strat like as posable in the middle.

I am so new to Seymor Duncans i hardly know where to start, after much reading etc i wonder if the the old JB and Jazz combo might be good (not sure about the single coil though) as a set how suitable is the JB & Jazz for the hard rock stuff ? I am using a REVV 7/40 amp so plenty of gain on tap at that end. Or would I be more heading towards the Full shred or the 59 etc.

Such a hard topic i know, but what i want is a set of hot rodded style pickups that in a Basswood Strat style body wont sound to to bright ?

Thank you for any help guys.
Matthew
 
What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

Custom Custom bridge, ‘59 Neck?
That said, I’m still learning too but the guys here are really good at this stuff. I’m sure you’ll get some great suggestions.
No clue on the middle pickup.
The majority of my guitars are HH except my Strat but that has a calibrated set of Fokin pups.
 
Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

Bridge- Perpetual Burn, Custom Custom, 59/Custom hybrid maybe
Middle- SSL-2
Neck- Alnico II Pro, Slash signature, Pearly Gates
 
Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

Air Norton neck, Area 61 middle, Air Zone bridge. That will be a rock oriented bridge that is not too bright, a neck that is big, warm, and jazzy, and a middle that is strat-like and noiseless, which does not give you a big drop off in volume from the humbuckers. The Area 61 is more of an SRV strat sound. If you want a rounder 50's sounding strat middle you could go with a VV 54 Pro. I prefer the PAF Pro neck to the Air Norton, but your description fits the Air Norton better. Sorry they are all Dimarzios, but I have not found a Duncan set I really like in Basswood.
 
Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

which bare knuckles do you have?

how fat, deep and warm do you want your neck pup? id say the alnico 2 pro is a good option, maybe the bridge model in the neck if you want really warm.

for the bridge, how bright or aggressive do you want it?
 
Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

PATB-1 set? I went for it on my basswood Ibanez RG, and it fills those shoes better than the JB/Jazz.
 
Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

In that guitar, I might go 59/Custom Hybrid in the bridge and A2P in the neck.


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Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

What dod you not like about the stock pickups? Or did you get the guitar without the stock pickups?

As much as I love the JB, I've not had luck with it in Basswood (tried several times and just never worked for me.)

I really love the HSH combo in Basswood of: Screamin Demon, Lil Screamin Demon, Liquifire. It's a mix of SD and DMZ BUT it works so well! Smooth to Raunchy--incredible harmonics and very versatile.

DSCN9869.jpg
 
Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

Hi guys, thank you all for your help this far. Its hard when you dont know a brand that well......well of course I know the brand I just don't know the sounds.

To answer a few questions.

The original pickups just weren't to my taste. Just the tone, nothing I can fully put my finger on, its not that they were too hot or not hot enough, just the feel of them as a set. If anything i did find the neck pickup a little flat sounding and the bridge a little thin.

The bare knuckles i went with were a set i put in my old PRS and loved it was a Holy Diver in the bridge and a VHII in the neck, then a Slow Hand single coil in the middle. They just dont work the same in this guitar, of course the PRS had a mahogany body which might have something to do with it.

I was hoping to get some consistency of answers on here that could help, but I appreciate we all like different things and have different needs etc. Nobody yet seems to think the classic JB & Jazz is the right choice.

The Custom Custom and 59/Custom seem popular too. Still struggeling with the middle single coil.

When i get these wired up i want the two humbuckers to be coil tapped so i can have full single coils in bridge, middle and neck as well as humbuckers....i love my clean tones as much as my chunk.

Thanks this far guys
Matthew
 
Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

Minced nailed it. Custom Custom in the bridge is great for all classic and hard rock. The APH in the neck is warm and smooth. I had that set in a double fat strat for years and it's the best that guitar ever sounded. I think I'll be going to that combo again. For the middle, the Classic Stack Plus is a great noiseless single coil. If you want some 60 cycle hum in there, the SSL-2 with flat pole pieces is bright and punchy, or the APS-2 will be warmer and smoother.

Good luck.
 
Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

The 59 or Jazz will be bright in a 24 fret super strat. The Air Norton neck will also be almost as bright as the BK vhii you have there already, but with a more forgiving pick attack. So I don't think any of those will give the warm jazzy tone in the neck position you are looking for.

To get the Gutherie tone in the neck position I suggest trying a Suhr SSV neck, which was used in the Suhr GG signature guitar. I never tried the BK holy diver but it seems like it could work in the bridge unless you find its too mid focussed for the tones you want. Gutherie's Suhr guitar with the ssh+ in the bridge was also quite mid heavy, so i wonder if there would be a significant difference from what you have now. After changing the neck pickup you may be able to lower the height of the holy diver to get a brighter more contrasting tone so I would try that first.
 
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Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

With that wood combination and a trem plus the sounds you described, I would reccommend a custom custom in the bridge and an APH in the neck. The middle...maybe an a2pro to continue the alnico 2 vibe.
If you like it then great, if you find that after a few months or weeks that want more brightness as well as bottom end (more scooped) then you can replace the magnets in the cc and aph with alnico 5, giving you a custom 5 and SD Jazz. However the CC and APH is a really cool combination and a lot of fun for the tones you describe.
Hope this helps
 
Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

matthewseed said:
Hi guys, i am new here and after 30 years of playing I have never owned any Seymor Duncan pickups. Having been round the houses with all the others I find myself here....excited to try.

So, I have a Charvel Guthrie Govan guitar that I want to get a set of HSH pickups for. I went for a set of Bare Knuckles but feel they are not the right fit for this guitar. The body is Bass Wood with a maple top.

I want the bridge pickup to be classic rock to full on hard rock, Bonamassa to Van Halen to Vai etc, and the neck to be very warm, deep and fat, ive found my Bare Knuckle neck pickup not to be rounded enough, the shift between the two humbuckers is too subtle.......when i go form bridge to neck humbucker I want a real big shift in warmth, a really jazzy sounding neck PU. Then the single coil just to be as strat like as posable in the middle.

I am so new to Seymor Duncans i hardly know where to start, after much reading etc i wonder if the the old JB and Jazz combo might be good (not sure about the single coil though) as a set how suitable is the JB & Jazz for the hard rock stuff ? I am using a REVV 7/40 amp so plenty of gain on tap at that end. Or would I be more heading towards the Full shred or the 59 etc.

Such a hard topic i know, but what i want is a set of hot rodded style pickups that in a Basswood Strat style body wont sound to to bright ?

Thank you for any help guys.
Matthew
Click to expand...

What were the stock pickups?

If you play in E standard or even Eb then I don't recommend the JB. I had a JB/59 as standard in my Charvel San Dimas MIJ 2010 model and it didn't "cut" it even though the JB cuts really well in low and alternative drop tunings. I swopped it out for a DiMarzio Breed bridge and Illuminator neck and love it! The '59 is a good all round neck pickup with a lot of roundness and a bassier nature than most. I'd say keep that for what you want and then try a Custom 5 in the bridge although it has a more scooped sound to it. The alternative is to try a Pegasus which does not sound too scooped but has a more modern sound than what you're looking for although I would expect it to pull off Van Halen pretty well! Maybe a Jason Becker and Jazz combo would be perfect. I seriously considered running that set in my San Dimas.
 
Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

treyhaislip said:
What dod you not like about the stock pickups? Or did you get the guitar without the stock pickups?

As much as I love the JB, I've not had luck with it in Basswood (tried several times and just never worked for me.)

I really love the HSH combo in Basswood of: Screamin Demon, Lil Screamin Demon, Liquifire. It's a mix of SD and DMZ BUT it works so well! Smooth to Raunchy--incredible harmonics and very versatile.

View attachment 90897
Click to expand...

hey that's a cool mix! It is kinda taboo to mix both brands but hey many of us love 'em both and sometimes only one of them offer exactly what you may be looking for in either a bridge or neck pickup so you just gotta mix them :)
How do you find your Liquifire? It's a really good pickup I must say! I have its successor in my alder Charvel San Dimas and dig it's ultra smooth, pretty rolled back than most in terms of treble but bold sound John said he wanted from that pickup.
 
Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

Hi guys, again thank you for the continued help.

A few of you guys seem to say the Custom Custom in the bridge, Can i just as why this one for example 59/Custom Hybrid. Looking at the spec of the two the Custom Custom has lower bass than the 59/Custom. Considering I want a fat, low mid type of bridge tone, would that make sense ?

I sent Seymor Duncan a mail just to see what help they could offer too and a chap there got back to me with JB in bridge, an STK-s4m in the middle and an Alnico II pro in the neck. What do you reckon to that ? A lot fo you reckon id be better off without the JB though.

Interested to hear your thoughts.
Matthew
 
Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

The Custom Custom is fatter and warmer than the Hybrid. I love both, but if fat is what you want, the CC wins here. The Hybrid has a tighter low end, but it is scooped like most PAF-derived pickups.
 
Re: What would Guthrie Govan Do ????

So here is what my mind is headin towards. Who agrees or has an alternative and for what reason.

Bridge: Custom Custom
Middle: STK-s4m
Neck: Alnico Pro II
 
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