Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

M

Mattwedge

New member
Hi, I recently had a great experience with my last post about a different project, so I'd like to give this a go again, hopefully I'm not too much trouble.

I have an Hss Cort G250. It's made of basswood with a rosewood board on a maple neck. The stock single coils (alnico 5 mighty mites) are actually pretty okay, I rarely use the middle one, and the neck gets a nice lead tone. The bridge pickup is a dimebucker, I bought the thing used, and the guy at the shop (not exactly a white wizard of guitar tech know-how, but maybe a grey one? He's never steered me wrong) told me that the pickup was broken, something with one of the coils being dead, but that he thought it was better than some shoddy stock pup laying around the shop, so he never took it out despite its failure to buck hum. It's basically nasally and raspy all the time. Not a pleasant tone.

With this guitar I play mostly bluesy rock and alternative (Floyd, pearl jam, some nirvana), but it'd be awesome to find a humbucker to fatten this thing up a bit so I could even use it for some early Sabbath tinted stuff.
I play through a usa crate palomimo v32 112. It's el84's, kind of hot vox neighborhood, but it's got a sort of bassy cab (not complaining).

Thanks all!
 
Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

The two pickups I think sound the best in Basswood are the SD Screamin Demon and the DMZ Liqifire (haven't tried a Fred or Mojoe but Satch usually uses Basswood for his guitars and he has nice fat tones.)

I pearsoanlly didn't care for the SD JB (one of my all time favorite pickups) in Basswood BUT a lot of forum members swear by it.

Hopefully some other forum bros will chime in!
 
Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

+1 to the Screamin Demon, and even possibly the Perpetual Burn, which is like a tamer JB. It doesn't sound raspy at all.
 
Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

Don't like JB in Basswood. Basswood has more mid mids and not upper mids so JB sounds a little notched IME. Also sounds too compressed.

When I hear basswood, I think Dimarzio.

Maybe Gravity Storm or Breed for very warm and Super 3 for little more bite and attitude. Super Distortion for a bigger sound and slightly brighter than forementioned 3. Nevertheless all 4 are considered relatively warm fat pickups . If that's your thing, glad I can make a relevant suggestion.
 
Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

I used to have Breeds in a basswood RG550, and the bridge sounds from anything vaguely Marshally were epic. Just the right amount of sass and attitude without being over the top. For me it was the crossroads of electric guitar tone; I felt like I could do anything from AC/DC to Van Halen to '80s Vai to Slayer.
 
Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

Hey thanks for the responses everyone! Might have to try one of this Dimarzios!

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Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

Some great suggestions here. One quick question, have you checked to see that the HB is correctly wired, and have you ohmed out the 2 coils?
It would be worth it to check, before changing it out.
 
Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

I don't know how to do that stuff, but the guy works on all my guitars, it's the only guitar store in town, or near it. And he's pretty trusted by the local community. I think I trust him. That said, I am going to throw that dimebucker into my epiphone special ii. It's usually tuned to d standard, and is a pretty dark guitar. I thought the nasally dimebucker single coil might give it a cool near tele sound paired with a humbucker in the neck

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Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

In forgot to mention the air zone. Some, including myself, think of it as a better tone zone.
 
Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

Juanhanglo said:
In forgot to mention the air zone. Some, including myself, think of it as a better tone zone.
Click to expand...
How do you think an air zone in the bridge would stack up with an SSL-5 in the neck?

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Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

I like the Breed. Did a great job of fattening & warming a somewhat thin & hard-sounding Strelecaster for me. The guitar has decent chunk now, and a nice singing lead tone. Also the Breed balances fairly well with singlecoils; not as loud as I expected. Certainly less hot and a lot less harsh than the Dimebucker.
 
Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

Never tried a Breed, but I've used Super D, Tone Zone, Evo 2, and Gravity Storm in a Basswood Jackson Adrian Smith. So far the Gravity Storm has been my favorite. It's warm, but not muddy, and still has some bite without sounding harsh. It's listed as a high output pup, but it's almost medium output. Hot enough to play modern rock and still low enough to dial back for a more classic sound. And it pairs well with the Injector and Area 67 in the neck and middle
 
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Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

vinta9e said:
Objection. Actually his tones are diet.
Click to expand...


This is thin??



 
Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

Not the best example when there's a bunch of stuff layered on top of a loud and proud bass. But check this out:



Or Cryin', or satch boogie, or Surfing with the alien.
Joe has an affinity for that sharp upper mid peak that just rapes my ear dry. Doesn't take away a iota from his being a sub zero cool dude and an immense talent with generations of followers. But his tone I can't stand, it's screechy.

When you say phat as in big mommas phat uh nevermind, I see Mk4 Boogies, Trainwrecks, those vented back Hiwatt Cabs, Celestion 65s, fuzz boxes as fluffy as Rabea's afro, John Bonham bangin' levee. In order to be fat, tone must go "moo" like a tipping cow whereas Joe's has always gone bugzzzapper.
 
Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

Gonna have to agree to disagree man, buzzsaw is not what I hear and while he does some scratching effects I would not call his tone ice picky. We can keep throwing songs out but ultimately we just hear his tone differently...
 
Re: Bridge humbucker for a basswood strat

I like how the DiMarzio Dominion sounds in my Ibanez RG, but yeah, it's a very modern-sounding metal pickup. I have been afraid of slapping a JB in it because of what most people seem to think of the JB in basswood, but I love it in my other (mostly maple with some mahogany) Ibanez. The Tone Zone was also nice, but it was fatter and smoother and more lead-oriented than the JB to me. I'm also considering some of the Suhr Humbuckers because that Suhr guy seems to love basswood.

Oh, and on the topic of Satch's tone, to me, it's more of what I'd call crunchy and cutting rather than fat, personally. I don't think it's harsh either, but when I think fat, I usually think of thunderous palm-mutes and super smooth slightly dark leads. JMO :)
 
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