Advise on pu choice please.

[Frypot613]

Hello, this will be my first project guitar (paying tech to set it up). It will be in drop B always.

Would like a new nut.

Was thinking of going to 1 bridge pick up, with matching pick guard. No blade selector or tone knob as I never use them, nor do I ever use the neck pu.

I like metal. I play rhythm. I like a warm, wide, full, heavy distortion sound. I am rarely in cleans.

I was thinking of black winter. But I don't know about pots. Anything I should ask of the tech to produce the sound above that I am looking for?

I see some people have complained of brittle, shrill sounds (at least older posts mention this), and others say the complete opposite. I do not want a brittle, shrill, sharp sound. Some say 250 k, some say 500k pots.

Poplar body, Maple neck.

Please and thank you.

https://www.long-mcquade.com/219859...WskstDn2IShcj4O-pQcpD-ARGMcCl6OEXtvCwubHBJi_m

 

[Seashore]

500k pot will be brighter, 250k will be darker/warmer. An Invader would be a good choice for what you're describing.

 

[Frypot613]

Thank u kindly!!!

 

[Artie]

Perpetual Burn also, maybe.

 

[Mincer]

Yeah, Black Winter, Nazgul, Invader, or Pegasus would work here. It depends on the EQ you like.

 

[Frypot613]

Invader w 250 k pots it is!

I'll post update when available.

 

[jeremy]

volume and tone or just volume? 250k v/t would be kinda dark for me but ymmv and its an easy thing to change

 

[Frypot613]

Oh really???? Which would u suggest be a 250, and which would be a 500?

 

[Mincer]

I'd say with an Invader, 500k pots all around.

 

[GuitarStv]

If you're doing a single pickup, then why not use some resistors and a switch to go between 1M, 500k, and 250k? At least then you have a small selection of different tones.

 

[Frypot613]

Oh man so many options lol.

Maybe I will just leave the stock neck pu then. And put 500k all around .

Interesting with the resistors..... what have i gotten myself into lol

 

[Seashore]

Oh man so many options lol.

Maybe I will just leave the stock neck pu then. And put 500k all around .

Interesting with the resistors..... what have i gotten myself into lol

If you don't like using the neck pickup or the tone pot, there's nothing wrong with taking them out. Sometimes I feel the most creative with my single bridge pickup guitars that are wired straight to the jack. Don't let these goons bully you into installing extra controls.

The Invader is a pretty thick, dark pickup so having just a single 500k volume might make it sit well - it depends on your guitar. It's a bit strident wired straight to the jack, but with 500k volume and 500k tone pots, I have to use an EQ pedal to dial some upper mids back into it to get the sound I like. You can also install a no-load tone pot, if you find that you like the sound without a tone pot but you still want to have the control available.

 

[Frypot613]

Wooow back around to the single pu idea lol.

I been watching you tube vids of pot (volume and or tone) differences.

Add to that, I think I understand poplar gives a more mid/brighter sound.

I think I just want to do single bridge invader. 250k volume pot only. Appropriate pick guard swap. Tusq self lubricating nut and see what happens.

I play through a kemper, so lots of capability to add and or subtract.

U guys r a wealth of knowledge. Thank u all for the input!!

 

[jeremy]

invader with a 250k volume sounds like a fine plan

 

[Mincer]

I have a poplar guitar that is really all mids. I needed a pickup in that particular guitar to suck some of the mids out.

 

[Frypot613]

What did u go with??

I see my git has 500k both tone and volume, so I will leave it at that.

 

[Mincer]

What did u go with??

I see my git has 500k both tone and volume, so I will leave it at that.

I used a Jazz in the neck and C5 in the bridge. There were just so many mids naturally, that any pickup that had a lot of mids sounded terrible in that guitar.

 

[Frypot613]

I'm a little nervous lol. I guess becuz I am paying someone to set it up.

What if i dont like it and should have gotten a tone knob? What if i should have used a 250 k vol pot to smooth it out? is it possible the ibanez infinity pu's that come woth this sound better?? Etc etc...

I guess I'll never know how I feel until I do it.... worst case I can just pay him more money to revert it back.

the wheels r in motion now though. Already "pot" commited haha.

 

[jeremy]

all the things you mentioned are good reasons to learn how to do the work yourself, its not that hard, and allows you the freedom to tinker

 

[Seashore]

+1 for doing the work yourself. Also keep in mind that you can get a lot out of the Invader by dialing in the height. It's got a very big magnetic field and you can pull it farther away from the strings than most pickups if you want clarity, but it can also be thick as hell if you get it closer.