alex1fly
New member
Chasing tone on a Flying V copy that's naturally bright. I wanted big bold Gibson-ey sound. Stock pickups were fat (huge bobbins and extra thick magnet), but lacking subtlety. Super Distortion/Air Classic was too piercing in the bridge and too tame/floppy in the neck. JB/Jazz was closer, but the bridge was too responsive and the neck was a great sound but too chimey and Fender-ey. I thought about putting the stock pickups back in but on a whim I put an alnico 8 in a Custom and threw a 59 in there as well. Man this is a great combo for how I play! The 59 in the neck responds beautifully and sounds like the best neck PAF tone, woody and clear, I've had the 59 in a couple other guitars and didn't bond with it but this guitar is a great fit for it. And the Custom 8 is a godsend in the bridge, big and bold, responsive in all the right ways. I'm really pleased. The alnico 8 did just what it was supposed to do... tame some of those harsh highs from the stock Custom (these aren't always bad, I like having the harsh highs of the Custom in another guitar that needs a little help up in that range), give it some more mid roundness to compensate for the guitar's natural lack there. Both Custom 8 and 59 have some really great harmonic content in there, respond well to picking and strumming and fingerstyle, handle all levels of gain with grace, and match well with each other. The guitar really sings now, sounds like a phat Les Paul, I'm stoked and wanted to share. Every time I play this guitar now I can't help but smile and go "hell yeah" lol
