Changing my carvin pups

[Shredhead7]

Re: Changing my carvin pups

you are right, i used to be a pretty active participant on that board, although i didn't renew my user name once the discussion board system changed. I believe back then i went by the alias of DIVERSIFYamerica. But anyways i love how my carvin turned out, and now that i changed out the pickups it really is my dream guitar. I have to say i've become quite jaded because of the guitar though, it is a pain to play a guitar without a tung oiled neck and stainless steel frets.

Anyway the reason that i suggested dimarzios is because they have a very distinctive lead sound and are generally much smoother than other pickups. And since you say that you are doing classic rock to hard rock and some metal, i dont think you need to go with emgs to get the proper output required for your genre.

I think you might want to look at a Fred and PAF joe set. You already know that the lead tone will be there, and they are middle of the road in terms of output so you could do mild overdrive or full blown metal.

The pickups i went with i would also suggest to you, as they have suited me quite well. They are Lace Drop and Gains, and they react much differently than anything else i have ever seen or heard. In terms of output they are ridiculous, but in terms of feel they play way different. They are crazily articulate, but also very warm. I really like the lead sound of them, thats where i noticed the most improvement, it is nice and smooth with very nice attack and liquid sustain. The cleans on the pickups are also outstanding and the split coil sounds are astounding. I coax a very frusciante type tone out of the bridge pickup when its split and i really like that. Another odd character is that they have a massive dynamic range, honestly alot of the sound depends on how hard you pick. You can change the character of the pickup just by changing how you pass the strings.

I hope this helps,
Cheers,
George.

 

[rockman23]

Re: Changing my carvin pups

Hey SHREDHEAD7---you mentioned STAINLESS FRETS---what makes them BETTER to play than the OTHER TYPE?(I realize they last longer)

-I'm gonna buy another CARVIN & would appreciate ANY advice...

--ALSO, I think I want a 10" radius(neck), what do ya think?

-Do you have the ACOUSTIC option w/your ACTIVE electronics? If so, hows that workin for ya?

 

[Shredhead7]

Re: Changing my carvin pups

well the thing about stainless steel is that it is a harder metal than nickel, because of that it feels different. The main difference is that there is less friction during bends, and the fretboard seems more slippery so linear scales are easier to accomplish.

The one option you absolutely must get is the tung oiled neck. At first it doesn't seem like a big deal, but trust me it makes a huge difference in playing, it made me more agile on the fretboard, and plus it just feels more intimate actually feeling the instrument resonate against your hands.

The 10" radius might be what you are looking for, but personally i like fretboards to be as flat as possible. once i start getting successful and making some money i might get an instrument with a totally flat radius. Personally i grew up play electrics, and nylon string acoustics and because of that my hands feel more comfortable on the neck the flat radius. But chances are if you grew up playing strats it will be more comfortable playing a rounder radius. Radius is purely a matter of taste, although the items i described above are musts, and they add so much to the guitar.

Cheers,
George.

 

[frehley]

Re: Changing my carvin pups

Rockman23,

If you like low action and do a lot of bends, avoid 10' radius necks or smaller
radiuses at all costs. They absolutely suck because the extreme curve of the fretboard makes the strings fret out and kill the sustained note when one bends notes. The only reason one would use a 10' radius board is if someone is used to these necks already. I run into more problems with these types of necks than any others when I'm doing set-ups. The flatter, the better or at least nothing less than a 12' radius. My opinion of course (except I'm never wrong ) LOL. :smack:

So Shredhead7, You FINALLY found pups for that guitar already.
You've also since become somewhat of a gear guru it appears,
WOW. we've come a long way haven't we. Wat did you FINALLY
decide to put in your guitar?

 

[Shredhead7]

Re: Changing my carvin pups

Yea i decided to try out the lace drop and gains, and am happy i did. I really had to figure out alot of this stuff on my own, and much of what i learned was experimentation. People on this board exagerate based on their tastes, and so after sifting through others opinions, i decided to try something new.

They have really improved the sound, and they handle my new tuning extremely well (C# tuning dropped to b on the sixth string).

By the way thanks for your help on things, i am a hard student to teach cause i ask way too many questions.

cheers,
George.

 

[right_to_rage]

Re: Changing my carvin pups

Thanks alot for all your help guys, but after getting a chance to try out some duncans, and reading up on them, i have decided upon dimarzios. An Evo 2 in the bridge and Air Norton in the neck, they just seem to be what I want.

Just wondering about the installation, which I am going to have done by a tech. Will he need to shave the pickup cavities at all or will i need to buy somthing special (I heard somthing about pickups rings)? Will I need to buy a special configuration of pickups like f-spaced or will it be fine with 4 conductor wiring? Remember that I've got a pizeo, in and out of phase switch and splitters for both! :laugh2:

 

[Shredhead7]

Re: Changing my carvin pups

I remember hearing that using F spaced uncovered dimarzios there is no routing neccessary, although you will need to buy new pickup rings screws and springs. I bought mine from StewardMacdonald.com and i found that everything retrofited fine accept that the humbucker mounting screws entered on a slight inward angle instead of going straight in.

Dimarzios are supposed to be great as a retrofit to carvins, good luck, i hope you enjoy the new sound.

Cheers,
George.

 

[slash857]

Re: Changing my carvin pups

hey, welcome to the carvin world. ive got a dc127 too. great guitar. mine is probably brighter sounding than urs, because i have a floyd on mine. also a birdseye maple fb, not sure if ur ebony is brighter or not.

but good choice on the dimarzios. if your willing to wait, it looks like on the dimarzio site that satch is comin out with a new bridge p'up the "mo' joe" it souns really intrguing. the evo is a great p'up, althought i havent played the evo 2. id go with either the evo2 or the mojoe, or fred. the air norton is an awesome pickup ive played it and the sound is really nice. for my carvin i chose the humbucker from hell in the neck. i LOVE this pickup. it may not be for you though, because its a very glassy pickup, almost like a single coil but not quite. the cleans are unbelieveable they sound so good.

for your musical preferences i think the air norton would suit you better. i think that the dimarzios are a great fit for this guitar, and your musical choices definitely lean towards dimarzios. i was biased towards duncans too when ihad them in my strat, but i decided to keep an open mind and try dimarzios in my carvin and didnt regret it. im sure youll love the evo2/air norton combo.

 

[rockman23]

Re: Changing my carvin pups

Thanks FREHLEY for the advice on fretboard radius!!

I just found out this--Gibsonlespaul radius' is 12"
--stratocaster 8" to 10"