Ebony fretboard - suggestion for bridge pup (single coil size - hum cancelling)

[Lelik]

I ask for your help to find a bridge pickup for my custom guitar.
It's a 2 pickups guitar, ebony fingerboard, poplar body. Scale 24-3/4" and no tremolo. I'd say that my guitar is quite midrangy/trebly (and maybe hi-fi).
I'd like to use single coil sized pickups (hum cancelling), and retaining also (just) a little the single coil tone (even if mainly splitting and putting in parallel the single coils of each pickup). I play modern rock, from pop music to hard rock.
In the neck position, my choice now is the Dimarzio YJM: its sound is good for me.
For the bridge it could be also more towards humbucker tone.
In the past I used humbuckers, and my experience was:
Duncan Custom: quite good (except when using split coil), was the pup I used till the decision to change it all
Allan Holdsworth: very muddy, I changed it immediately
George Lynch: not enough presence, too trebly for solos, good clean tones, I changed it after a while.

Now I'm using a Dimarzio Cruiser. I like its distortion tone, but during solos, specially with high pitched notes, the presence is not enough, and the clean tone is a little hi-fi (not so good for a guitar player). Maybe it's a little too trebly, even if I'm not sure about this definition...
Now I'm thinking about DMZ Chopper or Air Norton S, or Seymour Duncan Hot Stack. But I can't try them unfortunately. I must make a choice and buy it.
Do you have any suggestion for me? Does the ebony fretboard give such a special (and difficult) character to the sound, or maybe I simply still have to find the right pickup for me? Thanks for your time and help!

 

[DonP]

Re: Ebony fretboard - suggestion for bridge pup (single coil size - hum cancelling)

What was the issue with the Duncan Custom split? You say quite good except single coil, but you don't say what was wrong with the single coil?

I have a Custom Custom in an ebony fretboard ESP Horizon (80's with the Jackson headstock). The split tone is very stratty and sounds good to me, but I don't do much single coil stuff. It can do a good Smoke on the Water.

 

[Lelik]

Re: Ebony fretboard - suggestion for bridge pup (single coil size - hum cancelling)

Hi DonP, thanks for the information.
I will check the Custom Custom, too, even if would like to find a single coil sized pickup now.
The Duncan Custom SH5 was very good for solos, good for distorted rhythmic, so-so for clean tones, and less than so-so when split, and when I used it in parallel with the other split neck humbuckwer. I mean the sound was a little dead (I also tried to reverse the wires, but it was much worse). On the contrary the George Lynch was great when split and clean, and wonderful when in parallel (again split coils) with the neck DiMarzio Air Classic for clean (or light distorted) tones.

But every now and then, I like to change it all. And that's why I'm experimenting now with single coils (hum-cancelling anyway). Maybe for the bridge, at the end I'm just looking for a (almost) humbucker tone, because I was used to hear a fuller sound. But I also like the Cruiser, but when I play some solo on higher notes (specially) the tone gets a little lost, and I need more volume and it is never enough. The problem is maybe similar to the George Lynch I used for some time, even if it seems to me it was worse for my guitar.

I see that the Custom Custom has little bass eq and more high and mid frequencies and they says "For brighter toned instruments. Works especially well with maple and ebony fingerboards". Maybe it is for me?

I'll be happy with reading any comment!

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Ebony fretboard - suggestion for bridge pup (single coil size - hum cancelling)

I'd suggest stepping up to the Chopper or Fast Track 1, depending on how you want to vary the single/bucker mix.

 

[Lelik]

Re: Ebony fretboard - suggestion for bridge pup (single coil size - hum cancelling)

Hi Beniy
Have you ever tried the Chopper?
What about harmonics and power chords?
Is it more single coil or humbucker?
Thanks for your comments!

 

[P.A.Foholic]

Re: Ebony fretboard - suggestion for bridge pup (single coil size - hum cancelling)

Hi Beniy
Have you ever tried the Chopper?
What about harmonics and power chords?
Is it more single coil or humbucker?
Thanks for your comments!

I had chopper in my tele and it was very god pup. It cuts through very well. When using just a lil' bit of gain it's quie single-coilish and on full tilt it sounds amazing for hard rock.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Ebony fretboard - suggestion for bridge pup (single coil size - hum cancelling)

Hi Beniy
Have you ever tried the Chopper?
What about harmonics and power chords?
Is it more single coil or humbucker?
Thanks for your comments!

The Chopper is more like a big, noiseless single. The next step towards a 'bucker is the Fast Track1. Going to a Pro Track nets you a PAF style tone, and it just gets thicker and hotter fromthere.

 

[DonP]

Re: Ebony fretboard - suggestion for bridge pup (single coil size - hum cancelling)

I see that the Custom Custom has little bass eq and more high and mid frequencies and they says "For brighter toned instruments. Works especially well with maple and ebony fingerboards". Maybe it is for me?

That's pretty much what I went by for deciding to go with the Custom Custom. The guitar had a Screamin Demon in it when I bought it (and it sounded great), but I already had a great sounding guitar with an SD in it and wanted something different. The CC was trem spaced and the SH12 wasn't so that was another factor for making the change.

I've had thoughts of trying an A8 magnet - someday.

 

[Kosh Naranek]

Re: Ebony fretboard - suggestion for bridge pup (single coil size - hum cancelling)

It's a 2 pickups guitar, ebony fingerboard, poplar body. Scale 24-3/4" and no tremolo. I'd say that my guitar is quite midrangy/trebly (and maybe hi-fi).
I'd like to use single coil sized pickups (hum cancelling), and retaining also (just) a little the single coil tone (even if mainly splitting and putting in parallel the single coils of each pickup). I play modern rock, from pop music to hard rock.

So your guitar is routed for a single coil at the bridge?
It sounds like you're considering a Custom Custom, but I take it that is not in this guitar.

If the guitar tends to sound bright or hi fi then I would rule out pickups like the Li'l Screamin Demon or JB Jr (anyone try a JB Jr with a 250 k ohm pot? Maybe that's better) because both, especially the JB Jr, are very bright.
I have a Strat style ESP guitar with ebony fretboard, ash body and maple top (bright guitar) that I put a Dimarzio Tone Zone S in at the bridge. I'm very happy with it. in that guitar, the Tone Zone S sounds balanced. The bottom end doesn't sound loose or too big, and the high end doesn't sound ear piercing. The Tone Zone S isn't just a metal pickup. It does pop and hard rock quite well in my ESP. I do have a switch on that guitar to put the coils in parallel, and that works well too with the Tone Zone S.
The Tone Zone S's hefty but not over the top output is a good match for the neck and middle pickups I have in that guitar (Duncan Li'l 59's).
The Tone Zone S sounds fat but not flabby or mushy. It's a good all around rock pickup on a guitar that naturally has a bright high end.

The only variable that I see is your guitar's scale length is shorter than mine. I've found that guitars with the 24 3/4" scale length can be bassier than guitars with 25 1/2" scale, which my ESP has.

 

[Lelik]

Re: Ebony fretboard - suggestion for bridge pup (single coil size - hum cancelling)

Thanks a lot to all of you for the hints and comments. They were very useful. Before racking my brains even more ;-) I'll make a test. Even if I'm lazy now (a 1 year baby is calling me!) I'll move the YJM from the neck to the bridge position. So I'll get more information about what I'm looking for, next week during the rehearsal with my band.
I see that the specs of the Chopper and YJM are very similar, except for the power. So, I suppose that if I do no like the YJM in the bridge, maybe the Chopper will not be the right choice for me and my guitar and I'll go on with my search.
My guitar is routed for... everything (I even used a Roland hex pup!). I modified it all, and I made a (provisional) pickguards to cover everything. Now I'd just like single coil size for the look (!) and because I'd like to retain a little bit of single coil tone. The pups I listed in the main post are the ones I tried in the bridge of my current guitar (ok, I didn't include the Roland one), but now I'd like to find a single coil size solution.
I'll let you know the result of my test!