I Am Having a Custom Built Bridge !

Re: I Am Having a Custom Built Bridge !

If I didn't already have a PAF style pickup ('57 Classic) and I wanted MS UFO tone, I would go with a SD '59 or similar.
 
Re: I Am Having a Custom Built Bridge !

I actually thought Schenker did use a custom during the Strangers In The Night live album. There was really a stark difference in saturation from No Heavy Petting onwards (Live AND Studio) compared to anything before.

The other alternative is that maybe he snagged a 50 watter JMP

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Re: I Am Having a Custom Built Bridge !

If I didn't already have a PAF style pickup ('57 Classic) and I wanted MS UFO tone, I would go with a SD '59 or similar.
Also, seconded. A Gibson 57 Classic will get you so close you wouldn't care.

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Re: I Am Having a Custom Built Bridge !

A great poor mans T-Top is a 59 neck in the bridge. I have a boutique T-Top replica and the 59n is the same EQ profile and output level but clearer and does the 70’s heavy rock thing superbly. 59n are tubby in the neck, but that tubbyness translates to solid rock balls in the bridge slot. Jazz neck in the neck for a ‘matched’ set.
 
Re: I Am Having a Custom Built Bridge !

Loving this thread, I think this is a very interesting discussion
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It is getting better as it goes along , I have hopes that more people that have tried to get the particular tone will chime in.
 
Re: I Am Having a Custom Built Bridge !

OK - everyone relax and take a deep breathe! First - STOP reading around the internet. Nothing there but rumors and mis-information if you don't know what they are talking about. Based on what little I have read here I now actually know less about this topic than before I started reading!

ibmorjamn - My personal recommendation to you is to just go and buy a pair of Dean "Lights Out" pickups. These are Dean pickups, made by Pat Baker (who I know) in conjunction with Michael Schenker. I think based on all of dis and mis information you are grabbing onto, this is your best/easiest options. Schenker used and approved. They are a little hotter than the T-Tops, but far less hot than the Custom. People seem to really like them. Available from Dean $79 US. Available black, black/white, and black/cream I think

Next option - Another option is to get a Seymour Duncan Jazz set. The T-Top is often described as a weak version of the Jazz. I know, the T-Top came first, so in reality the Jazz is likely a better version of a T-Top. Based on the tone you want, they will be pretty close. You might need to use just a touch of tone control to get exactly where you want. $69 somewhere out there. Get a Jazz set - neck and bridge. Available in all sorts of colors, individually, used on eBay etc.

Finally - Get on eBay and order a set of T-Tops. It's what he used early on. Stop reading the Gibson T-Top mythology. They are Alnico 5 pickups around 7.5k or so. I have a set around here from a 70's Les Paul. I wouldn't use them and I actually have Dean Schenker Retro. And, they will be ridiculously expensive for what they are, but they are what he used. If you want old Schenker tone, get old pickups. They will be black, old, and cost $200+ per pickup.

And yes - MJ can build you a set "just like Schenker" and I suspect she would wind a set of T-Tops to spec, and still charge you $200. I don't know that they would sound as good, or work any better than options 1 and 2. Personally, kind of an over-the-top solution in my opinion.

A good Wah and Vintage Marshall would be better ways to spend the money to get his tone if you want it that close to his old sound.

I agree with the Wah idea. Never been a player to use the wah the way he has and integrated it into his tone the way he has. I wonder what type of Wah he used.

I have been on this form for a while and lurked on it even longer. I always value your opinion and knowledge of pups and especially when concerning Les Pauls. So with that in mind, I never under stood the glorification of the T-Top. Once I played my '85 GT with Shaw's, I ripped out the T-Tops from my '79 LPC. Granted the ones I had were from '79 (so probably a bad example of the model), but the Tim Shaw PAF's were so much better. Could it be that my LPC didn't have T-tops and that they were actually something else? Or a traditional pickup?
 
Re: I Am Having a Custom Built Bridge !

Schenker has played a lot of different stuff over the years and I will never be him , I think my best effort is the era of UFO early on before there were other options. The Dimarzio Super had to be a go to back then I have one now and I had one then as well. Now there are tons of options especially for his current set up.
 
Re: I Am Having a Custom Built Bridge !

Am I understanding that your are chasing MSchenker tone with (now) a 15w amp? EL84 tubes don't sound like EL34 tubes in a cranked Marshall.
Always surprising me when people are chasing someone else tone listening to an amp in the room. Never gonna happen. Never ending quest.
If I were you I would get an AxeFx (or a Kemper) and a good pair of studio monitors. You'll be able to try all kind of amps, cabs, mics and wah, and even electronic mods, that'll lead you in it's tone. Better yet, maybe there's a preset or a profile already 100% accurate to MSchenker tone out there. (like the guy who's playing guitar for Australian Pink Floyd released AxeFx presets he's using).
 
Re: I Am Having a Custom Built Bridge !

Am I understanding that your are chasing MSchenker tone with (now) a 15w amp? EL84 tubes don't sound like EL34 tubes in a cranked Marshall.
Always surprising me when people are chasing someone else tone listening to an amp in the room. Never gonna happen. Never ending quest.
If I were you I would get an AxeFx (or a Kemper) and a good pair of studio monitors. You'll be able to try all kind of amps, cabs, mics and wah, and even electronic mods, that'll lead you in it's tone. Better yet, maybe there's a preset or a profile already 100% accurate to MSchenker tone out there. (like the guy who's playing guitar for Australian Pink Floyd released AxeFx presets he's using).
That might be an option in the future but they cost more than the real thing. Better control and options though.
 
Re: I Am Having a Custom Built Bridge !

Am I understanding that your are chasing MSchenker tone with (now) a 15w amp? EL84 tubes don't sound like EL34 tubes in a cranked Marshall.
Always surprising me when people are chasing someone else tone listening to an amp in the room. Never gonna happen. Never ending quest.
If I were you I would get an AxeFx (or a Kemper) and a good pair of studio monitors. You'll be able to try all kind of amps, cabs, mics and wah, and even electronic mods, that'll lead you in it's tone. Better yet, maybe there's a preset or a profile already 100% accurate to MSchenker tone out there. (like the guy who's playing guitar for Australian Pink Floyd released AxeFx presets he's using).

I use an Emery SuperBaby with an original Tesla EL-34M from my JCM900 SL-X and it sounds just like a big Marshall, but only 12 watts.
 
Re: I Am Having a Custom Built Bridge !

The bridge has arrived and it’s not going to be a PAF or a T-Top , MJ wound it at 14.4 Alnico 4 .
Not Shure when I will have time to put it in but as soon as possible.
 
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Re: I Am Having a Custom Built Bridge !

Am I understanding that your are chasing MSchenker tone with (now) a 15w amp? EL84 tubes don't sound like EL34 tubes in a cranked Marshall.
Always surprising me when people are chasing someone else tone listening to an amp in the room. Never gonna happen. Never ending quest.
If I were you I would get an AxeFx (or a Kemper) and a good pair of studio monitors. You'll be able to try all kind of amps, cabs, mics and wah, and even electronic mods, that'll lead you in it's tone. Better yet, maybe there's a preset or a profile already 100% accurate to MSchenker tone out there. (like the guy who's playing guitar for Australian Pink Floyd released AxeFx presets he's using).
Wow it seems you just about know all ! There is something that many people have missed.
Once upon a time there was a 18w Marshall Clone . Have you ever heard of one ? Not EL34 .
There are websites dedicated to plexi and fender clones and they are far more humble than this holy forum of gods.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w0DQUGJC-fE
 
Re: I Am Having a Custom Built Bridge !

The moral of this story and result is , do I sound any better ? Not really , does the pickup sound closer ? It does sound a lot closer in tone and BS if 15w can't get that tone. A little boost for the lead tone it is very close. I still have more tricks to come so the quest will continue. The point of this now is you can get what you want from the custom shop. Is it Schenker ? no ,it's still me. I am not disappointed though !:notworthy
So here it is , built in reverb and carbon copy in the loop 22w el84 amp creme back speaker.I did not instantly improve but I did record it 10 times or so. lol
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5rwn2haykjzff27/SDcustom a 080419.wav?dl=0
 
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