Bright Hollowbody Needs A Bridge Pickup

E

Elias Graves

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The guitar is made from 25 year air dried American black walnut. The body is a little thicker and bigger than a Les Paul and its completely hollow inside. It is, however, more of a fully chambered solid body than it is a traditional archtop, so it's pretty sturdy.


The neck pickup is an SM-3 mini and it sounds really good.
If you know this pickup, you know the mids are kinda diminished and the highs and bass are more prominent.
I'd like to add something with more mid presence to the bridge.
A Seth Lover maybe?

Suggestions? It hasn't been cut for anything, so oddballs are possible, too.
 
Re: Bright Hollowbody Needs A Bridge Pickup

Elias Graves said:
The neck pickup is an SM-3 mini and it sounds really good.
If you know this pickup, you know the mids are kinda diminished and the highs and bass are more prominent.
I'd like to add something with more mid presence to the bridge.
A Seth Lover maybe?

Suggestions? It hasn't been cut for anything, so oddballs are possible, too.
Click to expand...

I'd chosen a Set Lover set for this guitar to start with, but let's try to do our best with the elements at hand, shall we?

I've used mini-hums in the past and I just don't like'em. The very nature of the design conditions the placement under the strigs, making'em dark-ish in the neck and bright-ish in the bridge, comparing it with full-size humbuckers. For me, the only good-sounding combination is when they're "both-on", as when they're set up properly, they "chirp" like no other.

Of course, those were Gibson p'ups I was talking about, mind you...so, as at the Seymour Duncan Co, the motto is "if you can dream it, we can build it", so let's dream a little! ;)

With this choice of neck p'up, it's a bit difficult to think of anything else but a SM-3b to complement the neck one, so let's put a twist on this project:

IMHO, the solution is to change the neck p'up's magnet to an A3 and change to an A2 the magnet of the bridge p'up. That'll bring the missing mids to the table and both p'ups will tonally-balance a lot better. This will add a Jazzy/Bluesy vocal quality not present with the stock p'ups.

You can ask Duncan if you can have a modded A3/A2 SM-3 set as a Custom Floor Shop item.

Sorry if I can't come up with an easier solution for you, but I think this to be the very best.

HTH,



PS: I agree with my dear friend and colleague Copperheadroads; this guitar is shouting for a TOM bridge! ;)
Just do it; you can thank us later! :cool2:
 
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Re: Bright Hollowbody Needs A Bridge Pickup

Sorry, no bigsby, no tune o matic.

The firebird went in the neck for a few reasons.
A. It's my favorite pickup
B. this guitar has rather narrow string spacing and typical humbuckers don't line up at the neck very well.

Despite being hollow, it turned out much brighter than I anticipated. I had to go through several pots to get it under control. Ended up with a 480k volume and a 400k tone. It still needs a bigger tone cap.

String spacing gets better at the bridge, so pole alignment with strings isn't as big an issue.

I think I'll give the SL a shot and see how that works.
 
Re: Bright Hollowbody Needs A Bridge Pickup

Hmm. Pole spacing is still way off even at the bridge. Ill probably go with another firebird pickup. The blades don't care about alignment.

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Re: Bright Hollowbody Needs A Bridge Pickup

Wait a minute. I measured the pole pieces on that first one. 52mm.
The one stamped N measures 50mm.

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It's still a bit wide but acceptable.
 
Re: Bright Hollowbody Needs A Bridge Pickup

EG, take a look at the L90 from Wilde. There are no string spacing issues. The 4H version would probably pair well with the mini neck pickup based on the specs. It's one of my favorite pickups. I can sell you a used Gibson 498T.
 
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Re: Bright Hollowbody Needs A Bridge Pickup

Yeah definitely the A and D look like they are pushed together. Maybe its the angle but I can see 3 different spacings. Even then the pickup would probably read just fine. It wills still sense the strings even if its not perfectly aligned. Its more a cosmetic issue.
 
Re: Bright Hollowbody Needs A Bridge Pickup

PunkKitty said:
EG, take a look at the L90 from Wilde. There are no string spacing issues. The 4H version would probably pair well with the mini neck pickup based on the specs. It's one of my favorite pickups. I can sell you a used Gibson 498T.
Click to expand...

You don't want a 498T in a hollowbody for several reasons. If you want a HB, a Seth would be great.
 
Re: Bright Hollowbody Needs A Bridge Pickup

Edgecrusher said:
Yeah definitely the A and D look like they are pushed together. Maybe its the angle but I can see 3 different spacings. Even then the pickup would probably read just fine. It wills still sense the strings even if its not perfectly aligned. Its more a cosmetic issue.
Click to expand...

Two things going on there.
Yes, string spacing is narrower than normal. It feels somewhat Ric-like when I'm playing it. Makes barre chords up the neck easier for me.
Plus, I haven't cut the saddle notches yet so they're wandering a little bit yet.
The narrow spacing was a big part of using the blade pickup at the neck. I couldn't find anything that lined up. The bridge pickup space is still a bit narrow, but not as dramatic as the neck.

And, yeah, the 498 is definitely a no go. I don't care much for that pickup at all.
 
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