Choosing a pickup

[Narcosynthesis]

I am having a hard time choosing a pickup to put in a guitar of mine.
The guitar is a '99 BC Rich (maple neck thru, with rosewood board, and pine wings), and I want to keep something in the same general sound, just better, the problem is knowing what

I have a JB in another guitar and don't really like it ), far too muddy sounding compared to the BC Rich, and you get things like the Custom which sound cool, but are based on the gibson paf - I am not really after a Les Paul sound

so what would you say my choices are? its for a fairly classic rock sound, so a semi decent output, paired with a stag mag in the neck (for a completely different sound - singlecoil sound versus humbucker) looking at the duncan site, the c5 looks like it could be cool, or possibly a custom or something, but i have no real idea how good they would actually sound

any ideas?

David

 

[krankguitarist]

Re: Choosing a pickup

The custom is PAF-ish...but its like a PAF on steroids. Typically people who don't like the JB for various reasons (muddy bass, high-mid spike) Tend to like the custom a whole lot more.

The C5 is also a nice pickup, though it does have a rather steep mid scoop to it. Its great for rhythm stuff, but it doesn't have enough "cut" for most lead players.

Goin for a classic rock sound I'd suggest the custom.

 

[Narcosynthesis]

Re: Choosing a pickup

Its just wandering what they would sound like for me really, as i have no way to play them apart from spending £70 and crossing my fingers

I am not a big fan of the les paul sound, a bit muddy and bleh really, will a custom sound better (to me) in my guitar rather than les paulish (thinking of the standard gibson pickups at least)

David

 

[Narcosynthesis]

Re: Choosing a pickup

yone else got any opinions?

David

 

[MikeS]

Re: Choosing a pickup

You can't really compare a LP tone to a maple neck through tone on the basis of pickups alone. In fact, the pickups aren't the biggest reason why the two axes sound different.

I own a maple neck through Mockingbird that has in it the original pickups from my LP Studio (498T/490R). It doesn't sound anything like the pickups did in the LP, and in fact these pickups sound better to my ears now then when they did in the LP.

The hardest part about finding pickups for the Mockingbird was that the guitar was so bright. I tried a CC, a Demon, and a JB before settling on the 498T. I've no experience with the C5, but based on others' accounts, I might liken it to the 498T in terms of its voice.

 

[Narcosynthesis]

Re: Choosing a pickup

You can't really compare a LP tone to a maple neck through tone on the basis of pickups alone. In fact, the pickups aren't the biggest reason why the two axes sound different.

I own a maple neck through Mockingbird that has in it the original pickups from my LP Studio (498T/490R). It doesn't sound anything like the pickups did in the LP, and in fact these pickups sound better to my ears now then when they did in the LP.

The hardest part about finding pickups for the Mockingbird was that the guitar was so bright. I tried a CC, a Demon, and a JB before settling on the 498T. I've no experience with the C5, but based on others' accounts, I might liken it to the 498T in terms of its voice.

Cool, I wasn't sure how much the guitar and pickup would each influence the sound, so the custom won't really sound anything like a les paul in my guitar

David