I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

[ErikH]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

No. If you only have two wires, it goes between the "hot" wire and the switch. You want it in series with the pup. Its the opposite of a tone control.

Sounds like you're putting a high-pass filter between the pickup and the switch and/or volume control.

 

[Artie]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

Sounds like you're putting a high-pass filter between the pickup and the switch and/or volume control.

Exactly. You roll-out just a tiny smidgen of the bass. Give me a minute or two. I'll post a clip.

Artie

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

Sometimes, I think that Seymour has the guitarist mindset covered completely.

Most young players are always looking for something stronger, hotter, better, so companies fill that niche.

Then, most players, after playing for awhile tire of that blunt atonal magnetic barrage, and go after middle of the road progressive style pickups, and many continue with those for life.

Then, there's a point where your ears are more picky, and want to hear all the nuances of amps, tubes, quality guitars, and need to hear a mirror of all those ingredients. That's where you go full circle through all the pickups available, and realize that the simple 'first designs', like the Seths, 59's and Antiquities were right on, from the very beginning.

This is the progression I've taken from the 80's till now, and I'm sure it's similar for many others, after hearing enough pickups in different guitars.
The simple pure ones that mirror the tone of the instrument/amp are the ones that win out in the end. That said, I still like some hotter pickups, since they serve a good purpose in some guitars, to push the tone in a better direction.

 

[gripweed]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

I think I'd love a Jazz in the neck and a Seth in the bridge....The 59N is still pretty woofy and almost too dark in the neck...The Jazz is cleaner and chimier...

Try a Fralin 7.5 in the neck with that Seth. It's a beautiful match! The Fralin will get rid of that woofy a5 characteristic and the mids are undescribable (in a great way).

 

[GOLDWING68NV]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

classic observation,Gearjoneser!!! your statement about coming back "full circle" is very true.simplicity is beautiful.the "ear" does learn more & more over the years!!!

 

[Artie]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

I didn't want to hijack John's thread, so I put the clip in "Tips and Clips":

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?p=653186#post653186

Artie

 

[wildstar]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

Sometimes, I think that Seymour has the guitarist mindset covered completely.

Most young players are always looking for something stronger, hotter, better, so companies fill that niche.

Then, most players, after playing for awhile tire of that blunt atonal magnetic barrage, and go after middle of the road progressive style pickups, and many continue with those for life.

Then, there's a point where your ears are more picky, and want to hear all the nuances of amps, tubes, quality guitars, and need to hear a mirror of all those ingredients. That's where you go full circle through all the pickups available, and realize that the simple 'first designs', like the Seths, 59's and Antiquities were right on, from the very beginning.

This is the progression I've taken from the 80's till now, and I'm sure it's similar for many others, after hearing enough pickups in different guitars.
The simple pure ones that mirror the tone of the instrument/amp are the ones that win out in the end. That said, I still like some hotter pickups, since they serve a good purpose in some guitars, to push the tone in a better direction.

Brilliant observation. And not just for guitar playing. I can see this pattern in many aspects of my life, and I'm only 29!

Maybe you should found a philosopher's retreat or become a wise sage or something. That'd be cool - a Bodhisattva with a guitar!

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

No. If you only have two wires, it goes between the "hot" wire and the switch. You want it in series with the pup. Its the opposite of a tone control.

Artie....I'm very anal....LOL....Is this mod completely transparent?

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

Sometimes, I think that Seymour has the guitarist mindset covered completely.

Most young players are always looking for something stronger, hotter, better, so companies fill that niche.

Then, most players, after playing for awhile tire of that blunt atonal magnetic barrage, and go after middle of the road progressive style pickups, and many continue with those for life.

Then, there's a point where your ears are more picky, and want to hear all the nuances of amps, tubes, quality guitars, and need to hear a mirror of all those ingredients. That's where you go full circle through all the pickups available, and realize that the simple 'first designs', like the Seths, 59's and Antiquities were right on, from the very beginning.

This is the progression I've taken from the 80's till now, and I'm sure it's similar for many others, after hearing enough pickups in different guitars.
The simple pure ones that mirror the tone of the instrument/amp are the ones that win out in the end. That said, I still like some hotter pickups, since they serve a good purpose in some guitars, to push the tone in a better direction.

Yep....You've nailed it buddy! Great post and so very true...:beerchug:

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

I didn't want to hijack John's thread, so I put the clip in "Tips and Clips":

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?p=653186#post653186

Artie

Artie....You weren't hijacking buddy...You were helping me out..:beerchug:

 

[Artie]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

Artie....I'm very anal....LOL....Is this mod completely transparent?

Well, not exactly. If it was transparent . . . it wouldn't be a "mod".

But yes, the fundamental character of the pup stays intact.

Artie

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

Well, not exactly. If it was transparent . . . it wouldn't be a "mod".

But yes, the fundamental character of the pup stays intact.

Artie

Hmmmmmmmm???????

 

[jeremy]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

oh just try it john. if you can futz with all those pedals it can only take you a few seconds to pop that cap in there.

to your original point, when i started playing i was all about dimarzios then emgs. but the 81 or 85 wasnt enough, i had to have the pa2 20dB flat boost and the spc mid boost as well. the more output the better thru a boss sd1 into a cranked jcm800. i even bought a steve morse bridge pup cause it was the hottest thing in the dimarzio catalog besides the x2n and x2nb which i had already tried. the hottest pup i still use is that steve morse bridge which has been rewound to an overwound c5 and the guitar its in hasnt seen a stage in years. my antiquty loaded strat gets plenty of love now and if you had tried to get me to play with that 10 years ago i might have smashed the thing

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

I described my journey through pickups, to find what I prefer, but one thing that I find fascinating is that Seymour plays his Tele Gib as his main guitar, and his ears have chosen one of his old zebra JB's and Jazz.

That fact alone tells me there's no absolute full circle.

 

[ErikH]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

I described my journey through pickups, to find what I prefer, but one thing that I find fascinating is that Seymour plays his Tele Gib as his main guitar, and his ears have chosen one of his old zebra JB's and Jazz.

That fact alone tells me there's no absolute full circle.

It's a giant figure 8. :laugh2:

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: I've Pretty Much Gone Full Circle With My Pickups!

oh just try it john. if you can futz with all those pedals it can only take you a few seconds to pop that cap in there.

to your original point, when i started playing i was all about dimarzios then emgs. but the 81 or 85 wasnt enough, i had to have the pa2 20dB flat boost and the spc mid boost as well. the more output the better thru a boss sd1 into a cranked jcm800. i even bought a steve morse bridge pup cause it was the hottest thing in the dimarzio catalog besides the x2n and x2nb which i had already tried. the hottest pup i still use is that steve morse bridge which has been rewound to an overwound c5 and the guitar its in hasnt seen a stage in years. my antiquty loaded strat gets plenty of love now and if you had tried to get me to play with that 10 years ago i might have smashed the thing

I know,but I've been pretty busy doing pedal mods and lots of other stuff to try this other mod! LOL....The pickup change was pretty painless and I made it a priority after putting off changing it for so long..