Franknfilms
New member
Here's the specs on my latest project:
Cheap Indonesian Washburn WI45 Idol
Mahogany body and 1 piece Mahogany set neck
CTS pots, Orange drop caps, Duncan Triple Shots
Crunch Lab bridge (blade towards bridge), Air Norton Neck
This is a bit of an experiment, the guitar has a shiny modern look to it and I thought I'd put some shiny modern pickups in it to match.
Crunch Lab:
There are some (maybe just one?) who want to know more about the Crunch lab in terms of how it might compare to a Custom(8) and/or how it well if fares in an mahogany lp style guitar.
After playing for many hours into the wee night, I think I have a really good handle on what the CL is all about. This is a super modern (post modern?) pickup, nothing like the other bridge pickups I've tried (EMGs,Blackouts,JB,DD,Customs,etc).
If you like the warm Custom 8 crunch, you won't find it here, if the Custom 8 is warm, the Crunch Lab is ice cold. The attack is seems so brittle at first, the power chord notes don't really work together as a team, each note stubbornly cuts through on its own. It's probably impossible to make this pickup sound muddy, it just starts to deflect the gain after a certain point, this is certainly not a bad thing.
This pickup is practically begging you to work with your technique, it does not like new wave metal, blues, classic rock, or anything based on the classic tones in general, metal or otherwise. You have to get creative, lots of hammer ons/pull offs, super fast picking, I was actually spending a lot of time with different picking techniques and that is really how you make the most of the CL. I'm not a cheesy 80's guitar jam guy (satriani, vai, petrucci) but that is really what the CL is all about. I just can't get over how crisp and erie the CL sounds, its like I'm sharpening a knife with my pick. Basically, the CL sounds like the bold new tone that you could expect from an all robot progressive metal band after they have wiped out humanity and decided to put on a show in celebration.
Is the overall CL eq working with the mahogany or pushing out a disproportionate amount of lows and mids? Well, that is hard to say since I still need to do some experimenting with height and position. Don't fret the overall clarity though, this is not overly warm and muddy like you might suspect, the highs chime right through, I just think the mid range needs a little work. I'm going to flip it around and try to de-sterilize the sound. I tired both coils separately and the blade is definitely the source of that cold/sharp tone that is coming though (along with the ceramic mag of course).
Cleans? Totally awesome if you like them a bit on the emg side, perfectly spacey and clear and begging for effects like delay, etc. Even on series it does not break up half as easily as the DD does for example. I would also call it cleaner than the Custom 8, however, as I mentioned the CL cleans are a little sterile.
Air Norton in the neck? Well, that is exactly what you'd expect, very very warm without a hint of mud, amazing sustain, nice and hot with distortion, no unwanted breakup when clean, does not sound vintage in the slightest when you split it though, once again I have to say it has a bit of the emg feel, which I think is great.
At the end of the day I think these are some awesome ultra responsive modern sounding pickups that will have me completely re-thinking my techniques. I'm happy to have 3 guitars now with completely different tones. If you are looking for "your tone" only and don't want to go out of your comfort zone you wouldn't want to put these pickups in your LP style guitar. If you want to experiment with some modern tones that really shine with fast progressive lead techniques then give these a shot.
I'm no expert, just a guy who likes to experiment with different tones, hope you found this helpful. I'm looking forward to making some clips, just don't have any idea what to play to really emphasize how cool these pickups are, I'm sure I'll think of something. I'd a/b with a custom 8 but this is so far from a custom 8 there is no point in comparing, I just don't think you should even play the same type of riffs with the CL and Custom 8.
Cheap Indonesian Washburn WI45 Idol
Mahogany body and 1 piece Mahogany set neck
CTS pots, Orange drop caps, Duncan Triple Shots
Crunch Lab bridge (blade towards bridge), Air Norton Neck
This is a bit of an experiment, the guitar has a shiny modern look to it and I thought I'd put some shiny modern pickups in it to match.
Crunch Lab:
There are some (maybe just one?) who want to know more about the Crunch lab in terms of how it might compare to a Custom(8) and/or how it well if fares in an mahogany lp style guitar.
After playing for many hours into the wee night, I think I have a really good handle on what the CL is all about. This is a super modern (post modern?) pickup, nothing like the other bridge pickups I've tried (EMGs,Blackouts,JB,DD,Customs,etc).
If you like the warm Custom 8 crunch, you won't find it here, if the Custom 8 is warm, the Crunch Lab is ice cold. The attack is seems so brittle at first, the power chord notes don't really work together as a team, each note stubbornly cuts through on its own. It's probably impossible to make this pickup sound muddy, it just starts to deflect the gain after a certain point, this is certainly not a bad thing.
This pickup is practically begging you to work with your technique, it does not like new wave metal, blues, classic rock, or anything based on the classic tones in general, metal or otherwise. You have to get creative, lots of hammer ons/pull offs, super fast picking, I was actually spending a lot of time with different picking techniques and that is really how you make the most of the CL. I'm not a cheesy 80's guitar jam guy (satriani, vai, petrucci) but that is really what the CL is all about. I just can't get over how crisp and erie the CL sounds, its like I'm sharpening a knife with my pick. Basically, the CL sounds like the bold new tone that you could expect from an all robot progressive metal band after they have wiped out humanity and decided to put on a show in celebration.
Is the overall CL eq working with the mahogany or pushing out a disproportionate amount of lows and mids? Well, that is hard to say since I still need to do some experimenting with height and position. Don't fret the overall clarity though, this is not overly warm and muddy like you might suspect, the highs chime right through, I just think the mid range needs a little work. I'm going to flip it around and try to de-sterilize the sound. I tired both coils separately and the blade is definitely the source of that cold/sharp tone that is coming though (along with the ceramic mag of course).
Cleans? Totally awesome if you like them a bit on the emg side, perfectly spacey and clear and begging for effects like delay, etc. Even on series it does not break up half as easily as the DD does for example. I would also call it cleaner than the Custom 8, however, as I mentioned the CL cleans are a little sterile.
Air Norton in the neck? Well, that is exactly what you'd expect, very very warm without a hint of mud, amazing sustain, nice and hot with distortion, no unwanted breakup when clean, does not sound vintage in the slightest when you split it though, once again I have to say it has a bit of the emg feel, which I think is great.
At the end of the day I think these are some awesome ultra responsive modern sounding pickups that will have me completely re-thinking my techniques. I'm happy to have 3 guitars now with completely different tones. If you are looking for "your tone" only and don't want to go out of your comfort zone you wouldn't want to put these pickups in your LP style guitar. If you want to experiment with some modern tones that really shine with fast progressive lead techniques then give these a shot.
I'm no expert, just a guy who likes to experiment with different tones, hope you found this helpful. I'm looking forward to making some clips, just don't have any idea what to play to really emphasize how cool these pickups are, I'm sure I'll think of something. I'd a/b with a custom 8 but this is so far from a custom 8 there is no point in comparing, I just don't think you should even play the same type of riffs with the CL and Custom 8.
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