Help me kit out an HSH workhorse

[Justin Hitchborn]

Hey folks,

First time on the forum, thinking about migrating to a decidedly nicer forum

I've been wringing my hands about a pickup choice for my main (see: only) axe for a while now, because my budget isn't big enough to deal with flipping pickups if I don't like 'em. Hopefully I can get some good insight here.

The guitar is a Godin xtSA. Maple core with poplar wings, mahogany neck, ebony fretboard, koa top and a blocked vintage trem. It goes straight into a Reason Bambino.

I'm not stuck on having strictly HSH sounds, so if you have recommendations that fall in the "SC sized HB" or vice versa, I'm all for it. The stock pickups were actually designed by Duncan, ceramic something or others. I just find that with my own touch and the styles I am chasing after, they feel brash in the high end. The highs are there, but are the opposite of "sweet".

I play clean and dirty variations of rock, never getting much heavier than AC/DC. I also play a few styles of blues ranging from old to new, and am diving into all forms of country as well.

Let me know if you need any more info.

 

[Rockstar216]

Re: Help me kit out an HSH workhorse

Welcome to the forum. I have a HSH set up and I have a Custom 8/ Lil Scremin Demon/ Pearly Gates b set up and in my opinion does well for heavy styles.

Their are many options you could choose from but ill list a few that I would go with if it was me.

Vintage offerings
WLH set with a cool or vintage rail in the middle
59 vintage blues set with a cool or vintage rail in the middle
A2P Slash set with cool rail or vintage rail in middle

Modern offerings
PATB-1 set with PATB-stk in middle. (This is the only true HSH set I think duncan offers)
JB/Jazz Hot rodded set with a either one of the stk offerings or a vintage or cool rail.

Their are other choices if you want to mix and match different neck and bridge buckers like say a Custom/59 Hybrid and a Jazz neck.

Outside of SD offerings I would recommend looking at Bill and Becky Lawrence pickups. Specifically the L90s for the bridge and neck and a L200 or L298 for the middle.

 

[darthphineas]

Re: Help me kit out an HSH workhorse

Check out that tone wizard on the SD site. It's up to date and nails it every time.


Sent from my armored battle station using Tapatalk

 

[Justin Hitchborn]

Re: Help me kit out an HSH workhorse

Welcome to the forum. I have a HSH set up and I have a Custom 8/ Lil Scremin Demon/ Pearly Gates b set up and in my opinion does well for heavy styles.

Their are many options you could choose from but ill list a few that I would go with if it was me.

Vintage offerings
WLH set with a cool or vintage rail in the middle
59 vintage blues set with a cool or vintage rail in the middle
A2P Slash set with cool rail or vintage rail in middle

Modern offerings
PATB-1 set with PATB-stk in middle. (This is the only true HSH set I think duncan offers)
JB/Jazz Hot rodded set with a either one of the stk offerings or a vintage or cool rail.

Their are other choices if you want to mix and match different neck and bridge buckers like say a Custom/59 Hybrid and a Jazz neck.

Outside of SD offerings I would recommend looking at Bill and Becky Lawrence pickups. Specifically the L90s for the bridge and neck and a L200 or L298 for the middle.

Thanks for that, I'll go do some looking!

Check out that tone wizard on the SD site. It's up to date and nails it every time.


Sent from my armored battle station using Tapatalk

I have done that as well (never show up unprepared, so they say), but the wizard doesn't allow for the sort of Heinz 57 nature of the xtSA construction, or for the fact that even though I have a vintage trem, it is blocked. Or that I play more than 2 genres with this guitar.

FWIW, its recommendations were either Seth Lovers or Pearly Gates for humbuckers and either an Antiquity Texas Hot or the Quarter Pound Flat as the single. While I like the idea of those combinations, I worry about being stuck with either non-existent or uninspiring highs with the humbuckers while having so much output on the single that I can't clean it up.

This is what I meant by hand wringing

 

[Justin Hitchborn]

Re: Help me kit out an HSH workhorse

*bump*

Here's a different direction.

What about going with humbucker sized P90s (Phat Cat, Z90, G or H90 from Railhammer, etc) and maybe a SSL-4 in the middle? Or even finding a single coil P90 sound-a-like and mimicing a triple P90 axe.

Thoughts?

 

[elelpe]

Re: Help me kit out an HSH workhorse

If you're feeling adventurous, why not? Maybe Phat Cat set with Twang Banger in the middle.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Help me kit out an HSH workhorse

The least expensive route would be to swap out the ceramic magnets in the humbuckers for something Alnico. If you are comfortable with doing so.