asdf

[johnnypig]

Hey I can post now!

Hi,

I posted this in the off topic forum, but here it is again paraphrased:

Got an all maple warmoth... quilted maple body, bird's eye neck. I had it refretted with stainless and plek'd and now it's new pickup time. It's not terribly bright acoustically which I think is because the body has such a high sugar content it burned when they cut the tree.

It's had a JB for about 15 years and worked well but now it's whistling and I'd like something new. It's too high output for my tastes these days and there's too much sparkly fizz on top of every note, no matter what amp and even direct. Bass and mid content are fine. I don't have one of the muddy ones I've read about here.

I've got a Van Zandt Rock single in the middle, and transplanted a tele lipstick pup in the neck which I'd also like to replace with a single coil or mini-hb that matches whatever you suggest for the bridge hb.

Also if you could tell me what pot values to use.

Musically I play rock n' roll but I'm a songwriter so I need versatility that the JB is too specialized for (at least in my opinion), so some of the pickups I've been looking at are the Alnico Pro hb and the P-Rails. I just don't know if they're right for this guitar.

So thank you very much, and I'm glad I could finally post after hitting refresh so many times.

Rob

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: asdf

Your test worked! Now tell us about your pickup issue.

 

[johnnypig]

Re: asdf

Heh you guys here are so cool

Here's a pic of my baby: http://shup.com/Shup/96327/my_baby.jpg

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: asdf

The PATB-3 works very well in my all maple Carvin. It gives it a thick, tight, PAF like tone to the bridge spot on that guitar.

 

[johnnypig]

Re: asdf

Is that similar to a PAF? On the tone chart it shows it has less treble. Dunno if the spacing on that would match my strat plus bridge tho.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: asdf

I have one in my Hamer Special currently. It have very nice overwound growl together with a very clear bass - just piano like lows. I have too other overwound PAF ( a 9k and a 11k) which have similar highs and mids, but kind of wobbly bass. Thats the reason why Duncan and MJ dont like overwound PAF (see the 10k discussion two years ago), but the PATB3 is different due the more even magnetic field. This was developed for the bigger width of Floyd Rose trems - it should do greatly on your baby.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: asdf

Is that similar to a PAF? On the tone chart it shows it has less treble. Dunno if the spacing on that would match my strat plus bridge tho.

It's very similar to a PAF. In fact, that guitar and my Antiquity/S Deco loaded LP cover much the same ground.

 

[jimijames]

Re: asdf

well, you say it isn't too bright acoustically, so I'm going to hesitantly suggest a SSL-1 for the neck position, but I think an APS-2 would work better in an all-maple guitar. As for the bridge, if you want versatility, get a slightly overwound PAF style pickup - I'd personally go with an alnico 2 pro bridge model, but I think you'd like the jazz bridge, 59B, or even PATB-3 in that guitar.

 

[johnnypig]

Re: asdf

Wow cool thanks for your suggestions!

Hadn't even looked at the PATB-3 before this thread since I've not got a floyd, but the frequency info seems to match what I am after.

Alnico 2 pro and aps-2 looks like a cool combo as well. I am willing to experiment a bit to get the right combo.

If the pickups are too dull with a 250k pot I'll try a 500k but yeah think with all I've read 250k would be a good starter.

Thanks and any more ideas are welcome

 

[jimijames]

Re: asdf

If you're getting a humbucker in the bridge and you want to use 250k pots, there's three that seem to work better with the lower value pots - the JB, the screamin demon, and the custom shop '78. All the others I would recommend switching to a 500k volume pot for. If you like the idea of the PATB-3, then you should consider looking at the '78 as well. If you don't want to shell out the custom shop price, you can get pretty close by finding a used Dimarzio VHPAF and swapping out the stock A5 magnet for A2. In fact, if you're on a budget, that's the first thing I would try as it's also the cheapest. It clocks in at 9.13k so it'll balance really well with any vintage-oriented single coils.

edit: Actually, you might want to leave the vhpaf stock and use 250k pots with it, IIRC someone here uses a VHPAF w/ 250k pots and really digs it.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: asdf

+1 for the 500k. If you really feel that the bridge is too bright (you wont, believe me) you can fine tune it with some parallel resistors (e.g. passing by a 500k pot with a 500k resistor let the whole resistance drop to 250k).

 

[johnnypig]

Re: asdf

Alrighty 500k it is... but doesn't that make the single coils overbright? Is there a compromise between the two?

 

[johnnypig]

Re: asdf

Hi just to update people who helped me out,

I ended up with an Alnico2 pro hb bridge and a Five-Two in the neck... holy crap I'm so happy it's all smiles when I play (and think about playing).

The Five-Two is one heck of an interesting pickup! For the first hour or so it was very strange and alien, but switching around the other pickups I came to appreciate it's smooth high end and HUGE lows. So yeah wow.

I used a 250k pot because I'm doing a lot of single coil work, and the alnico2pro is nice and clear. It matches very well with the van zandt and five-two.

Thanks again for your help!
-robo