Help me pick a pickup for a modded strat.

[BayouTexan]

I purchased a Jackson SDX strat so that I can mod to my personal tastes. So far I've added a trem-stop, D-tuna, and my own custom paint scheme. Next up is to add a new HB bridge pickup (I do not like the Jackson branded OEM HB), and a kill switch.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...n-smith-sdx-snow-white-with-maple-fingerboard

The neck is maple and the body is basswood. I have an Epi LP Custom with the ProBucker 2 and 3's. I absolutely love the growl these pickups give on the lower strings (E, A, D) but find the high strings lacking in harmonics. I have some Charvels with TB4 and Distortion in the bridges. I get really good harmonics on the high strings but the lowers sound mushy.

I want a pickup to give me great harmonics similar to EVH style but with low end punch similar to Bad Company style. I seem to gravitate to Alnico instead of Ceramic because of the clarity you get playing at high gain with Alnico. I'm more interest in pickup performance than how many ohms a certain pickup has.

Some pickups I have considered are Pearly Gates, '59, '78, Duncan Custom, EMG 81, and even putting in a Epi Probucker 3. What would be the best pickup choice for high end harmonics and low end punch for my Jackson guitar?

 

[Securb]

Of all of the pickups you mentioned I would lean towards the Custom. If you are looking for a good stutter switch I just got this one on Amazon. It is super quiet and I love the action of the switch.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KJX28EY?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

[Mincer]

I dig the 78, High Voltage, or Whole Lotta Humbucker for this sort of stuff. If the pickup is too hot, you wind up with a compressed sound/feel.

 

[LLL]

Try the SH-5 Custom - although I've never used one in basswood.

Clear with high gain and the bottom stays tight. Plenty of low end to do the job. Mids very slightly scooped.

PAF-flavored ( "PAF on steroids" ), so you get that chime and natural/artificial "pinch" harmonics are a breeze.

Here's my pre-1983 SH-5 in alder strat, maple neck, 500K vol, no tone pot:

 

[eclecticsynergy]

IMO it's worth considering Raihammers. They have fat poles under the high strings and rails under the wound strings.
Tight, present growl on the lows with a more open, singing character for the upper strings.
Very cool combination.

Railhammer Chisel is one the few ceramic pickups I've really bonded with (along with the Custom, the Distortion, and DiMarzio's Super D).
Alnico Grande is a little bouncier - a great rock pickup even though its attack isn't as aggressive as the Chisel.
I think the Alnico Grande might be right up your alley.

 

[BayouTexan]

Try the SH-5 Custom - although I've never used one in basswood.

Clear with high gain and the bottom stays tight. Plenty of low end to do the job. Mids very slightly scooped.

PAF-flavored ( "PAF on steroids" ), so you get that chime and natural/artificial "pinch" harmonics are a breeze.

Here's my pre-1983 SH-5 in alder strat, maple neck, 500K vol, no tone pot:

I had 2 others on another forum suggest the Duncan Custom. I'm surprised no one mentioned the Pearly Gates since Billy Gibbons is all about harmonics.

BTW, sounds good. What amp did you use for the tones? I'm currently using Mesa Dual Rect, Diezel Herbert III, 6505, and JCM800. I own a Kemper so my selection can get pretty vast.

 

[LLL]

I had 2 others on another forum suggest the Duncan Custom. I'm surprised no one mentioned the Pearly Gates since Billy Gibbons is all about harmonics.

BTW, sounds good. What amp did you use for the tones? I'm currently using Mesa Dual Rect, Diezel Herbert III, 6505, and JCM800. I own a Kemper so my selection can get pretty vast.

The 1st amp is a '96 JTM45 reissue that I modded to '68 plexi specs (still has a tube rectifier though, so more like a JTM50) with .68uF on V2 bypass.

2nd amp is a '66 Fender Deluxe with a Friedman BE-OD Deluxe in front of it.

Suhr Reactive Load, speaker iRs, lotsa DAW plugins.

 

[BayouTexan]

I'm going to go with the Tb-5 Custom even though I thought the Pearly Gates and '78 were good contenders. I read up on my basswood body and compared it to alder and poplar. It seems like the Tb-5 will be a better fit (no pun intended).

I will be adding a Tesi IDO 12mm kill switch.

Thanks for all your responses.

 

[uOpt]

I picked the PG for a basswood Fender-style guitar with vintage style trem. Not sure how the floyd changes that.

 

[Mincer]

I had 2 others on another forum suggest the Duncan Custom. I'm surprised no one mentioned the Pearly Gates since Billy Gibbons is all about harmonics.

BTW, sounds good. What amp did you use for the tones? I'm currently using Mesa Dual Rect, Diezel Herbert III, 6505, and JCM800. I own a Kemper so my selection can get pretty vast.

I think it is because the compression from the higher output Custom makes harmonics jump out. Billy G uses compression after the pickups rather than from the pickups themselves.

 

[zionstrat]

My my first thought on this was the custom, however I saw a RailHammer comment and I've got to say this is exactly what they do...so you might want to take a look...

I normally suggest the hypervantage which is just barely a little more aggressive than a paf but with tighter bass and clearer high end.