Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

[carltonh]

I was thinking of Steinbergers. I guess active EMGs can do great for maple guitars, but I was wanting classic/vintage but slightly hotter tone from passive pickups. Carvin also had made all maple guitars in the 1980s.

Generally, I wouldn't want an all maple guitar, or like Steinberger, all maple with graphite neck, but are there particular passive pickups that can make a maple guitar sound like it has a good bit of mahogany in it?

 

[Imp]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

custom or custom custom? you need a darker sounding pup to balance everything out...

would an invader be any good here?

 

[theodie]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

If you are looking for classic/vintage but slightly hotter for a maple guitar go with a custom custom bridge and an alnico II pro in the neck. That is if there is a bucker in the neck position. I would not touch the Invader unless you are looking for balls to the wall metal.

 

[Jag513]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

If you are looking for classic/vintage but slightly hotter for a maple guitar go with a custom custom bridge and an alnico II pro in the neck. That is if there is a bucker in the neck position. I would not touch the Invader unless you are looking for balls to the wall metal.

Those are great pickup choices.

Also look into a Pearly Gates for the neck (if it's a GL and has a neck 'bucker).

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

Your implication is that maple guitars sound bad, which generally isn't the case. If you have a guitar made from crappy wood, it doesn't matter what it's made out of, it's not gonna sound great.
Steinbergers are actually great guitars, but because the bodies are so small, it tends to affect the tone.
In a maple guitar, I advise the Screamin Demon or the Alnico II Pro.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

Go with alnico 2 pickups: softer treble and more mids.

I'd be looking at set of A2Pro Humbuckers...A2Pro neck & Custom Custom...Seth Lovers...Antiquitys...

For rock: A2Pros or or A2Pro neck and Custom Custom bridge.

The Pearly Gates are alnico 2 but MAY have more bite than you want in a maple guitar.

Personally, I'd just sell the guitar and get one with the acoustic quality you find more pleasing.

Lew

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

If you are looking for classic/vintage but slightly hotter for a maple guitar go with a custom custom bridge and an alnico II pro in the neck. That is if there is a bucker in the neck position. I would not touch the Invader unless you are looking for balls to the wall metal.

Ditto. I hqve the CC/APH combo in my maple Carvin and it sounds great.

 

[Davey]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

george lynch uses all maple esp's and a screamin demon.. sounds good to my ear

 

[badco33]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

You could go with a higher output pickup but you may want to go with 250K tone and volume pots to tame some of the high end and to get a more traditional sound. I had great results with a JB and 250K volume and tone pots in a Carvin I used to own.

Changing the pots is a great and inexpensive way to tame guitars that are too heavy on the high-end. It can also work the other way, you can liven up a deep sounding guitar by adding 500's.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

My choice would probably be a CC/Seth or CC/APII. I've never owned a Screamin Demon. Isn't that a brighter Duncan, or is it the same as a C-5?

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

My choice would probably be a CC/Seth or CC/APII. I've never owned a Screamin Demon. Isn't that a brighter Duncan, or is it the same as a C-5?

It's very similar to a C5, GJ, but with more "growl", which I classify as being around 300-350 Hz.

 

[Mephis]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

The setup in my platium pro warlock would be good for you. active emg's dont get their sound from the wood, so if you dont like the sound of maple they might help you out.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

The setup in my platium pro warlock would be good for you. active emg's dont get their sound from the wood, so if you dont like the sound of maple they might help you out.

:smack:

No pickup gets a sound from the wood, but every guitar's sound is dictated by the woods and construction that's used.

Try EMG's in maple as opposed to mahogany. They'll be brighter in maple than they are in mahogany. :burnout:

 

[ranalli]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

active emg's dont get their sound from the wood, so if you dont like the sound of maple they might help you out.

Yeah they do. I've had two different guitar with two different wood types and the EMG's definitely sounded different in both.

They are definitely influenced by wood type even if not as strongly as some lower output passives.

 

[SABOTAGE]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

I was thinking of Steinbergers. I guess active EMGs can do great for maple guitars, but I was wanting classic/vintage but slightly hotter tone from passive pickups. Carvin also had made all maple guitars in the 1980s.

Generally, I wouldn't want an all maple guitar, or like Steinberger, all maple with graphite neck, but are there particular passive pickups that can make a maple guitar sound like it has a good bit of mahogany in it?

invader??? tone zone????

 

[jimlp]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

Blues Trembucker

 

[ranalli]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

If you're looking to cure brightness and beef up mids and bottom end without insane gain(Invader) I'd recommend a few Dimarzios as well. Super Distortion, Super3, PAF Pro. THe Norton, Fred, and Breed also might work although I've never tried them in a bright guitar. But there a lot of pickups that will beef up your sound somewhat like a Les Paul...I've found those tones in the 3 Dimarzios mentioned above.

 

[jimlp]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

If you're looking to cure brightness and beef up mids and bottom end without insane gain(Invader) I'd recommend a few Dimarzios as well. Super Distortion, Super3, PAF Pro. THe Norton, Fred, and Breed also might work although I've never tried them in a bright guitar. But there a lot of pickups that will beef up your sound somewhat like a Les Paul...I've found those tones in the 3 Dimarzios mentioned above.

You beat me to the Super3! That might be the best suggestion of them all, it has really rolled back highs and a ton of balls. I had one in my Heavy Metal Strat and it took all the tinnyness caused by the Floyd out of the sound.

 

[ranalli]

Re: Can any pickups make an all Maple guitar sound good?

You beat me to the Super3! That might be the best suggestion of them all, it has really rolled back highs and a ton of balls. I had one in my Heavy Metal Strat and it took all the tinnyness caused by the Floyd out of the sound.

Yup...that's exactly what it does.


I was turned onto that pickup after I found out Phil Collen of Def Leppard was using them.

They always had this big mahogany bodied type sound in their guitars up until their more recent albums and I wondered how he was able to get that type of sound live with a super-strat.

Super 3 was it. Really big mids and a decent but not huge and boomy bottom end. The key though is the top end is rolled off some so it works well in bright guitars that have a tendency to sound thin and tinny with other pickups. And there are a few other Dimarzios that work similarly...most notably ones that have boosted mids and lows.