Help: Maple body, Pine wings...

S

SpeedThrashPower

New member
Hi everybody,

I have this unsolvable problem with the bridge Pick Up on my BC RICH Assassin neck through body.
Tech. specs:

Body: Milky Pine Body Wings (w/Flame Maple Veneer on top)
Neck: Hard Maple Neck-Thru Body (w/Rosewood Body Channels)
Fingerboard: Rosewood, Single Ply Neck Binding
Neck Scale: 25 1/2" Scale, 24 Frets / Double Expanding Truss Rod
Pickups: 2 Humbucking Pickups
Controls: 1 Volume, 1 Tone, 3 Way Selector Switch
Bridge: Licensed Floyd Rose Tremolo

It's a massive guitar, a bit bigger (thicker,longer,wider) then anything I owned. Result is big thick sound. But main tonal characteristic of this wood mixture in my humble opinion is: lot of mids.

The original BDSM pick-ups that come stock sound great but I wanted little bit more output, little more bottom and little bit scooped mids! I have been trying to solve this for years. TB5 Custom worked pretty good with the low frequencies gave it a nice bottom but it was harsh sounding. At this point I have to mention that all the Ceramic based pick ups (Dimarzzio Super Distortion, X2N, Dimebucker) sound harsh in this guitar. When I say harsh I mean lot of mid-high freq. JB TB4 (that I adore in my Jackson SL2H) did not have enough bottom and was too treblee in this guitar.

I also tried swapping magnets from Custom and JB but in this guitar nothing sounds better then those stock BDSM. Must be something outhere!!!!!!!

So shortly I think I need Alnico 5 based Pick-Up with slightly V shaped sound - good bass and sizzling highs (NOT Mid-Highs) Any ideas?

Or maybe somebody would have completely different approach?
 
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Re: Help: Maple body, Pine wings...

Have you tried the Custom 5? It's got most of the output of a Custom with a slightly more PAF flavor and slightly scooped mids/accentuated highs and lows (depending on how you look at it). I've had one in my SG for quite some time now and it's worked out pretty well for me.
 
Re: Help: Maple body, Pine wings...

I would support to Custom 5 too. But a Custom with a JB mag is just identical with a Custom 5??
 
Re: Help: Maple body, Pine wings...

Yeap by putting an Alnico5 magnet from JB in to Custom I have basicly explored the Custom5 sound...Without haveing to buy one. Did not gave me enough output and bottom end.....

PS
I keep thinking that the Laney Mod is not perfected to my tonal preferences but it is such a crunching / shredding machine that I just can't part with it for simple thing as EQ preference, I would rather work on Pick-ups....
 
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Re: Help: Maple body, Pine wings...

Given the body woods and the floyd, it sounds like a naturally bright guitar.

If you are looking for something with higher output than the BSDM... good luck. I measured the bridge at over 18k and the neck at over 17k. If you are looking for some Duncans that might fit that bill, check out the Invader. The highs are very tame but it is not exactly scooped, though it does offer the output you are looking for. It’s a darker sounding pickup, so it may work in your guitar despite your desire to stay away from ceramic mags.

You problem is that you are looking for a scooped sound in a guitar that sounds like it should naturally have a lot of high-mid and high tones. Any time you search for a scooped pickup it'll have an abundance of high-mid and high tones, which only exacerbates the problem.

I went the opposite direction in my bright BC Rich, knowing that a high output pup would likely be the biggest cause of harsh tones in a bright axe. I had a CC in my Mockingbird (maple neck through, nato wings) with no success. I then went even lower output in my BC Rich, going with the Gibson 490R/498T, and that really knocked a lot of the high end off yet still had enough output from the bridge position to play metal.
 
Re: Help: Maple body, Pine wings...

MikeS and anybody else who knows: please tell me more about BDSM, tell me everything you know about them please.....Are they designed as a copy of some major Pick or they are brand on their own. Who makes them? What if I put ceramic magnet in BDSM?
I relly love them I would just want more bottom with them, then I would stop searching....
As far as the mids I can always scoop them a little on the amp.
 
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Re: Help: Maple body, Pine wings...

my ibanez rx350 is pretty much the same as yours, but only without pine wings, as it as a maple body with maple neck/fretboard. im not too sure what the tonal characteristics of pine are, but in my ibanez, i have a dimarzio super 3 in the bridge, and it sounds monsterous. the highs in the wood keep the mids from being too muddy and keep it nice and clear sounding, and the bass is super tight ;O

if i remember right, isnt the duncan custom custom similar to the super3 as in it has like, nothing but mids? why not try one of these?
 
Re: Help: Maple body, Pine wings...

I can tell you about BDSM but i think i'd be kicked out of the forum, just kiddin

Get a 60/85 emg
 
Re: Help: Maple body, Pine wings...

I would've just ran the best sounding pickups I can find first, then if it still has high amount of mids, you can run EQ between you and the amp, or on the amp itself. If you need dedicated EQ to fix it, you can use an EQ pedal, like the Boss model.
 
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Re: Help: Maple body, Pine wings...

SpeedThrashPower said:
MikeS and anybody else who knows: please tell me more about BDSM, tell me everything you know about them please.....Are they designed as a copy of some major Pick or they are brand on their own. Who makes them? What if I put ceramic magnet in BDSM?
I relly love them I would just want more bottom with them, then I would stop searching....
As far as the mids I can always scoop them a little on the amp.
Click to expand...

BSDM pickups are made by BC Rich. The BSDM specs can be found at http://www.bcrich.com/technicals.asp
You might be able to put a ceramic magnet in there, but I have no idea how it’ll sound. I’m not too familiar on the comparison between ceramic and ferrite magnets. I found the BSDM to be way too hot and harsh in such a bright axe. The only way to get a more pronounced bottom end in that bright of a guitar is to tame the highs.
 
Re: Help: Maple body, Pine wings...

I originally thought so, too, but even on the Q&A with Seymour you are lead to believe there's a difference.
 
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