Hey guys. Any help in suggesting replacement SDs for this guitar is appreciated. If I can reciprocate when it comes to pedals (my area of expertise!), I'll be happy to! Here's the deal -
I have a MIM 72 Custom tele from around 2000, if you are unfamiliar with the model, it's a three way switch with individual tone and vol pots for each pickup. I have bumped the humbucker at the neck's pots to 500k, and it helped a little, but man, that RI "WRHB" is IMO a woofy and unsalvageable abomination. An upgrade is long overdue - this guitar lives in a case and I'd like to get it back in the rotation, and I know better than to sell my first ever electric (not terribly valuable, a gift from my now deceased father, and I'm sentimental like that). So here I am. Help!
I have no real desire to necessarily cop the original WRHB sound and so I don't feel the need to go for the SD custom shop WRHB, which I'm sure is worth the money but more than I care to put into this guitar right now. I picked up an adapter ring for the pickguard so I can pop a regular HB in the neck. I would like a covered humbucker there for the overall look - it's what attracted my teenage self to the 72 custom in the first place. As far as the bridge goes, I do love a tele single coil bridge sound (that's what makes a tele a tele, to me, and I love the jerry donahue bridge pup I have in another of my teles), but I'm open to something like the little 59 or maybe even a hot rail. My other tele covers all the traditional tele single coil tones well enough, so I feel freed up to hot-rod or modernize this one a little bit.
More than anything, I need a pair that's going to balance well both in terms of output and EQ profile - I do not want to have to adjust anything on my amp or pedals every time I reach for the pick-up selector. I understand that's tricky, and that bridge pups are generally a little louder and cut better, hence the "lead" designation.
I'm finding it very, very hard to decide what route to go. If I had to pick a pair right now, I'd guess I'd go with another jerry donahue in the bridge and a pearly gates at the neck - I'm under the impression the PG is a little brighter than an average bucker but still vintage output, and theorize that it will work nicely with the JD....?
Then I wonder about a hotrail in the bridge and a little bit hotter neck humbucker. Shortly thereafter, I am paralyzed by option-based wonder. My mind is open to your ideas, preferably born of experience.
What sayeth y'all? Thanks again for your help!
I have a MIM 72 Custom tele from around 2000, if you are unfamiliar with the model, it's a three way switch with individual tone and vol pots for each pickup. I have bumped the humbucker at the neck's pots to 500k, and it helped a little, but man, that RI "WRHB" is IMO a woofy and unsalvageable abomination. An upgrade is long overdue - this guitar lives in a case and I'd like to get it back in the rotation, and I know better than to sell my first ever electric (not terribly valuable, a gift from my now deceased father, and I'm sentimental like that). So here I am. Help!
I have no real desire to necessarily cop the original WRHB sound and so I don't feel the need to go for the SD custom shop WRHB, which I'm sure is worth the money but more than I care to put into this guitar right now. I picked up an adapter ring for the pickguard so I can pop a regular HB in the neck. I would like a covered humbucker there for the overall look - it's what attracted my teenage self to the 72 custom in the first place. As far as the bridge goes, I do love a tele single coil bridge sound (that's what makes a tele a tele, to me, and I love the jerry donahue bridge pup I have in another of my teles), but I'm open to something like the little 59 or maybe even a hot rail. My other tele covers all the traditional tele single coil tones well enough, so I feel freed up to hot-rod or modernize this one a little bit.
More than anything, I need a pair that's going to balance well both in terms of output and EQ profile - I do not want to have to adjust anything on my amp or pedals every time I reach for the pick-up selector. I understand that's tricky, and that bridge pups are generally a little louder and cut better, hence the "lead" designation.
I'm finding it very, very hard to decide what route to go. If I had to pick a pair right now, I'd guess I'd go with another jerry donahue in the bridge and a pearly gates at the neck - I'm under the impression the PG is a little brighter than an average bucker but still vintage output, and theorize that it will work nicely with the JD....?
Then I wonder about a hotrail in the bridge and a little bit hotter neck humbucker. Shortly thereafter, I am paralyzed by option-based wonder. My mind is open to your ideas, preferably born of experience.
What sayeth y'all? Thanks again for your help!
