Custome shop Holdsworth AH-1

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1fastdog

New member
I contacted MJ a short while ago to order an AH-1 for a Jackson Soloist I have had as my #1. It's a replacement for many of the San Dimas era Jacksons which pulled me away from vintage LP's a a main axe. I tracked down a '86 Soloist which was close enough to what I like about them. I willingly junked the in-house pickups this particular endorsement piece was equipped with. I had a well known gent from the UK wind a bridge and two singles for me. The singles were good, the bridge HB was warm, but, harmonically challenged. I have never had the occasion to call SD and not receive a pickup which will do the job. It's clear I should have gone that way to begin with. I used to go to Seymour all the time, years ago... my mistake.

Thus the custom shop was my agenda after my failed fishing expedition in foreign waters. 8->

I talking with MJ, we spec's the pickup for bridge position, Fender spacing, Alnico 2 magnet, old style braided lead, and asked MJ if my thoughts could be matched by a pickup with some warm "brown" goodness for the ebony board. She said yes and that was good enough for me.

The pickup came quickly enough and after my favorite tech did the install a quick test at his shop put a good starting point grin on my face.

The true test is giving a go through my live rig of chioce.

More review to follow. So far, I'm optimistic.
 
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Re: Custome shop Holdsworth AH-1

What's your live rig ?

A pic of the guitar and new pickup is a must I think :notworthy
 
Re: Custome shop Holdsworth AH-1

wolf5150 said:
What's your live rig ?

A pic of the guitar and new pickup is a must I think :notworthy
Click to expand...

The rig is a Reinhardt 18. Soon to be through a 2x12 Port City w/Scumback M's which are 25 watters...

I'll shoot a pic after rehearsal today and make some fuller comments on the pickup.
 
Re: Custome shop Holdsworth AH-1

Sounds like a great combination. Jacksons usually love JB family pickups, and the A2 AH-1 is a smoother, warm but sparkly tonal cousin.
 
Re: Custom shop Holdsworth AH-1

Re: Custom shop Holdsworth AH-1

Despair said:
Sounds like a great combination. Jacksons usually love JB family pickups, and the A2 AH-1 is a smoother, warm but sparkly tonal cousin.
Click to expand...

That was my thought.

I was exclusively a vintage Lester player for several years until a friend who owned a music store suggeted I try a Jackson... this was in 1984 as I recall.
I bought two of them that day. He made me a deal which was tough to refuse..I think it was $1500 for both. One was a JB in the bridge, the other an Invader... The Invader didn't record well at all. I used to run into Seymour quite alot back then, so he suggested a JB that said would be a bit different. That worked out well. I really never took the PU apart, but I suspect it was an A2 rather than an A5 mag in it as it was much smoother on the top, at least to my ears. The last Jackson I bought was the last Soloist built in San Dimas. In 1995 I retired from playing and sold or gave away a ton of stuff...

My wife started telling me to get back into playing but keep in on my own terms. < I did the record deal, tour and tour, and try to keep others in a project on track... I was done with it >

Eventually, I decided why not... Got a Jackson which was an endorsement piece from '86 or '87 < they didn't serialize employee or endorsement pieces then>

Thus the latest foray into this tone questing has been going on. I owned lots of different stuff over the years and maybe I can share a little that might help someone else out. I'm not a household name by any stretch. I have known a worked with a few, but I'm just a pretty good player with some experience regarding gear.

This seems to be a passionate place, and I always find that interesting.

BTW, I was a front of house engineer for a lot of different acts, off and on for a number of years... so I'm not a stranger to mic'ing and putting things together through a system or to tape.
 
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Re: Custome shop Holdsworth AH-1

Back from rehearsal and, so far, I'm thrilled with the pickup! An A2 works well in the AH-1. No lack of harmonic content in the upper registers and the mids are warm and woody.

Although the DC voltage is on the higher side of things, no smearing was noticed as of yet. The tone has great integrity anywhere on the neck. The low E and A are no spongier than one would expect from an A2. Actually it's suprising how tight it is considering the DCv. Easily as coherant as a PG which is less than half the resistance.

A previous pickup I had was a bit lower on the DCv and had an A5 magnet. It was nice enough, but rather short on upper harmonics and sustain. Really lifeless in comparison.
As a holdover until the AH was done, I had a PG in the bridge. A good pickup, but a bit too bright in a Jackson with a Kahler and ebony board.

MJ did a super job. As someone asked, pics will follow as soon as possible.
 
Re: Custome shop Holdsworth AH-1

If you want to tighten it, or add a bit of sparkle (lowers bass and a bit of low mids along with a minor output drop), you can tinker with swapping screws. 0.5" hex screws are great under the wound strings for tighening and adding a bit of extra attack. I've done this in a JB I magnet swapped and am using as a neck pickup (yeah, bizarre use, but the old neck pickup was worse).

There's a number of ebay vendors who carry them, Addiction-FX is pretty popular for stocking a wide variety of alloys and screw types and finishes, along with many different magnets.

[Also, if you wanted a bit more bass and highs, and a moderate boost in output, you could magnet swap to Unoriented A5 (sounds like a hotter, slightly expanded frequency range A2). But it really doesn't sound like you need it there. I'd be nervous about magnet swapping for the first time on a Custom Shop pickup, though.]
 
Re: Custome shop Holdsworth AH-1

Despair said:
If you want to tighten it, or add a bit of sparkle (lowers bass and a bit of low mids along with a minor output drop), you can tinker with swapping screws. 0.5" hex screws are great under the wound strings for tighening and adding a bit of extra attack. I've done this in a JB I magnet swapped and am using as a neck pickup (yeah, bizarre use, but the old neck pickup was worse).

There's a number of ebay vendors who carry them, Addiction-FX is pretty popular for stocking a wide variety of alloys and screw types and finishes, along with many different magnets.

[Also, if you wanted a bit more bass and highs, and a moderate boost in output, you could magnet swap to Unoriented A5 (sounds like a hotter, slightly expanded frequency range A2). But it really doesn't sound like you need it there. I'd be nervous about magnet swapping for the first time on a Custom Shop pickup, though.]
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions. So far things are good.
 
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