brick upgrades for a bari.. suggestions?

A

aaronv15

New member
Greetings all -

I've been extremely happy with seymour duncan pickups in the past, but now I've come to some new territory. I've got this old Ibanez MMM-1 neck-through baritone sitting here, that I just had checked out for wear and tear. Luthier says the thing is in amazing shape for being laid up 6 years (after I cleaned the fretboard), so it's worth some more work. And, now that I have a real reason to play the thing I want to make it sound good.

This thing is a pretty solid intermediate guitar, but its pickups are severely lacking. Ibanez 'specials' really just means they're better than the average stock pups but the sound just isn't so great. I know bari tone is influenced heavily by tuning and string gauge selection - I'm using C-C with a standard 68 -> 14 gauge set as a reference. I'd like to go B-B with a custom set but I'm going to get the sound right first.

I've never selected upgrade pickups for a bari before. I want it to sound fat and clear, but mellow, not too saturated. The instrument is for fill, after all. I was thinking a pair of SH-1 blues 59's would fill it in just perfectly. Can I brick a SH-1? Just don't know how that works.

What do you guys think about that selection?
 
Re: brick upgrades for a bari.. suggestions?

I think I understand the gist of what you're asking, but where do the bricks come in?
 
Re: brick upgrades for a bari.. suggestions?

well, I suppose I really meant, can I find covers for them?

This guitar has bricks in it currently, dropping a standard pair of humbuckers in would just make it look... odd.
 
Re: brick upgrades for a bari.. suggestions?

thanks for the heads up.

anyways, I just want to reiterate since it's easy to get distracted by the secondary question: do you guys think a set of 59's would sound good in a baritone?
 
Re: brick upgrades for a bari.. suggestions?

aaronv15 said:
thanks for the heads up.

anyways, I just want to reiterate since it's easy to get distracted by the secondary question: do you guys think a set of 59's would sound good in a baritone?
Click to expand...

I don't have enough experience with baritones to know. Sorry. Anybody?
 
Re: brick upgrades for a bari.. suggestions?

Schaller make metal nickel, black, chrome and gold and also cream and black
ABS plastic covers with no holes.
 
Re: brick upgrades for a bari.. suggestions?

The more I look into this the more it seems like I should just choose the same way I'd choose for a normal guitar. Bari strings will add some volume but not really affect the pup in much of any other way. I think I've settled on the sh-2n / sh-4 pair. Thanks for everyone's input.

I originally worked myself into the 59 idea because I was afraid I'd oversaturate a hotter coil like the SH-4 and get a really high gain sound.
 
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