Help with my Charvels

[jacksoncharvelfan]

Hello Everyone, I have a Charvel Pro Mod Molten Crust an a Primer Scream. I have both as my main guitars as of now and the pickups are as follows Bridge pickup: Seymour Duncan JB Model humbucking bridge pickup and in the neck Seymour Duncan STK4M Classic Stack single-coil pickup. HSS Molten Crust and HS Primer Scream. I am not real happy with the pickups in the neck as they do not have enough output and I have decided I like to have a neck mounted S size humbucker or a single with enough output so there is not a large drop out when I switch pickups. I have been thinking of changing to a lil 59 or something similar or a Quarter Pound but I am not sure if it will work well with the JB. Should I change the JB to a lower output? My amp is a Line 6 Spider Jam if that helps. I am trying to get two different neck tones. 1. For the love of God tone and 2. the SRV over wound single coil tone. Maybe I need two different pickups in the neck and or change the bridge JB. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Help with my Charvels

Welcome to the forum.

In my opinion the two guitar sounds that you mentioned are achieved very differently. The Vai FTLOG sound involves a high output humbucker, plenty of distortion pedal gain, compression and delay. Mr. Vai may also have rolled the tone pot back somewhat!!! This is the sound for which a Li'l humbucker would help. I can see the wisdom of installing a pickup of this type in the HS guitar.

The SRV sound depends more on the playing dynamics and amplification than on outright pickup output. Many classic Blues sounds depend on the use of a middle position pickup. I suggest that you leave the neck and middle pickups of the HSS guitar alone. Obtain a better level balance by reducing the output of the bridge position pickup. This can be achieved by;
1) changing to a lower output humbucker
2) lowering the existing humbucker further away from the strings.
3) simply rolling the volume control down a little whilst using the humbucker.

Since you are willing to spend some money, I suggest that you direct your funds towards a better amplifier. Through all-valve amplification, you may discover that your Charvels sound fine in bone stock trim.

 

[darthphineas]

Re: Help with my Charvels

These are typically direct mount. I've seen where the bridge pup all the way against bare wood is a wee bit lower than suggested specs and still works very good at that height. The JB is also a great match for those Charvels.

A QuarterPound in the neck is nothing to sneeze at. A STK series is another option, I like the STK-S4 because it has a classic Strat voicing with enough output to hold up against a string bridge pickup.

For the s size hums, the Hot Rails will match up, if that's the tone you want. The Lil 59 is a nice options that delivers a lot of variety.

 

[dystrust]

Re: Help with my Charvels

I have a Cool Rails in the neck slot of my modified (H/S) Charvel Model 4. In the bridge I currently have a Custom, but I'm planning to try a JB in the near future. In the past I've had an Invader, Custom 5, and '59.

 

[jacksoncharvelfan]

Re: Help with my Charvels

Thank you for the input Everyone. Yes the pickups are direct mounted. The Molten crust has a thin maple veneer on alder with a rosewood fingerboard and the primer scream has an ebony fingerboard with an alder body. Maybe I need to go to a 78, Jason Becker, or Pearly Gates. Just not sure on the best match for this configuration HS and HSS in Adler with the volume drop issue going from the bridge to the neck. Also I am thinking on splitting the bridge hb as it does not split from the factory wiring.